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First Phase: Environmental
and Human Health Assessment of the Aerial Spray Program for Coca and
Poppy Control in Colombia
The overall objective of
the project is to produce a scientifically based evaluation of the use
of glysphosate and adjuvants in the control of coca production in
Colombia. The specific focus of this project will be on the risk
assessment and the research components.
Two different teams are participating
in the project: a Scientific Assessment Team and a Permanent Technical
Mobile Monitoring Group, that are expected to work very closely with one
another.
The Scientific Assessment Team (SAT)
will review publications and reports on the uses of glyphosate and
adjuvants; conduct site visits; formulate questions and hypotheses;
design field studies to collect local data; assess data and incorporate
them into risk assessment; refine risk assessment; incorporate new data
into risk assessment; and complete risk assessment.
The Permanent Technical
Mobile Monitoring Group (PTG) will collect information on local issues
and questions, which they will give to SAT; conduct field sampling and
analysis from the design plans of the SAT; and conduct more field
sampling and analysis after SAT refines the risk assessment the first
time.
Results of the assessment:
Environmental and Human Health Assessment of Aerial Spray Program.
Second Phase: Ongoing Environmental and Human Health Risk Assessment
of the Aerial Spray Program for Coca and Poppy Control in Colombia and
assessment of the methods for mitigating the effects of Glyphosate in
coca.
There are several issues that have been
identified with respect to the production and eradication of coca in
Colombia. Production issues are related to the effects of cropping
regimen on total annual production of coca. Eradication issues relate to
the efficacy and environmental toxicity of adjuvants use to enhance the
efficacy of glyphosate. In addition several anecdotes exist with regard
to methods used to protect or rescue coca from the effects of glyphosate
spraying from the air. These have not been fully tested in field trials
in locations where coca is grown.
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