Nhan Dan - According to US procedural law, the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is set to hear litigation in the lawsuit brought by Vietnamese Agent Orange victims against the US chemical companies which produced Agent Orange and supplied to the US army during the war in Vietnam. Not only the Vietnamese victims but also justice waits for the judicial verdict by the US court following the oral argument.

The chemical war launched by the US in Vietnam lasted from 1961 to 1971. According to the US Pentagon’s statistics, the US Air Force sprayed 72 million litres of Agent Orange which contained 170 kilogrammes of dioxin. However, the results of a research carried out by scientists from the Colombia University in New York published on the Nature magazine on April 17, 2003 showed much higher figures, including 100 million litres of Agent Orange and 340 kilogrammes of dioxin. The research also pointed out that as many as 3,851 communes from Quang Tri in the central part to Ca Mau in the south were exposed to this toxic chemical and 4.8 million Vietnamese people have become victims of Agent Orange.

It is a fact that Agent Orange victims are the poorest among the poor people in Vietnam. The victims and their families have suffered two miseries at the same time: poverty and disease together with an unanswerable complex as to why they are experiencing such painful lives. We visited many families of Agent Orange victims in Hanoi, Haiphong, Hung Yen, Thai Nguyen, Nghe An, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Ho Chi Minh City and several provinces in the west-eastern part of the south and found the same reality, that they are facing many difficulties in terms of accommodation, food, job, medicine and education for their children.

Mr  Hoang Van Thuc, 63, who lives in Thach Dong commune, Thanh Thuy district, Phu Tho province, said: “After the war, I returned home and our son (Hoang Chi Cong) and daughter (Hoang Thi Nguyet) were born in 1976 and 1979. Unfortunately, they suffered nervous disorders, both are dumb and unable to care for themselves. I took them to hospital and the doctors confirmed that they were affected by Agent Orange which the US planes had dropped over the forests where I lived for many years.”

Feeling unhappy with the pains which he and the children are suffering, he sent a letter to the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs and proposed to have it delivered to the US President, asking them to take responsibility for solving the consequences caused by the US Army’s defoliation campaign during their aggressive war against Vietnam.

In Haiphong, there is a heartbreaking story of a war veteran who used to fight in the south. Eleven out of his 15 children were unable to live while the others were born with deformed hands and legs or blind. The only wish of the couple is to have a normal child but it is impossible.

It is of great concern that the aftermath of Agent Orange has not only affected the second generation but also the next generation. Scientists have warned that such terrible pains will continue to inflict its consequences on more generations in the future.

Late professor and doctor Le Cao Dai, a famous Vietnamese scientist, devoted much of his efforts to researching the damage caused by of highly toxic herbicide dioxin (Agent Orange) on the environment and Vietnamese people. He said: “Dioxin is the most toxic substance among the toxic chemicals discovered by mankind and one billionth of a gramme of dioxin infiltrating a kilogramme of a body is enough to cause serious diseases such as liver, lung, brain, prostate cancers, birth defects, enzyme transform disorders amongst others. And only 85 grammes of dioxin can kill the population of big city if it infects their bodies.

Despite numerous economic difficulties, the Vietnamese Party, State and people have made great efforts in recent years to help ease the pain and suffering of Agent Orange victims. A number of priority policies have been issued to support war veterans, former young volunteers and their children, thus reducing part of the difficulties and misery of the victims. The Fund for Support of Agent Orange Victims within the Vietnam Red Cross and the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) have provided practical assistance to thousands of victims through different ways including aid, soft loans, vocational training, job creation, orthopedic surgeries and donation of wheelchairs.

As a result, the lives of part of the Vietnamese victims have been improved, however they still need further support to live a normal life. Therefore, organisations and individuals should share the pain and difficulty faced by Agent Orange victims by raising money or providing spiritual encouragement so as to help them live a happier life.

Regarding the upcoming lawsuit filed by VAVA and Vietnamese victims, the Vietnamese people call upon the domestic and global public to raise their voice for the justice and the right to live for Vietnamese victims, urging the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to take a judicial ruling and asking the US chemical companies to compensate them.

Justice will belong to VAVA and Vietnamese victims!

·       * On June 18, 2007 (as planned), the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals will open an oral argument between the plaintiffs (VAVA and Vietnamese Agent Orange victims) and the defendants (US chemical companies). The plaintiffs have prepared files and evidence to prove that Agent Orange/dioxin is a toxic chemical so as to affirm that Judge Jack Weinstein’s ruling is wrong.