Coca Cultivation in Colombia: The Story Behind the Numbers; New Findings Mask Replanting in Other Areas, Human Cost of Fumigation

U.S. Newswire, February, 2003

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The State Department today released findings showing that the cultivation of coca, the base material for cocaine, decreased in Colombia in 2002, from 169,800 to 144,000 hectares. Since 2000, the United States government has promoted a program of intensive aerial spraying, or fumigation, of coca crops in the southern region of the country.

While supporters of the program will laud the findings as evidence of the effectiveness of fumigation, the numbers cannot be taken to reflect a country- or region-wide decrease, as they were not designed to measure the replanting of coca in areas outside of the target areas that were fumigated. Nor can the numbers depict the human or environmental costs of the fumigation program, which scientists,...

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