Use of Agent Orange Not A War Crime?

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GMW: Re: Use of Agent Orange Not A War Crime?

" GM WATCH " <info

 

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 15:59:46 GMT

 

 

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Use of Agent Orange Not A War Crime?

 

 

 

As Monsanto's President swans round the UK today telling us of our need

and desire for his company's products it's worth remembering the

Vietnamese Agent Orange victims still suffering the grievous

consequences of

a Monsanto product 30 years on.

 

" Eighty-two million litres of Agent Orange/dioxin was sprayed in

Vietnam in the war, killing millions of children and causing

deformities in

tens of thousands of others. The lawsuit hoped to claim justice for the

living, as well as the dead. " (item 2)

 

1.Re: GMW: Use of Agent Orange Not A War Crime?

2.30 years on

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Craig Sams cs

Re: GMW: Use of Agent Orange Not A War Crime?

 

Jonathan

 

FYI - the judge may have been right in dismissing the case but the

claimants may have sued on the wrong grounds. Agent Orange's active

ingredient is not dioxin, it's 2,4-D and a related herbicide. The

dioxin was

present because the manufacturer, Monsanto, were particularly sloppy in

their manufacturing practices and the product got through quality

control. Other manufacturers could have supplied 2,4-D - maybe they were

more expensive (Quality control costs money) or less well-connected in

Washington. Any dioxin has deleterious effects and it's estimated that

1/4 of the dioxin dropped on Vietnam is still in the ecosystem.

 

The Vietnamese should perhaps have joined Vietnam vets in their civil

suit as they are also victims of this same crap product. However, many

of the

victims are now dead. Once an area was sprayed, it was the GI's job to

march through the dead foliage flushing out Viet Cong, but by that time

the guerillas had scarpered and the main exposure was infantrymen and

Vietnamese farmers and their families.

 

Craig

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2.VOX NEWS: PRESS REVIEW, HANOI

http://www.vov.org.vn/2005_03_16/english/datnuocquabaochi%20.htm

 

*** Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper began a series of reports on the

grievous consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin. The newspaper's reporters

visited a small village by Nhat Le River in the central province of

Quang Binh, where many people are suffering from the severe effects of

the

defoliant. War veterans Do Duc Diu and Pham Thi Nuc have 15 children,

but 12 of them died and the others are abnormal. The newspaper moved

readers by photos of their daily life. On the family altar is a small

book

with the dates of death of the 12 children. Meanwhile, on the other

side of the ocean, the US Federal District Court in New York has just

dismissed a lawsuit by Vietnamese Agent Orange victims claiming

compensation from the 37 American chemical companies which produced

the deadly

dioxin. Eighty-two million litres of Agent Orange/dioxin was sprayed in

Vietnam in the war, killing millions of children and causing deformities

in tens of thousands of others. The lawsuit hoped to claim justice for

the living, as well as the dead.

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