Pursuant to the authority vested in me as Secretary of State, including under the Andean Counterdrug Initiative section of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, Division E, Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, (P.L. 108-7) (the “FOAA”), I hereby determine and certify that: (1) the herbicide mixture is being used in accordance with EPA label requirements for comparable use in the United States and any additional controls recommended by EPA for this program, and with the Colombian Environmental Management Plan for aerial fumigation; (2) the herbicide mixture, in the manner it is being used, does not pose unreasonable risks of adverse effects to humans or the environment; (3) complaints of harm to health or licit crops caused by such fumigation are evaluated and fair compensation is being paid for meritorious claims; and programs are being implemented by the United States Agency for International Development, the Government of Colombia, or other organizations, in consultation with local communities, to provide alternative sources of income in areas where security permits for small-acreage growers whose illicit crops are targeted for fumigation. 

This Certification shall be published in the Federal Register and copies shall be transmitted to the appropriate committees of Congress. 

 

______________                  ______________________

     Date                          Colin L. Powell

    Secretary of State

 

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