COSTS OF COCA SPRAYING UNKNOWN

The World Wildlife Fund's request that the U.S. government suspend its
aerial spraying of herbicide on coca crops in Colombia until it can be
determined if the spraying is hurting the nation's fragile tropics is a
reasonable one that the Bush administration should heed.

While the federal government says it has seen no evidence that the spraying
is causing environmental problems, reason suggests that this claim is
questionable.

Moreover, there is no crying need that compels the government to continue
spraying, aside from interdicting supplies to meet the seemingly insatiable
demand of Americans for illegal coca-based drugs.

Agent Orange, a defoliant the U.S. used widely during the Vietnam War,
ended up causing all sorts of problems no one had foreseen. Latent medical
problems that developed years after the war among Vietnam veterans as well
as Vietnamese have been in many instances attributed to the defoliant.

Other chemicals with a specific purpose, even benign ones, like DDT, PCBs,
even asbestos, have later been discovered to cause unanticipated
environmental damage and have been proscribed.

Odds are, the herbicide sprayed on Colombia's coca crops affect other
flora, and it may well be deleterious to some fauna as well.

The World Wildlife Fund's request is a prudent one, based on lots of
experience. The federal government, armed with the knowledge that
unforeseen consequences of other chemicals have sometimes been profound and
pernicious, should stop aerial herbicide spraying and more thoroughly
determine if the practice can cause harm. Colombia's environment and its
people's health and lives are worth it.