Cao Thi Ut, an Agent Orange victim in Tan Thanh commune of Kim Son district, Ninh Binh province (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese victimsof Agent Orange (AO) have once again had their hopes for justice rekindled. Butdespite the recent landmark ruling against Monsanto in a San Francisco court,major obstacles remain on the path towards justice.
On August 11, the US court ruled that themultinational agrochemical corporation was liable for the health issues of aformer groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson, who claims that Monsato’s weed-killerproduct (Roundup) contains carcinogens that cause his cancer.
The company was ordered to pay 289 million USDas compensation for past and future economic losses and punitive damages to theAmerican citizen, in a closely watched case that bears many similarities to thelegal battle waged on behalf of Vietnamese victims.
The US chemical group Monsanto has longbeen associated with the Agent Orange devastation in Vietnam.
It was one of the main suppliers of morethan 80 million litres of herbicides which contain Agent Orange that US troopssprayed over southern Vietnam in the period from 1961-71, to clear out thedense tracts of tropical jungles that served as the hideouts of the Vietnamesemilitary forces.
Of the total volume, 44 million litres wereAgent Orange, containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin. Studies have showedthat only 80 grams of dioxin in the water supply system of a city of 8 millioncould kill off the entire population, still, Monsanto and other chemical groupsinsist that their products were not harmful to humans’ health.
The Government of Vietnam estimates thataround 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic substance. Threemillion people have grappled with debilitating diseases including various typesof cancers, neural damage and reproductive failures. Birth deformities andmental impairments continue to haunt even the third and fourth generation ofdescendants of those originally exposed to dioxin, forty years after the warended.
[Video: US court ruling on Monsanto gives hope to Vietnam’s AO lawsuit]
Quach Thanh Vinh, Chief of Office andDirector of Liaison Lawyers Office for the Hanoi-based Vietnam Association forVictims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), said that the court ruling set afortuitous legal precedent that will help settle similar cases in which victimsof chemical toxins seek compensation, including the association’s own case.
The association filed its firstclass-action suit in 2004, which pinned the blame on a total of 37 US chemical manufacturers– including Dow Chemical and Monsanto. However, the case was rejected threetimes by American courts, which claimed that there was no legal basis for theplaintiff’s claims. The courts said that since the chemical companies producedthese herbicides on request by the federal Government, they could not be heldliable for their effects.
The court also ruled that at that time,there was little concrete evidence establishing a causal relation between theherbicide Agent Orange and the health issues of the victims.
Fortunately, recent scientific achievementshave made it much easier to identify whether the illnesses were caused by thedioxin.
In the US, the Institute of Medicine of theNational Academy of Sciences has identified 13 diseases related to Agent Orangeoccurring in American veterans after their service in Vietnam. These 13diseases also exist in the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange.
In addition, as their immune systems were debilitated by the toxin, theVietnamese victims also easily fell ill to a siege of other diseases that ahealthy person could easily overcome.
The association is gearing up for the nextlegal endeavours on behalf of nearly 3 million Vietnamese victims.
But numerous American lawyers sympatheticto the cause and persistent in their pursuit of justice have urged Vietnameseplaintiffs to wait for a second lawsuit, Vinh said.
The enlisting of American lawyers wascritical as the case involves complaints against US-based companies, accordingto US laws and US judges will be presiding, according to Vinh.
“Their expertise with the US legal systemand their support for us will certainly help tip the scales in our favour.”
The association, aside from litigationattempts, is still tirelessly working to bring justice to the Vietnamesevictims by seeking support from influential politicians, scientists andprogressive-minded people across the world, and lobbying sympathetic lawmakersin the US to draft bills asking the US Government to accept responsibility forthe devastation in Vietnam as well as to take part in clean-up efforts and helpthe victims.
Currently, the US has organised severalclean-up operations at some of their former military bases such as the Da Nangairport or Bien Hoa airport, provide humanitarian assistance for people withdisabilities in Vietnam, including victims of Agent Orange, but these effortsstill can not fully make up for the devastation, pain and loss that AgentOrange causes in Vietnam.
“No matter how difficult and prolonged this casemight be, we won’t ever give up on it, for the sake of the millions ofVietnamese victims of Agent Orange,” said Quach Thanh Vinh said.-VNA
VNA
