Vol. 71/No. 27      July 9, 2007

The lawsuit charges U.S. chemical manufacturers, which supplied the U.S. armed forces during the Vietnam War with the herbicide that became known as Agent Orange, for knowingly providing the poisonous defoliant to be sprayed indiscriminately. The lawsuit seeks compensation, payment for cleaning up contaminated areas, and medical care for more than 3 million Vietnamese suffering from illnesses linked to exposure to dioxin, a highly toxic carcinogen contained in Agent Orange.

“We have come to court seeking justice,” said plaintiff Nguyen Van Quy, speaking to the press and a support rally at nearby Foley Square Park before the hearing. “The chemical companies must be forced to pay compensation to me and my children,” he said. Nguyen was exposed to Agent Orange while serving as a communication line repairman in the Vietnam People’s Army in the 1970s.

More than 250 people, the majority of them supporters of the international campaign to win compensation for Vietnamese victims of dioxin poisoning, attended today’s court hearing.

Also present were Nguyen Thi Hong, Nguyen Muoi, and Vo Thanh Hai, who are suffering from Agent Orange-related diseases. The three traveled along with Nguyen Van Quy from Vietnam. In addition to appearing at the court hearing, they are touring U.S. cities to win support for their campaign.

During the Vietnam War, U.S. forces sprayed some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants over 5.5 million acres in south Vietnam, as well as in Laos and Cambodia. Washington claims they did so to deprive fighters of the National Liberation Front (NLF) of vegetation they used for cover and food, although civilian areas were targeted, as well. The massive use of the deadly herbicide during the decade-long assault on Vietnam also poisoned the water supplies and soil, leaving a lasting impact that continues to this day.

While the U.S. Veteran’s Administration recognizes about 13 illnesses as being linked to exposure to Agent Orange, Washington refuses to acknowledge that Agent Orange is responsible for the large number of cases of children born with birth defects and other ailments among the peoples of Southeast Asia. In February, the U.S. government agreed to pay $400,000 toward a study to remove dioxin residues in Vietnam’s Da Nong province, but it has otherwise refused to provide funds to clean up the areas that their bombs and chemical agents destroyed.

“I did not participate in the war,” said Vo Thanh Hai, who was exposed to dioxin while replanting trees in defoliated areas in Nam Dong province. “My mission was to rebuild the country after so many years of war. That is why my family did not hesitate to move in a region we knew was a hot spot for Agent Orange,” he said.

Today’s hearing was an appeal of the 2005 dismissal of the lawsuit on grounds of lack of “scientific information” linking the massive instances of birth defects, cancer, and other ailments directly to Washington’s use of Agent Orange. Earlier in the day, a related compensation case on behalf of U.S. Vietnam War veterans was argued here. In 1984, U.S. veterans exposed to Agent Orange won $180 million from the chemical companies.

At the court hearing, Jonathan Moore, the attorney representing the Vietnamese victims, argued that the companies are “directly liable for their conduct because they had consciously and deliberately kept the poison in the herbicide in order to maximize their profits, knowing that it would be used on a massive scale.” We are now seeing years later the fruit of that terrible poisonous product, said Moore. It could be months before the judges issue a decision on the appeal.  
 
 
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