End Chemical Spraying in the Amazon

The Issue

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5436/t/2467/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=248

End Chemical Spraying in the Amazon

Fumigation is inhumane, ineffective and environmentally destructive. Stop it now.

Between 2000 and 2007, the U.S. government spent over half a billion dollars for the chemical spraying of approximately 2.6 million acres of land in Colombia--the world's second most bio-diverse country. Due to U.S. government pressure, Colombia is the only country in the world that allows this spraying--known as fumigation--as an anti-drug practice. Yet this practice has been a complete failure in its stated goal. Coca production--the raw material for cocaine and the "target" of fumigation--has actually increased by 36 percent since U.S.-backed fumigation began in earnest.

The chemical mixture being employed in Colombia has never been adequately tested for environmental and human health impacts. Yet people on the ground in affected regions indicate that the spray significantly harms both. At least 10,000 farmers have reported food crops killed by fumigations and the UN Special Rapporteur on Health said there is "credible and trustworthy evidence" that fumigations are harmful to human health.

Now is the time to end U.S. support and funding for this inhumane, ineffective and environmentally destructive practice in the only country that allows it. Add your signature to the petition below to President Obama today.

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5436/t/2467/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=248

Dear President Obama,

We, the undersigned, call on you to immediately end the use of inhumane and ineffective fumigation as a drug control strategy in Colombia, shifting these resources instead to fund time-tested domestic drug treatment programs shown to reduce consumption and development initiatives for Colombian farmers living on the brink of poverty.

End fumigations because:

Fumigation violates Colombians’ rights to livelihood, health and a healthy environment. At least 10,000 farmers have reported food crops killed by fumigations and the UN Special Rapporteur on Health said there is “credible and trustworthy evidence” that fumigations are harmful to human health.

Fumigations damage delicate ecosystems in the world’s second most bio-diverse country. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that fumigation leads to deforestation as farmers move deeper into virgin forest to avoid the spray. They estimate nearly 400,000 acres of virgin forests were razed by coca farmers between 2001 and 2007. Also, a new study reported 50 percent of amphibians were killed in less than 96 hours by exposure to the fumigation mixture.

Despite the fumigation of 2.6 million acres in Colombia from 2000 through 2007, coca production actually increased by 23 percent.

Sincerely,