Fwd: US refuses reparations for Agent Orange victims

[Guest guest]

Jun 5, 2006 4:52 PM

US refuses reparations for Agent Orange victims

 

 

 

[They aren't likely to aid Iraq's numerous victims of depleted uranium

either, I guess.]

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1655827.htm

 

The United States says it will not compensate Vietnam's Agent Orange

victims but will instead offer the latest scientific information and

technical advice to deal with the effects of the chemical.

 

The Vietnamese Government raised the issue of compensation in talks

with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Hanoi.

 

Millions of Vietnamese have continued to suffer illness and birth

defects in the 31 years since the end of the Vietnam War.

 

Vietnam's Government says those problems were caused by the spraying

of the chemical dioxin by US forces.

 

Known as Agent Orange, it had the effect of destroying crops and

killing forests, where guerrillas had hidden during the conflict in

south Vietnam.

 

The US compensates its own veterans for the effects caused by exposure

to Agent Orange but says it will provide only scientific and technical

advice to the Vietnamese Government.

 

A group of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange lost a damages case

against the American manufacturers of the chemical last year and are

now appealing against the US court decision.