It’s true. Colombia is removing glyphosate chemicals from their coca crops – the raw materials used to make cocaine.
Don’t the irony be lost on you. That means that while it is completely legal for glyphosate (the main ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide) to be sprayed on all sorts of crops in the US – including the apples your kids take bites from or the corn which is used in the nation’s ever-increasing junk food diet, glyphosate-free drugs will soon be available in Colombia.
According to BBC, glyphosate has been used in US-sponsored crop-spraying anti-narcotics programs in South America. But as stated by President Manual Santos, anti-narcotic officials will now have until October of this year to find another glyphosate-free method to care for their coca crops.
The president told reporters:
“I am going to ask the government officials in the National Drug Council at their next meeting to suspend glyphosate spraying of illicit cultivations . . . The recommendations and studies reviewed by the Ministry of Health show clearly that yes, this risk exists.”
President Santos was referencing the WHO’s recent declaration of glyphosate being ‘probably carcinogenic’. He also reiterated that Colombia will not “lower its guard” in combating drug trafficking, even though glyphosate is no longer allowed to be used on its coca crops.
Following a list of communities, nations, and retail stores banning the carcinogenic compound, Colombia is just one more nation introducing change which is bound to hit Monsanto hard. Dr. Oz definitely made waves when he called out the more-than-likely health risks posed by glyphosate, and concern by the public has inevitably led to the corporate giant losing massive profits at record rate.
Now we wonder, when will the US catch on?
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