Vietnam's Agent Orange Victims File Suit

[Guest guest]

The three Vietnamese plaintiffs . . . Watch them win and our vets get NOTHING.

 

 

Vietnam's Agent Orange Victims File Suit

 

 

Email this Story

Feb 4, 10:33 PM (ET)By TINI TRAN

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Three Vietnamese claiming to be victims of Agent Orange

have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. companies that produced the defoliant

used by American forces during the Vietnam War.

The lawsuit, filed with the help of the Vietnam Association for Victims of

Agent Orange, was submitted to the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., on

Jan. 30, the group's vice president, Nguyen Trong Nhan, said Wednesday.

He said it was the first lawsuit of its kind filed by Vietnamese against U.S.

companies, and that the Brooklyn court was chosen because it had handled

similar cases filed by former U.S. soldiers.

Nhan said 10 companies are named in the suit, though he declined to specify

them by name. Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) and Monsanto were two of the primary

producers of Agent Orange.

 

 

 

 

The lawsuit seeks compensation for health problems caused by the defoliant,

but it does not specify a dollar figure, Nhan said.

Between 1962 and 1971, U.S. planes sprayed an estimated 21 million gallons of

defoliant, mostly Agent Orange, over Vietnamese forests where they believed

Communist troops might be hiding.

Many American veterans and Vietnamese have long blamed Agent Orange, which

contains the deadly component dioxin, for a variety of illnesses, including

cancer, diabetes and spina bifida. The U.S. government claims there is no direct

evidence linking dioxin with the illnesses.

However, about 10,000 Vietnam War veterans in the United States receive

disability benefits related to Agent Orange exposure.

The three Vietnamese plaintiffs were Nguyen Van Quy and two women, Nguyen Thi

Phi Phi and Duong Quynh Hoa. All three had worked in areas sprayed with Agent

Orange, Nhan said.

Phi suffered four miscarriages while Hoa has breast cancer and her blood

tests show high levels of dioxin, Nhan said. Quy also has cancer, and has two

children with birth defects.

Vietnam has said that the United States has a moral and spiritual

responsibility to heal the wounds of war. However, Hanoi has never formally

asked for

compensation for the victims of Agent Orange.

In 2000, the Vietnamese government began paying monthly stipends to

government workers, soldiers and civilians who helped fight for the Communist

side in

sprayed areas during the war.

Vietnam has said an estimated 1 million people were affected by the defoliant

during the war.

In 2002, Vietnam and the United States held their first ever joint scientific

conference on Agent Orange and its effects since the war ended in 1975.

A new study released last year found that very high levels of dioxin continue

to be found in food samples in Vietnam, decades after the defoliant was

sprayed over the country.