A judicial ban on aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate to eliminate coca crops should be modified, Colombia’s President Ivan Duque said on [March 7], because expansion of the crop since the ban threatens peace efforts.

The Andean country suspended aerial fumigation of coca, the raw ingredient in cocaine, with the Monsanto herbicide in 2015 after the World Health Organization linked glyphosate to cancer. The decision was later backed by the Constitutional Court.

But at a hearing on [March 7], Duque said greater production of coca in the wake of the decision was threatening to derail efforts to end more than five decades of conflict.

“My respectful request is to modify the ruling, a modification that takes into consideration these serious effects,” Duque told the court, which is considering the case but has not set a date to rule on possible changes.

Read full, original article: Colombia’s Duque, in court, defends use of herbicide to destroy coca crops