U.S. DEFENDS HERBICIDE USE TO DAMAGE COLOMBIAN COCA

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration told Congress on Thursday that its
program of aerially spraying herbicide on coca crops in Colombia may cause
eye irritation to farmers on the ground but poses no other significant
health or environmental risks.

The 180-page report, which watchdog groups criticized as flawed, came as
U.S. officials hope to intensify aerial spraying in Colombia to battle the
illegal narcotics industry.

''We believe that this is an extremely important program and that we will
achieve positive results by the end of the year,'' said Paul Simons, acting
assistant secretary of state for international narcotics matters.

MEETS U.S. STANDARDS

The State Department report certified that Secretary of State Colin Powell
had found that chemicals used in the U.S.-financed aerial eradication
program pose no ''unreasonable risks or adverse affects'' to humans or the
environment in Colombia.

It said the program meets U.S. regulatory standards and is conducted in a
way to address complaints of citizens who claim their health or their crops
have been harmed.

The aerial spraying has generated more than 1,000 complaints from Colombians
who say their food crops have been damaged or their health affected by the
herbicide.

SENATOR CRITICIZES

Since 1994, U.S. officials have financed efforts to spray a substance
containing glyphosate -- the most widely used conventional herbicide in the
United States -- on illegal coca and poppy crops in Colombia.

While other countries in the Andean region prohibit the aerial spraying, it
has become a cornerstone of U.S. anti-drug efforts in Colombia, source of
most of the world's cocaine.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who sponsored the language requiring
the State Department to certify the safety of the program, assailed the
report.

''Spraying a toxic chemical over large areas, including where people live
and livestock graze, would not be tolerated in our country. We should not be
spraying first and asking questions later,'' Leahy said.

'MINIMAL' RISKS

The State Department report included separate assessments by the Department
of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.

''Glyphosate poses minimal health risks to humans and animals, is
environmentally benign, and degrades rapidly in soil and water,''
Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman said in a letter to Powell included in
the report.

But the EPA was far more cautious, even critical in its assessment, noting
that it had not been able to conduct direct research in Colombia and relied
only on data provided by the State Department, which is deeply vested in the
success of ongoing counter-narcotics programs.

DIFFERENT REACTIONS

Aerial application of the herbicide and inert substances that help it stick
to the waxy leaves of coca plants may cause ''acute eye irritation'' in
humans, drift on to ''non-target plants,'' and have different reactions in
Colombia's tropical ecosystem than in the temperate climates of the United
States, the EPA said.

A State Department official said the U.S. Embassy in Colombia later this
month would change the composition of the herbicide it uses to lessen
possible eye irritation.

Under current conditions, the eye irritation experienced by some farmers is
''as if you had baby shampoo in your eyes,'' the official said. ``It goes
away after 72 hours.''

DRAWBACK

The Amazon Alliance, a coalition of environmental and indigenous groups,
said the EPA's lack of access to data from Colombia on actual conditions is
a major drawback to the study.

''How much can this analysis tell us? It would be like asking a car mechanic
to check your oil, and not letting him open the hood,'' said Betsy Marsh of
the Alliance.

MORE PLANES

U.S. personnel currently oversee 15 crop-duster aircraft in Colombia, and
three more should arrive by the end of the year, a State Department official
said.

Eradication efforts will soon increase.

Marc Grossman, the State Department under secretary for political affairs,
said in mid-August that the U.S. program hopes to spray a record 150,000
hectares of coca this year, nearly double the 84,000 hectares sprayed last
year. (A hectare is equivalent to about 2.47 acres.)

''There's no way that alternative development is going to be ratcheted up to
meet that. I think you'll see more displacement of people,'' said Lisa
Haugaard of the Latin America Working Group, a liberal watchdog group in
Washington.

Grossman said two weeks ago that 11,000 families are registered to receive
help from U.S.-financed alternative development programs to stop growing
coca.