cannabisnews.com: Agent Orange, All Over Again





Agent Orange, All Over Again
Posted by FoM on August 01, 2001 at 16:15:03 PT
By James Ridgeway
Source: Village Voice
For seven months, the Environmental Protection Agency sat on a call to investigate the coca-defoliation program in Colombia. Presented by one of the agency's own internal boards, the letter asked for a study of harm to people and the environment posed by the U.S.-backed spraying of Roundup Ultra, a chemical critics compare to Agent Orange. When the resolution was proposed at a December 10 meeting of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, "there was a lot of eye rolling and clearing of throats among the EPA members," said one government employee. 
No one from EPA "thought it had a snowball's chance in hell" of reaching administrator Christie Whitman's desk. Those EPA members may seem jaded, but for a long while they also appeared to be right. President Bush has kept the agency hamstrung, forcing it to do an about-face on global warming and to relax water-quality standards. Now the president is seeking yet more funding for Plan Colombia, which is supposed to cut off the supply of cocaine on the streets of New York by halving the 300,000 acres of coca fields in Colombia over five years. The U.S. has pledged $1.3 billion in this fiscal year to support the $7.5 billion scheme with army anti-narcotics training and helicopters. So far, the attack hasn't worked. Over 38,000 hectares have been sprayed since this year alone, but coca production is shifting to other parts of Colombia and spreading into Ecuador. The program has become the pretext for a Vietnam-style counterinsurgency in which U.S.-trained units of the Colombian army link up with paramilitary death squads in a bloody drive against guerrillas. U.S. Special Forces, who are doing the training, are kept out of the fighting, but U.S. civilian contractors who fly the spray planes have been reported in the thick of firefights. Meanwhile, the peasantry are getting drenched with Roundup Ultra. In one EPA study published in 1993, California doctors reported that the herbicide's active ingredient, glyphosate, ranked third out of 25 chemicals that caused harm to humans. Some observers say the aircraft blitzing Colombian coca fields are flying at too great a height to ensure surrounding villages and farms are kept safe from the spray. Lower flights would court direct hits by rebel troops. "Our concern is the longevity of the effects of the spraying: If the farmers can't plant, they can't grow or eat," said Alberto Saldamando, general counsel of the San Francisco-based International Indian Treaty Council, who drafted the resolution. "This is going to affect the whole agricultural economy. We think it's a very serious health-damaging case. We are talking about indigenous people. They are poor; they are not aware of what can happen to their health." After being approved at the board meeting, the request for an investigation went to the agency's Office of Environmental Justice, a sort of clearing house and rewrite operation for advisory-group resolutions before they are sent up to the administrator. Sure enough, the letter disappeared amid complaints it was full of typographical errors. It never reached the outgoing Clinton administrator, Carol Browner, and the issue was temporarily set aside as Bush took control of the White House. Next, the letter was kicked over to the Office of International Activities, where bureaucrats argued pro and con. Eventually the resolution was sent back to the advisory board for its approval. There it sat. Peggy Shepard, executive director of the West Harlem Environmental Action and chair of the board, said Monday she only got the letter two weeks ago. She then cleaned it up and forwarded it to Whitman. "The letter was not withheld," she explained. "I simply did not sign it because I thought it was weak grammatically and lacking factually and needed to be fixed." As for Whitman's expected response, Shepard said, "We have no idea. We have not had any interaction with the administrator since she's been appointed." Roundup is sold widely in the U.S., and the EPA says it's safe for most commercial uses. According to the State Department's Web site, glyphosate is less toxic than common salt, aspirin, caffeine, nicotine, and vitamin A. In a report sent to the House Appropriations Committee in January, the State Department, with the concurrence of the EPA, claimed that "there are no grounds to suggest a concern for human health." But in a 1996 out-of-court settlement, the manufacturer Monsanto admitted to certain reservations about such glyphosate-based herbicides. Monsanto withdrew claims that Roundup is "safe, nontoxic, harmless, or free from risk," and signed a statement, saying absolute claims that Roundup "will not wash or leach in the soil" aren't accurate. Roundup Ultra, the product used in Colombia, is a concoction boosted by other powerful chemicals manufactured by ICI and Exxon. Sources within the agency doubt that Whitman will support the proposal to study the effects of Roundup on civilians and the environment. An EPA spokesman acknowledged that Whitman's deputy administrator, Linda Fisher, is a former Monsanto vice president, but said the EPA has no role in the spraying. "We do not govern the use of Roundup in another country," the spokesman said. "Anything we say about the use of chemicals in another country is only speculation because we have no authority to check what they're doing." For critics, the need for some kind of check is clear. "We demonstrated concern over Roundup that was being used without warning or telling people what was in it," Saldamando recalled. "There is a lack of public awareness in the U.S. and especially in Colombia. Children become sick and adults start getting rashes." Plan Colombia has a short but dubious history. In 1999, the General Accounting Office concluded that "U.S. and Colombian efforts to eradicate enough coca and opium poppy to reduce the net cultivation of these crops have not succeeded to date." Despite fumigating 65,938 hectares of Colombian coca in 1998, the office wrote, the total number of hectares of coca under cultivation in Colombia grew from 101,800 to 122,500. Defoliation merely sends production elsewhere. Successful eradication programs in Bolivia and Peru in the 1990s led to a sharp rise in production in Colombia. "The pattern has been that fumigation 'chases' coca cultivation from one area to another, while overall cultivation levels rise," noted a report last month from the Washington Office on Latin America. Fumigation does result in a short-term increase in coca prices, but, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, hasn't caused any change in the price of cocaine in the U.S. And while the military aspects of the plan have been in full effect, promised alternative assistance to farmers has not begun, the report said. Democratic congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who represents the Chicago suburbs, is offering a measure—along with Democrats John Conyers of Detroit and Cynthia McKinney of suburban Atlanta—to stop funding for the fumigation project. In February, Schakowsky took a fact-finding mission to Putumayo Province, where she met with health ministers, governors, mayors, and police, all of whom reported Roundup's devastating effects. "People told of rashes and intestinal problems," Schakowsky said. "There is an increasing number of internally displaced humans. It has destroyed legal crops and livelihood." As for the overall effectiveness of the program, said the congresswoman, "We've seen no change in the availability or price of cocaine. Coca production simply moves. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if demand is strong you move your operation. Fumigation is never going to get ahead of that." Additional reporting: Ariston-Lizabeth Anderson and Sandra Bisin Note: EPA Stalled Resolution on Spraying in Colombia.Source: Village Voice (NY)Author: James RidgewayPublished: Week of July 25 - 31, 2001Copyright: 2001 VV Publishing CorporationContact: editor villagevoice.comWebsite: http://www.villagevoice.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Colombia Drug War Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htmColombians Protest Fumigation http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10490.shtmlColombia To Keep Spraying Drug Crops http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10479.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Glyphosatehttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=glyphosate 
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Comment #6 posted by Sudaca on August 02, 2001 at 09:19:21 PT
more of the same to follow
these days we just keep getting more reinforcement to the notion that the Gov't in America is prepared to dish out More of the Same ad nauseumone day this will be one of the few countries prohibiting drugs. The rest of the world will get rich smuggling shit into the US , just like the Brits and Americans did to China in the 19th Century. All it takes is happening.
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Comment #5 posted by mayan on August 02, 2001 at 05:11:21 PT
These people are soooo wrong!
This is too scary! Too much backscratching already. I think your right Kap'n(as usual). If this isn't conflict of interest then there is no such thing.It amazes me how they haven't even studied the effects of this combination of chemicals on people & the environment.This is atrocious in the truest sense of the word. 
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Comment #4 posted by jorma nash on August 01, 2001 at 22:52:57 PT
money over lives
good morning, workers. place your right hand over your balance sheet and recite the Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance to the flagof the Corporate Conglomerate of Monsanto.and to the Capitalism for which it stands - one Company, under Cash, Inliquidatable,with profits and dividends for all*.*all Monsanto employees. rain of poison for everyone else.
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Comment #3 posted by New Mexican on August 01, 2001 at 18:55:57 PT
A case for the Human Rights Court!
Thanks FOM, Kap and Dr. Russo for your articulation and concern. This is Agent Orange all over again and it just goes on and on without an outcry. I guess if you can control the media, there isn't any limit to how blantant you can be while executing your agenda. This will blow up in our U.S. faces, but how long and how many lives later?
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Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on August 01, 2001 at 18:08:20 PT:
Natural vs. Synthetic
Our government in Amerika will admit that cannabis is a safe and effective medicine about the same time that it proclaims Roundup Ultra is toxic-- maybe never.
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on August 01, 2001 at 17:48:06 PT:
Right, again...dammitall
""Our concern is the longevity of the effects of the spraying: If the farmers can't plant, they can't grow or eat," said Alberto Saldamando, general counsel of the San Francisco-based International Indian Treaty Council, who drafted the resolution. "This is going to affect the whole agricultural economy. We think it's a very serious health-damaging case. We are talking about indigenous people. They are poor; they are not aware of what can happen to their health." There it is. ROUNDUP KILLS FOOD CROPS.What's that? You want it simpler? OK. RoundUp (just effin') KILLS! Maybe not immediately, and not always by direct exposure.But death by starvation is, any way you slice it...death.But get this:"Peggy Shepard...only got the letter two weeks ago...She then cleaned it up and forwarded it to Whitman. "The letter was not withheld," she explained. "I simply did not sign it because I thought it was weak grammatically and lacking factually and needed to be fixed." As for Whitman's expected response, Shepard said, "We have no idea. We have not had any interaction with the administrator since she's been appointed."Oh, man, talk about institutionalized cowardice! People are dying and this...this...frip is concerned about whether "T"'s are crossed and "I"s dotted?And the plot thickens...chemically and otherwise:"Sources within the agency doubt that Whitman will support the proposal to study the effects of Roundup on civilians and the environment. An EPA spokesman acknowledged that Whitman's deputy administrator, Linda Fisher, is a (surprise...not!) former Monsanto vice president, but said the EPA has no role in the spraying. Yeah, and I can bet that Ms. Fisher will do her corporately directed best to ensure that the EPA remains silent on this issue. After all, when she is through 'protecting the public's interests', she'll return to Monsanto just covered in glory.If any of you had the slightest doubt as to whether Bush Too's Administration is corporately controlled, this should incinerate any lingering doubts; a vice president of the infamous producer of Agent Orange ...is Number Two at EPA. Do you think Whitman, a 'political appointee' who received the position as a bone for her support, knows an acid from a base? Nope, she'll be pathetically dependent upon the real power behind her. So dependent that when the inevitable scandals surface, Whitman may be forced to leave...and guess who gets to sit in the catbird seat? Truly, this is tantamount to the fox standing at the hen-house door wearing a Wackenhut uniform, and Count Dracula will be made head of the Red Cross!A prediction: you think Klinton was bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet! I predict half of the Cabinet will be gone in 18 months over charges of 'conflict of interest' directly related to policy decisions made, not in Cabinet meetings...but in their supposedly blind-trusted home corporate boardrooms.I love my country...even though it's being run by corporate swine. 
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