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"The method that the U.S. is using to apply glyphosate also has very serious environmental implications. Airplanes are being used to spray fields growing illegal substances, fields that are often right next to legitimate crops such as corn, yucca, banana plantations, or large dense forest areas (described above). Given that this method results in the largest amount of drift, legitimate crops growing near coca or poppy crops are in danger. Once sprayed, all other vegetation is left to wither and die because a proper buffer zone is not being enforced. As a result, many peasants are suffering because their food supply is being destroyed by the U.S. government and their water supplies are being contaminated as well (Massey). These legal crops are often part of the crop substitution programs that have been implemented by the Colombian government in an effort to move peasants away from the production of illegal crops (Chomsky). In addition, farm animals such as chicken and guinea pigs have died as a result of the spraying while larger animals such as cows and horses have fallen ill (Rohter). Iván Alberto Chicangana, mayor of a remote Yanacona Indian village in the Andean highlands where spraying has affected the land and the people, said, “The damage done to the physical and economic well-being of this community has been serious and is going to be very difficult to overcome” (Rohter)... The future of Colombia is in the hands of the United States who is interested in little more than profit for themselves. It is an example of neocolonialism at its best, and the effects are devastating and will continue to be. The environment and the poor farmers are the ones who are most affected, yet neither are the source of the problem." [http://www.macalester.edu/environmentalstudies/macenvreview/columbia.htm].

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