"Were peasant farmers poisoned by the U.S. war on drugs? A jury has the case.", 19 Apr 2017

After a 15-year legal battle, a U.S. jury will begin deliberations Wednesday over whether a U.S. security contractor must pay damages to as many as 2,000 Ecuadoran farmers who say they were poisoned by the U.S. and Colombian governments’ years-long, coca-eradication campaign...“This is a historic case,” said plaintiffs attorney and International Rights Advocates Director Terrence P. Collingsworth. “A jury will finally [decide whether] DynCorp aerially sprayed a toxic poison . . . on thousands of Ecuadoran farmers and killed their crops, their animals, and caused untold misery for the farmers and their families.”...DynCorp spokesmen have said that health problems experienced by farmers were because of other causes...Company attorneys...denied that anyone acted recklessly or intentionally to spray the farmers...[Also refers to Monsanto]