NewsTracker Answers for week of May 18, 2015

Q: Citing concerns that the spray causes cancer, Colombia is defying U.S. wishes and halting the aerial spraying of a herbicide to destroy coca leaf crops used to make cocaine. Where is Colombia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Colombia is one of the closest allies of the United States in Latin America and its most stalwart partner on anti-drug policy. While Colombia cut its illegal coca production, Peru has become the top coca leaf grower. Peru is Colombia's neighbor to the . . .

A. Northeast

B. East

C. South

D. Southwest

C. Colombia is bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the northeast by Venezuela; to the east by Brazil; to the southwest by Ecuador and south by Peru. Columbia is the only major coca producer which allowed the aerial spraying.

Q: The World Health Organization said in March that glyphosate, the chemical used in the Colombia spraying, probably causes cancer in humans. What southeast Asia nation is still suffering the health effects from another herbicide sprayed by the U.S. military during the 1960s?

A. Japan

B. North Korea

C. South Korea

D. Vietnam

D.  The U.S. sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War. The herbicides contained dioxin, which causes birth defects, cancer and other illnesses. At least 150,000 Vietnamese children have been born with severe birth defects since the war ended in 1975.

Q: What has happened to the street price of illegal cocaine since the U.S. “war on drugs” began trying to eradicate coca leaf production in Latin America?

A. Price has risen

B. Price has fallen

C. Price is the same

B. The U.S. street price of a gram of cocaine is about 74 percent cheaper than it was 30 years ago, according to figures from the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Q: People in South America have been chewing coca leaves for thousands of years to treat what problem?

A. Altitude sickness

B. Malaria

C. Childhood diseases

D. Sleeping sickness

A. In the sierra of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina, coca has been consumed as a stimulant and cure for altitude sickness. The sale and consumption of coca leaves - but not cocaine - is legal in these countries.