Monsanto, US War on Drugs Poison Environment
(We are doing to South America what we did to Vietnam with Agent Orange leaving generations of cancers, birth defects and starvation.)
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Subject: Monsanto, US War on Drugs Poison Environment
Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 21:46:28 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State
of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
Dear Mr. Helliker,
I thought you might like to read an article entitled: Colombia:
Monsanto, US War on Drugs Poison Environment by Brian Hansen Environment News
Service dated November 20, 2000, WASHINGTON, DC.
The aerial fumigation program that has grown out of the
U.S. government's so-called "war on drugs" is endangering the
fragile ecosystems and indigenous cultures of Colombia's Amazon Basin... The
fumigation program, which the U.S. finances as part of a $1.3 billion
Colombian aid package approved this summer, is designed to eradicate coca and
other plants used to manufacture illicit drugs.
But critics say the program indiscriminately wipes out legitimate
subsistence crops as well as natural plants, and kills birds, mammals and
aquatic life. The chemicals are
applied by aircraft and frequently fall on Columbia's indigenous peoples,
subjecting them to a variety of health afflictions, critics add. "This
spraying campaign is equivalent to the Agent Orange devastation of Vietnam - a
disturbance the wildlife and natural ecosystems have never recovered from...is
occurring on the watch of the current Congress and [executive] administration,
supported by taxpayer dollars." Though carried out by Colombian police
and military authorities, the aerial fumigation program utilizes U.S.
government aircraft, fuel, escort helicopters and private military
contractors. The herbicide approved for the program, glyphosate, is
manufactured by the U.S. based Monsanto Corporation and is commonly referred
to by the trade name Roundup.
Full story: http://www.corpwatch.org/headlines/2000/399.html
Well Mr. Helliker, Wouldn't it be easier just to say:
"No"?