Colombia moves to resume use of risky coca-killing spray

Colombia's new right-wing government has created a loophole to resume spraying coca crops with an herbicide linked to cancer in humans, it emerged Friday.

The South American nation in 2015 suspended the aerial spraying of the herbicide called glyphosate.

But the administration of President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office this month vowing to smash drug-running armed groups, lifted the ban in a resolution dated August 18 and made public Friday.

The repeal "does not imply the automatic resumption" of spraying the substance from aircraft, the document stated, but allows for fumigation with glyphosate if minimal adverse effects are ensured.

The ban over a decade ago made resumption of the practice conditional on measures to take communities into account and prevent health and environmental damage.

Farmers in Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, say spraying with glyphosate does more harm to their livelihoods than to drug cartels.

The World Health Organization meanwhile believes the herbicide is "probably carcinogenic to humans."

De la Espriella, a millionaire ex-lawyer who used to represent drug-trafficking paramilitaries, has received US President Donald Trump's enthusiastic backing.

Since he took office, Colombia has joined the Shield of the Americas, Trump's anti-cartel alliance of Latin American countries including Argentina, Ecuador and El Salvador.