The Colombian government announced the resumption of the controversial aerial fumigation of coca with glyphosate for the second time during the year. The use of glyphosate for local spraying of coca is opposed to the left opposition, which wants to ban the chemical.

Local drug experts and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime consider this method an ineffective and useless waste of money.

The US Department of State, however, welcomed the initiative on Tuesday, saying the decree was "a critical step towards integrating the destruction of air coca into Colombia’s comprehensive drug strategy."

In March, President Ivan Duke asked the Constitutional Court to repeal the 2017 conditions imposed on the resumption of air spraying of the main ingredient of cocaine, which was banned in 2015 due to public health and the environment.

Coca leaves are still used in Coca-Cola production. They are crushed at a plant in New Jersey, where cocaine is obtained for use in medicine, and the remainder is sent to make a drink.

In June, the president said he would resume air spraying “in a few weeks.” A month later, Duke was stopped, reportedly, because his government had not even begun to comply with any of the conditions of the Constitutional Court.

The main condition of the court is that air fumigation may not pose a risk to health or the environment.

In particular, any decision to resume the use of glyphosate for air spraying should be based on “objective and convincing evidence that does not show any harm to health and the environment”, according to the Constitutional Court.

The decree emphasized that this condition “does not mean, on the one hand, evidence that there is absolute and undeniable certainty that there is no damage. Also, this is not equivalent to establishing that the absence of harm is absolute or that the activity does not pose any risk. ”

The current plans of the government include the participation of affected rural communities, as required by the court.

• Earlier we reported that Puero Rico is not going to refuse glyphosate.
• Colombia intends to use glyphosate to control coca.
• German Agriculture Minister doubts the future use of glyphosate in Europe.
• The Austrian Parliament is the first in the EU to support the ban on the use of glyphosate.
• Glyphosate is prohibited at the University of California.