PHA-Exchange> Judge Decides to Let Off Dow & Monsanto for Poisoning Millions in Vietnam with Agent Orange

[Tawnia Queen]

Judge Decides to Let Off Dow & Monsanto for Poisoning Millions in Vietnam with
Agent Orange

 From the BBC...

Vietnam Fury at Agent Orange Case Vietnamese plaintiffs have condemned a US
court's decision to dismiss their legal action against manufacturers of Agent
Orange during the Vietnam War. "It is a wrong decision, unfair and
irresponsible," said Nguyen Trong Nhan, vice president of Vietnam's Association
of Agent Orange (VAVA).

A Vietnamese girl who suffers from Agent Orange effects is seen here in
2004. A federal judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of
millions of Vietnamese people who were harmed by the herbicide Agent Orange,
used widely during the Vietnam War. (AFP/File/Hoang Dinh Nam)

He said his group was thinking of filing an appeal.

The judge in the case said allegations the chemical caused birth defects and
illness had not been proved.

"There is no basis for any of the claims of plaintiffs under the domestic 
law of
any nation or state or under any form of international law. The case is
dismissed," said US District Judge Jack B Weinstein.

But Mr Nguyen disagreed.

"Weinstein has turned a blind eye before the obvious truth. It's a shame 
for him
to put out that decision. We just want justice, nothing more.

"This is just another war that could be long and difficult, as was the Vietnam
War. We are determined to pursue it until the very end, until the day we will
be able to ask for justice," he said.

Test case Former North Vietnamese solder Ngyuen Van Quy, who is being treated
for liver and stomach cancer and whose two children are disabled, also said he
would not give up his struggle for compensation.

"I'll fight, not just for myself, but for millions of Vietnamese victims. Those
who produced these toxic chemicals must take responsibility for their action,"
he said.

The plaintiffs had sought compensation from pharmaceutical firms including
Monsanto, Dow Chemical and Hercules Incorporated, for the alleged effects of
Agent Orange, a defoliation agent used to deprive communist Vietnamese forces
of forest cover.

The plaintiffs argued that the chemical caused birth defects, miscarriages and
cancer.

The civil action was the first attempt by Vietnamese plaintiffs to claim
compensation for the effects of Agent Orange.

The defendants argued that the US government was responsible for how the
chemical was used, not the manufacturers.

Legal precedent However, in 1984, several chemical companies paid $180m (£93m)
to settle a lawsuit with US war veterans, who said that their health had been
affected by exposure to the substance.

Ngo Thanh Nhan, a professor who participated in a campaign to drum up support
for the case, said this fuelled the Vietnamese plaintiffs' argument. "If the
medical files [of Vietnamese victims] are not convincing enough, we will use
the ones of the American soldiers," he said in Tuoi Tre newspaper. "There's no
reason why those who sprayed chemical products got compensation for their
contamination... and the direct victims' suit is rejected by an American
court."

Agent Orange was named after the colour of its container. As well as herbicides
which stripped trees bare, it contained a strain of dioxin.

In time, some contend, the dioxin entered the food chain and caused a
proliferation of birth defects.

Some babies were born without eyes or arms, or were missing internal organs.

Activists say three million people were exposed to the chemical during the war,
and at least one million suffer serious health problems today.

Copyright 2005 BBC



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----------

Tawnia Queen
International Publications Associate
Hesperian Foundation -- Publishing for Community Health and Empowerment
1919 Addison Street, #304
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
Phone: 510-845-1447, ext. 219   Fax: 510-845-9141
E-mail: tawnia at hesperian.org    http://www.hesperian.org
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