The recent ruling of a court in California, the US, on the link between weedkiller produced by Monsanto and cancer, has sparked hope for the lawsuit against the same company launched by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange.
After a month-long trial, the US jury determined Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller caused cancer for Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old former groundskeeper, and that the corporation failed to warn him of the health hazards from exposure.
The US chemical group has for long been associated with the Agent Orange issue in Vietnam. It was one of the main suppliers of more than 80 million litres of herbicides, including 44 million litres of AO, that US troops sprayed over southern Vietnam from 1961-1971.
Many out of 4.8 million Vietnamese agent orange victims have died of numerous diseases, while millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases due to the chemical’s effects.-VNA
