U.S. Urges Fumigating Coca in Nature Reserves

U.S. Ambassador William B. Wood urged Colombia to spray weedkiller in the country’s nature parks to destroy coca, the plant from which cocaine is derived. He said the chemicals would not cause widespread damage to the reserves’ ecosystems.

Harried by eradication campaigns elsewhere, drug traffickers have in recent years streamed into the parks, where spraying is banned. There, they have torn down thousands of acres of virgin rainforest to plant coca. The Colombian government is debating whether to lift a ban on aerial fumigation in the reserves.

Wood said research shows that the weedkiller used in the spraying “doesn’t seep into the soil or contaminate rivers.”