On January 31, 2004, Vietnam Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims Association (VAVA) and 3 victims, Phan Thi Phi Phi, Nguyen Van Quy and Duong Quynh Hoa, filed a lawsuit against the US Chemical Companies for manufacturing toxic chemicals and supplying them to the US Army for use in the war of aggression against Vietnam. The suit was filed at the US Federal Court in Brooklyn County (New York) which had once tried the US Vietnam Veterans’ case against the US Chemical Companies for compensation.nbsp;nbsp;

Procedure of the Agent Orange/Dioxin case

On June 29 – July 14, 2004 a 7-member team of American lawyers arrived in Vietnam, worked with Vietnam Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims Association and met with some of the victims to make supplements to the dossier. The lawyers’ visit was a great sucess, helping them complete the file and see with their own eyes the victims’ awful physical and mental sufferings.nbsp;

At 11 am. on February 28, 2005, the lawyers of the both sides (the plaintiff and the defendant) proceeded with their arguments at court, starting the adjudication of the Agent Orange/Dioxin case.

Less than 10 days after the public hearings for the Vietnam Agent Orange/Dioxin case at the US Federal Court in Brooklyn County (New York), on March 11 the Chief Judge Jack B. Weinstein abruptly ruled out the case for reason that the US Army’s use of defoliants manufactured and supplied by the US Chemical Companies in the Vietnam war had not been prohibited by the US legislation and international law, as ofnbsp; early April 1975, the US Administration had not banned the use of toxic chemicals, while the country had not been a signatory to any international instrument related to this issue. Lawyer William H. Goodman, a member of the

lawyers’ league representingnbsp; the Vietnam Agent Orange/Dioxin victims, asserted that Judge Weinstein made “a basic and evident error” when ruling that the Agent Orange was not toxic. Lawyer Goodman said he nbsp;would lodge an appeal and believed the case could only be ruled by a US Supreme Court. In the meantime, Lawyer Jonathan Moore, representative of the plaintiff’s lawyers league, has pledged to pursue the case to the end together with other American lawyers, in order to bring justice to the Vietnam Agent Orange/Dioxin victims.

On April 8, 2005 the lawyers’ team representing the Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victims lodged an appeal to the US Federal Court in region 2 in New York and dismissed the verdict on March 10 by Chief Judge Weinstein of the US Federal Court in Brooklyn County (New York)nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;

Responses to the verdict by the US Federal Court

nbsp;Le Dung, Spokesman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
“The Vietnamese people are utterly discontented at the March 10, 2005 verdict by the US Federal Court in Brooklyn County (New York). Whatever verdict can never change the fact that the toxic Agent Orange/Dioxin used by the US Army in the Vietnam War has wrought extremely heavy consequences on the people and environment of Vietnam. More than 40 years has elapsed but it has kept seriously affecting the Vietnamese socio-economic life, which has been re-affirmed by the researches conducted by quite a few Vietnamese and American scientists. Millions of Agent Orange/Dioxin victims have been suffering from deadly diseases and dozens of thousands of children of their younger generations continued to be born with inherent deformities, leading an arduous material life, with wretched physical and mental misery. The lawsuit lodged by the Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victims against the US Chemical Companies for their manufacture of Agent Orange/Dioxin is justifiable. The chemical firms that manufactured the toxin should take responsibility for all Agent Orange/Dioxin victims, not only the American Vietnam Veterans but the victims in Vietnam as well…”

Vietnam Fatherland Front strongly protests against the verdict by the Agent Orange/Dioxin court:
The Presidium of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee has issued a statement protesting against the erroneous verdict on the Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victims’ case. The statement clearly points out:

“The Presidium of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee vehemently protests against the aforesaid verdict by the US Federal Court in Brooklyn County (New York) because it is completely immoral and unjust, ignoring the world people’s progressive opinion on human rights to live and to enjoy vital interests. The verdict can never cover up, conceal nor change the fact that the toxic Agent Orange/Dioxin used by the US Army in its war of aggression against Vietnam has wrought extremely serious consequences on the Vietnamese people and environment. Vietnam Fatherland Front earnestly and urgently calls upon the governments, the international organizations, the NGOs, the scientists, the social activists and people of the world, particularly the Americans, to raise their voices against this erroneous verdict by the US Federal Court in Brooklyn County, and step up their activities in support of the Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims and their lawsuit, for peace and justice.”

Statement by Vietnam Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims Association (VAVA):
“This is an absurd, abnormal and unjust verdict. It is absurd because as early as the 1990s, the US Academy of Sciences and the US Faculty of Medicine already acknowledged the Agent Orange as a catalyst to 13 diseases and ailments on the human body.nbsp; In 1996, President Bill Clinton had to make his apologies, acknowledging some more diseases and giving instructions to the US Secretary for Veterans to elaborate policies for compensation to American Vietnam veterans infected with Agent Orange/Dioxin. This verdict rejects millions of Vietnamese victims’ right to compensation for their lives and injuries caused by the devastating after-effects of the Agent Orange/Dioxin and abets the crime of manufacturing and utilizing toxic chemicals to inflict on the Vietnamese victims untold heart-rending sufferings and losses.”

Vietnam Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims Association (VAVA) vows to keep promoting the case till the triumph of justice, not only for the lives of the Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victims, but for the legitimate interests of all Agent Orange/Dioxin victims in many other countries, including the US.

Story: Vuong Mo