Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Viet Nam News, (July 17, 2005)

Though the lawsuit by Vietnamese Agent Orange victims against American chemical companies hit a wall in March, many foreigners and locals are working to make sure the issue gets the attention it deserves. Le Huong reports.

Tightly gripping a hoe in her blistered hands, Kristin Olson tries her best to strike deep blows beneath the soil’s surface. This is the first time the 12th grader has ever worked so hard. She and her friends are dripping with sweat from the tropical heat and humidity, a heat they are unaccustomed to in the US.

Olson and the rest of her team aren’t focusing on the heat as they hoe a garden in the Friendship Village in northern Ha Tay Province. Here, hundreds of veterans and victims of Agent Orange gather from throughout the country to receive tender loving care.

"We want to do something for them," says Olson. "I learned about Agent Orange in the States, but I couldn’t imagine the reality of the situation until I came here."

The village’s inhabitants, disabled children with malformed limbs resigned to wheelchairs or suffering from developmental delays resulting in deafness, blindness and the inability to speak, moved the visitors from a Quaker school in Pennsylvania. Quakers, a Christian movement founded in 17th Century England, rejects formal sacraments, ministry, and creed, and has been historically committed to pacifism and equality, as well as community service.

"I remember reading a biography of an American woman whose husband fought in Viet Nam and died of cancer from exposure to dioxin," says one of Olson’s friends. "She wrote that even the grass didn’t grow normally on her husband’s grave, while the surrounding graves were green and lush."

"I wonder if the same thing will happen to these children’s graves when they die," he adds, his eyes full of sorrow.

"Even though the people in the village and the veterans know we’re Americans," says Olson, "they don’t make us feel guilty or unwelcome because of the war. Instead they welcome us warmly with the little English they know."

"This is a school trip we’ve organized for students who want to know more about Viet Nam," says Edna Anne Valdepenas, the dean of students at George School. "As a Quaker school, we want our students to participate in community service. Through these types of two-week visits our students can begin to understand the past and the present."

The tip of the iceberg

What Olson and her friends observed at the Friendship Village is only "the tip of the iceberg" as nearly three million people suffer from the effects of Agent Orange in Viet Nam.

According to statistics gathered by American scientists and published in Nature magazine on April 17, 2003, approximately 80 million liters of poisonous chemicals were sprayed over Viet Nam between the years of 1961-1971.

The herbicide was used to destroy foliage and land used by Vietnamese combatants for cover and for crops they needed for food. Some 366 kg of dioxin, an active ingredient of Agent Orange that has been linked to cancer and reproductive problems in humans, was dropped, the study found.

"The war ended 30 years ago, but its consequences can be still seen in the environment, the people exposed to the chemicals, and even the F1 and F2 generations, who are suffering from birth defects," says Dang Vu Hiep, chairman of Viet Nam’s Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA).

Most of the victims are poor and are unable to take care of themselves, he adds.

VAVA was established in January, 2004, to provide victims with both spiritual and financial aid. Branch offices of the association have been set up in ten localities where the largest number of sufferers resides.

The association has consulted hundreds of affected people to clarify administrative procedures for State assistance for victims and their affected offspring.

According to Hiep, since 2000, the Government has supported veterans and children with between VND 85,000 and 300,000 per month, depending on the level of their condition.

The association also receives charitable donations from individuals and organizations in and outside the country which help build houses and provide financial assistance in difficult cases.

Last year, three houses were built at a total cost of VND 60 million for three families in Thai Binh, Thua Thien Hue and Dong Nai provinces.

"However, the association’s activities also serve a higher purpose: to gather case evidence for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims’ lawsuit against 37 American chemical companies, the suppliers of the toxic substance used in the war in Viet Nam," Hiep explains.

Long road to justice

On March 10, 2005, Judge Jack Weinstein of the Brooklyn Federal Court in New York City dismissed the lawsuit filed by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange.

In his 233-page decision, Weinstein ruled that the use of these chemicals during the war, although they are toxic, did not, in his opinion, fit the definition of "chemical warfare" and therefore did not violate international law.

The lawyers for the plaintiffs will appeal the decision later this year.

"Though scientists have admitted that dioxin is among the most toxic substances, our knowledge of the chemical is in the early stages," says Le Duc Tiet, deputy chairman of the Ha Noi Lawyers Association and an official at VAVA.

"It’s understandable why Judge Weinstein made his decision."

Tiet admitted that although the effects of dioxin in Viet Nam are obvious, the country’s scientists have much research to conduct on dioxin percentages in victims’ blood, samples of soil and water of areas exposed to Agent Orange, and the exact number of people and hectarage of land affected.

"It costs about US$ 11,000 to test dioxin levels in a single blood sample," he says. "That’s why we don’t have enough evidence for the suit."

For the appeal, whose hearings are scheduled to begin January 2006, VAVA has prepared 300 victim files that fit the lists of 13 diseases suffered by American veterans of the war.

Voice of support

"Whatever happens in the lawsuit, VAVA has succeeded in awakening the conscience of the world and of the US people about the consequences of war," says Merle Ratner, coordinator of the US-based Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign.

The organization, a national campaign in the US taking leadership from VAVA, is dedicated to achieving justice for victims of Agent Orange.

It consists of people from various fields and walks of life, including religious leaders, environmental, peace and labor activists.

Before the lawsuit, the US campaign helped organize public events for Vietnamese plaintiffs and raised funds from communities and Vietnamese people in the US.

The organization intends to bring Vietnamese victims to the US this autumn to meet the media and talk publicly about the appeal.

"I think the Vietnamese government should work bilaterally with the American government on the topic," Ratner says.

"The US government has a moral responsibility to address the consequences of their use of herbicides during the war," reiterates Andrew Wells Dang, regional representative of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, an American organization set up in the 1980s with an aim to improving relations between the US and Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia and Cuba.

"This includes direct assistance to the people affected by Agent Orange, environmental clean ups, and joint research to better understand the effects of dioxin."

He adds that the appeal process might take years and there is no guarantee of success. In the meantime, his NGO plans to look for new sources of support and funds for Vietnamese victims.

"Together with other American NGOs like the Veterans for Peace, the American Red Cross, and the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, we’ve tried to contribute to bettering the lives of Agent Orange victims in Viet Nam," says Hiep.

"There is a good chance that VAVA will win the lawsuit," says Tony Van Nguyen, a second generation Vietnamese-American active in peace and justice movements in the US.

"But what is first necessary is for more Americans to know about the case and to really support it."
To achieve this aim, he joined forces with the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign to organize community events in areas around the San Francisco Bay region, which includes cities like San Francisco and Oakland and universities like Stanford.

After what they’ve seen and experienced, Olson and her friends are planning to add their names to the lists of Americans supporting Vietnamese plaintiffs in the appeal.

"I now have an idea about what I can do for them," says Olson.

"I saw the conditions they are living in, and the dire need for donations and support."

She knows the first thing she can do is to sign on to http://www.petitiononline.com/AOVN/petition-sign.html and sign the petition for justice for Agent Orange victims. Once that petition gathers one million signatures it will be presented to Congress and the President.

A small first step, perhaps, but Olson and others like her are sure that once the public understands what happened to the people of Viet Nam, they too will be inspired to help create change. — VNS