Drug spraying hurts us, Ecuador farmers charge

SAN FRANCISCO 2, Ecuador -- Walking along a dirt trail here in the heart of Ecuador's Amazon forest, farmer Santiago Tanguila points to trees with yellow, withered leaves. Life has always been precarious in San Francisco 2, a village next to the Colombian border, but now farmers say they face a new danger.

Colombian government planes spray U.S.-made herbicides in Colombia in an attempt to eradicate cocaine-producing coca plants. But the wind blows the toxic liquid into Ecuador, causing widespread crop damage and illnesses, according to local farmers and government officials. Many of those affected are Kichwa Indians.

"This liquid comes out and covers everything," said Tanguila, president of the Indigenous Association of San Francisco 2. "It wrecks our agriculture. It effects everything we grow."

Farther down the dirt path, farmer Judith Rodriguez recalls how a misty cloud of herbicide hit her farm, about a half-mile from the Colombian border.

"I got sick with a kind of fever," she said. "I have body aches and intense headaches. At the time, I had rashes on my skin. The doctors say the problems are caused by the aerial spraying."

Some 10,000 Ecuadorans are affected by the spraying, according to the Quito-based environmental group Ecological Action.

All of the farmers living within 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) of the border report symptoms of herbicide poisoning, while 89 percent living within 6 miles report symptoms, according to Adolfo Maldonado, a Spanish doctor who worked on an Ecological Action report.

The aerial spraying is financed by Plan Colombia, a $7-billion U.S.-backed project aimed at cutting back cocaine production and supporting the Colombian government's war against leftist guerrillas. The Colombian government uses Roundup Ultra, manufactured by the U.S. company Monsanto.

Monsanto says Roundup Ultra is safe both for humans and plants when properly applied. At worst, it would cause temporary eye and skin irritation, according to spokeswoman Janice Armstrong, contacted at Monsanto's St. Louis headquarters. But she declined all comment about the herbicide's use as part of Plan Colombia.

The Colombian government says its planes don't spray any closer than 6 miles from the border. But such claims are disputed by dozens of local farmers who say they have seen the planes as recently as January.

Sucumbios province, hard by the Colombian border, is one of the poorest in Ecuador. In February, workers and farmers here held an 11-day work stoppage to protest the central government's failure to build roads and provide electricity. In response, the government declared a state of siege in Sucumbios and neighboring Orellana province.

That same month, peace talks broke down between the guerrillas and government in Colombia, leading to a resumption of major fighting. Refugees streamed across the border into Ecuador.

Officials in Nueva Loja, the capital of Sucumbios, report over 200 murders this year attributable either to the guerrillas or right-wing paramilitaries allied with the Colombian government.

"There's a lot of fear," said Nueva Loja Mayor Maximo Abad. "How many more Colombians are going to come here, and what will they do? We're seeing a big upsurge in violence, in what had been a peaceful area."

Abad reports dozens of complaints from peasant farmers who have been hit by aerial spraying. In addition to any physical harm, "there's the psychological impact," he said. "The fumigation is done with airplanes guarded by helicopters. They are violating Ecuadorian airspace and scaring children in school."

The Ecuadoran Ministry of Environment wants to conduct a scientific study to determine the impact of the aerial spraying.

Melania Yanez, the ministry official responsible for the spraying issue, says not all problems reported by farmers are caused by spraying. Low coffee yields and smaller mangos, for example, are not likely caused by herbicide spraying, she said.

"But some of the symptoms reported by farmers are consistent with pesticide poisoning," said Yanez.

Until a study can be done, the Ecuadoran government wants a written guarantee from Colombia that it will not spray within 6 miles of the border, a request so far refused by Colombian authorities, according to Yanez.

As for farmers along the border, they want compensation from Monsanto and the United States.

"We want them and the U.S. government to pay us for our damaged crops and health problems caused by the spraying," said farmer Tanguila. "How else can we recoup our losses?"

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