US-funded herbicide kills in Ecuador
US-funded herbicide aerial sprayings of coca plantations in Colombia near the Ecuador border has severely damaged the DNA of local residents, according to a new study.
Blood samples from 24 Ecuadorians living within 2 miles of the northern border had between 600 percent and 800 percent more damage to their chromosomes than people living 50 miles away, found scientists from the Pontificia Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador.
The border residents who were tested had been exposed to the common herbicide glyphosate—sold by the U.S. agribusiness giant Monsanto under the brand Roundup—during a series of aerial sprayings by the Colombian government begun in 2000. The sprayings were part of “Plan Colombia,” an anti-drug and counterinsurgency program financed by Washington.
The Ecuadorians suffered a variety of ailments immediately following the spraying, including intestinal pain and vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, numbness, burning eyes and skin, blurred vision, difficulty in breathing and rashes, according to the study, which is to be published in the journal Genetics and Molecular Biology.
But the extensive damage to DNA found in the randomly selected individuals may activate the development of cancer or other developmental effects resulting in miscarriages, according to lead researcher César Paz y Miño, head of human molecular genetics at the Catholic University of Ecuador.
In general, everyone has some level of DNA damage due to exposure to ultraviolet radiation, air pollution, toxic chemicals and other factors. However, none of the 24 randomly selected individuals used tobacco, alcohol or nonprescription drugs, nor did they use other herbicides or pesticides that could have caused the extensive DNA damage observed, Mr. Paz y Miño told Tierramérica.
“There is no doubt that the spraying program is killing amphibians in Colombia,” said Rick Relyea, a biologist at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
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