* Tran Xuan Thu, Vice-President and General Secretary of VAVA and head of the Vietnam Agent Orange victim delegation to attend the oral argument on June 18: Justice and equality will become to Vietnamese victims.

“We believe that justice and equality will be finally handed to the Vietnamese Agent Orange victims. At the International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin held in Hanoi in 2006, we confirmed that “Vietnam’s studies together with close co-operation with international scientists clearly showed that Agent Orange/dioxin causes immune deficiency, endocrine disorders and human adaptive abilities and is a cancer-causing substance. Many people believed that dioxin creates hereditary impacts through many generations. Some even noted that dioxin effects genes. Therefore, the frequency of infecting normal and transmissible diseases among those exposed to this dioxin is significantly higher than others living in the areas free from Agent Orange. In addition, we supported the existence of the dioxin-related diseases listed by the US National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine between 1994 and 1995.” 

* Ms Nguyen Thi Hong from Bien Hoa city of Dong Nai province, a victim and member of the delegation to attend the oral argument: I hope that mothers having children as victims will live a better life.

“I was found to have cirrhosis, an enlarged spleen, a hemopoesis disorder, breast cancer, high blood pressure and cerebral anaemia. My health is now very bad. My biggest wish is to struggle for the US to accept the fact 4.8 million people in Vietnam have been exposed to dioxin and the US chemical companies should take responsibility of compensating the victims. I also hope that Vietnamese mothers having children who are victims of Agent Orange will face less difficulty due to diseases.”

* David Cline, President of Veterans for Peace and co-founder of Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign: It is time to really heal the wounds of that war.

“We are supporting the international petition drive in support of the VAVA lawsuit. We are also planning to encourage sympathetic representatives and senators to introduce legislation in Congress for the US government to step up to the plate and provide compensation and medical assistance, if not for political reasons, then for moral and humanitarian purposes. It is time to really heal the wounds of that war, not to ignore them or let them fade into history.”

Ms Susan Kedgley, chairwoman of the New Zealand Parliament’s Health Committee and member of the Green Party: US veterans have been compensated, why not Vietnamese victims?

“It is shameful that after spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam, the US has not done anything to help overcome the consequences and compensate millions of Vietnamese victims, while continuing to deny their moral or legal responsibilities toward the crisis they initiated. The US administration has granted free treatment to US veterans to cure many diseases caused by Agent Orange and at the same time they refused to provide any assistance for Vietnamese victims suffering the same diseases.”

Mr Soek Jong Won, chairman of RoK Association for AO-Connected Disabled Veterans: RoK veterans support Vietnam’s lawsuit.

In the RoK, the issue of Agent Orange victims rose in 1992 due to the pressure of the public and the fact that RoK veterans who involved in the war in Vietnam suffered the same diseases as the US veterans. In 2005, as many as 93,830 RoK victims received treatment. The RoK high court also made a ruling, asking the US chemical companies to compensate the victims. We support the lawsuit filed by VAVA against the US chemical companies.