Publications on

Colombia and the
“War on Drugs”

This page provides links to documents published by Las Lianas, or written by Las Lianas staff or board members for other publications, in the period 1999 to 2005, on health and environmental impacts of aerial spraying of herbicides as part of the "war on drugs" in Colombia.

Casualties in the “War on Drugs”: Traditional farms destroyed with herbicides—Elsa Nivia and Rachel Massey, Global Pesticide Campaigner, August 1999, Vol. 9, no. 2.

Echoes of Vietnam—Rachel Massey, Rachel’s Environment & Health News, #713, December 07, 2000
Project Censored selected this article for an award in 2003.

Health and Environmental Effects of Herbicide Spray Campaigns in Colombia—Jim Oldham & Rachel Massey, March 2002
An overview of the effects of US sponsored herbicide spraying in Colombia on human health and the environment.

Aerial Spraying Factsheet, March 2002
A four-page synopsis of important health and environmental effects of aerial spraying, this fact sheet summarizes our longer Health & Environmental Effects, listed above.

Critique of the "Nariño Health Report": Health Effects of Spray Campaigns in Colombia—Rachel Massey, March 2002
A response to a State Department sponsored health report that purports to show the spray campaigns have created no adverse health effects in Colombia.

Statement to Congress—Rachel Massey & Jim Oldham, September 2002
A critique of the omissions and scientific weakness of an EPA review of the herbicide spray campaign

Statement to the Colombian Consejo de Estado, September 2003
A Friend of the Court brief produced by Las Lianas and several scientist colleagues. The letter supports a Colombian court decision to halt aerial spraying of drug crops pending studies of health and environmental impacts. We submitted the statement in English and Spanish.

New Science on Roundup, June 2005
A factsheet on emerging threats to human health and wildlife.