Agent Orange
Nejauši uzmanību piesaistīja EuroNews sižets par to, kā Vjetnamas kara ASV puses veterāni ir apvienojušies spēkiem ar vjetnamiešu veterāniem, lai panāktu no ASV ķīmiskās rūpniecības uzņēmumiem kompensāciju par kaitējumu, ko viņiem nodarījusi herbicīda (defolianta) Agent Orange izmantošana Vjetnamas kara laikā ar mērķi neļaut vjetkongiešu kaujiniekiem paslēpties džungļos. Tāpēc mazliet paklejoju tīmekļa plašumos.

Agent Orange and "Super Orange" were the nicknames given to a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange was used from 1961 to 1971, and was by far the most used of the so-called "rainbow herbicides" utilized during the program. Degradation of Agent Orange (..) released dioxins, which have caused harm to the health of those exposed during the Vietnam War.

A 1983 international conference on dioxin in Ho Chi Minh City highlighted many varieties of congenital malformations that were common in Vietnam after the Vietnam War, but rare in other parts of the world: malformed nervous systems (including anencephalus or the absence of the brain — sometimes entirely); deformed (including absence of) eyes, ears and noses; facial and auricular anomalies; deformed (including absence of) limbs; conjoined twins; cleft lips and cleft palates. Dioxin is also notorious for wrecking the human reproductive system.

"The chemical companies did not have to produce a product that was laced with poisons. In fact the government asked them to produce a herbicide that was not dangerous to men, or to women or to children, that was the specification in the government contract. So they didn't have to do that, but they did it - and they knew they were doing it, and they continued to do it - and they did it because they wanted to make money."

Since the 1980s, several lawsuits have been filed against the companies who produced Agent Orange (..). American veterans of the war on Vietnam were seeking recognition of Agent Orange, compensation and treatment for maladies that they and their children suffered from (..).

(..) Many Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange have not been able to receive promised medical care through the [United States] Veteran's Association medical system and only with rare exception have their affected children received healthcare assistance from the government.

Vietnam veterans and their families who brought the original Agent Orange lawsuit stated 25 years ago that the government "is just waiting for us all to die". They alleged that most of those still alive will succumb to the effects of toxic exposure over the next several years, before age 65.

(..) In January 2004 the Vietnam Association for the Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin’s and three Agent Orange victims launched a test lawsuit in a US court against 37 US chemical corporations. The number of individual plaintiffs increased to 28 in September 2004, but the case was dismissed in March before any oral argumentation began.

The Vietnamese have never been compensated.

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Wikipedia
greenleft.org

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