JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF
Coca growers near Puerto Asis use gasoline and other simple chemicle compounds to process chopped leaves into coca paste, the first part of the cocaine production process. Behind this growers shack, right along a robust stream, lies a slag heap of chemically exhausted coca leaves. The U.S. State Department rebutts charges that its spray eradication campaign is a threat to the environment, saying it is nothing compared to the damage done by the chemicals the growers dump.
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