I wonder if you have seen any effects of the war on Coca being waged across Colombia and Peru (amongst other countries).
http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0008a/copyright/amazoncokefungus.html
Fusarium Exosporium fungus sprayed over vast areas of peasant Coca farm land and non drug related farm land indiscriminately.
"U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) planes spraying coca fields with the fungus."
"The soil-borne mold infects crops by secreting toxins into their roots, which then putrefy and dissolve the plant's cells, often eventually killing them, or worse, poisoning humans or animals who feed on contaminated plants or plant products."
"..the fungus could remain in the soil for up to 40 years"
"The mutated fungi can cause disease in a large number of crops, including tomatoes, peppers, flowers, corn and vines"
"The toxin fumonisin B1 produced by fusarium has been found to cause edema of the lungs in pigs, cancer in rats, and cancer of the esophagus in human beings.
But other strains of Fusarium are even more dangerous, and have been found to contain nivalenol, which causes vomiting, diarrhoea, bleeding and skin lesions, and deooxynivalenol -- or vomitoxin -- which has been used as an agent of chemical warfare."
Further poking about on the web led me to discover more shocking information on this debacle.
Farmers who have switched over to planting plantain, yucca and peas have had their crops devestated, and soil treated with the fungus remains unproductive and useless for agriculture forcing mass migrations of peasant farmers into previously untouched rainforest where they slash and burn to make way for their new crops whatever they may be.
The farcical nature of government intervention in the Coca trade has led to Coca farmers being aided by the military (esp. Colombia and Peru) during the 80's even to the degree of having military helicopters flying the drugs out of the less accessible regions. The complete reversal of this official policy to comply with US pressure has lead to the increase in control and protection of the trade by the militia in Colombia who are not held accountable by their government since they aid in the persecution of the FARC guerillas who used to enjoy an equal status with the militia.
Perversley the FARC guerillas are now encouraging farmers in many areas to switch from Coca to other crops in order to hurt the funding of the militia by the drugs trade. So the "baddies" are encouraging the very thing that the US are aiming for, and the Colombian government sanctioned militia who now control up to 80% of the country (the official military are so poorly funded they can barely control 10 - 20%) are the ones sustaining the continued farming of Coca! They also have bought their way into almost every sector of public life in Colombia making eradicating the trade almost impossible.
I would have thought that the amount of money spent by the US and local governments trying to eradicate the Coca farming and cocaine trade would have been better spent subsidising the farming of alternative diverse crops such as cocoa, bananas etc. rather than seeding the land with deadly toxic fungi rendering it barren. But I guess that would be defeating the vested interests of a great many in power.
-Edit- just found this which looks worrying!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20090723&articleId=14503
