Oct 27 2008
Victims of Agent Orange Speak Out
| the entire program
Earlier this month, members of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange or VAVA, submitted a petition to the US Supreme Court. The Vietnamese plaintiffs are urging the justices to reconsider a Court of Appeals verdict on a lawsuit against Agent Orange manufacturing companies such as Dow Chemical and Monsanto. In the earlier decision it was ruled that the effects of Agent Orange on people during the Vietnam War were unintended as the chemical was supposedly not known to be toxic to humans. As VAVA awaits a response to the filed petition, an all-women delegation from Vietnam is currently in the United States on a nationwide speaking tour. The delegates, including victims of Agent Orange, are calling for compensation for the Vietnamese people as well as affected U.S. Veterans of the war from not only manufacturing companies, but also the U.S. government. During the course of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military had sprayed eighty million liters of Agent Orange. Leaving a legacy behind, the toxic chemicals have caused birth defects in hundreds of thousands of cases in Vietnam.
GUESTS: Dang Hong Nhut, directly exposed to Agent Orange, Tran Thi Hoan, born to parents exposed to Agent Orange, Dinh Thi Minh Huyen, interpreter and member of the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation and Vietnam Association for Protection of Children’s Rights, Merle Ratner, Co-Coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief Responsibility Campaign
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