Monsanto’s Chemical War in Colombia
Weekend Edition May 29-31, 2015
Glyphosate, Cancer and the Drug War
Monsanto’s Chemical War in Colombia
by W.T. WHITNEY, Jr.
Monsanto Corporation’s glyphosate, sold as “Roundup,” is the world’s most widely used herbicide. For the globalized capitalist economy it’s a tool for wealth accumulation and, secondarily, for subjugating rural populations. In Colombia glyphosate is a weapon of war. For 20 years the U.S. and Colombian governments have used glyphosate in their so-called drug war to eradicate coca crops. Glyphosate now returns to the news. The occasion is ripe for a look at the herbicide’s outsized role in the world economy and its dire effects everywhere.
Acting on President Juan Manuel Santos’ recommendation, Colombia’s National Drug Council on May 14 banned aerial spraying of glyphosate. The ruling has implications for beleaguered rural life in Colombia due to far-reaching effects of the chemical. They are due mainly to the aerial – spray method of delivering glyphosate, which is unique to Colombia. The decision also bears on peace negotiations in Havana between FARC rebels and the Colombian government because the drug war serves as cover for war against the FARC, at least according to the government’s political opposition.
The government’s action was in response to a March 20, 2015 statement from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. The claim there was that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans”, that it causes “DNA and chromosomal damage in human cells (and there is) convincing evidence that[it also can cause cancer in laboratory animals.” Even so, days before the government’s announcement, U.S. Ambassador in Colombia Kevin Whitaker publically called for continuation of the fumigation program.
Glyphosate gained worldwide usage and Monsanto – not the chemical’s sole manufacturer – became its leading purveyor due in each instance to the chemical’s biological function. It kills all growing plants within reach, with one exception, which is: a crop grown from seeds genetically altered to resist glyphosate’s noxious effects. That crop thrives; everything else, particularly weeds, dies. And Monsanto conveniently sells both the seeds and the herbicide.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/05/29/monsantos-chemical-war-in-colombia/