Agent Orange victims get over 4.6 mil backing signatures

T4, 10/20/2004 - 17:10

Over 4.6 million signatures were collected, some online at www.petitiononline.com, to support Vietnamese Agent Orange victims in their lawsuit against the U.S. makers of the herbicide, announced an association.

The Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin on Oct. 12 said that by the end of September they had raised more than 1.4 billion Vietnam dong to help support the victims.

On January 31, 2004, three Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and the Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims Association filed a lawsuit at the U.S. Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York against 37 U.S. chemical firms that produced Agent Orange.

The society collected over 4 million signatures during its campaigns in Vietnam. Meanwhile, more than 631,000 people worldwide added their names to the online petition at www.petitiononline.com/AOVN/petition.html as of October 12.

The petition web page was created by Len Aldis, secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society. Other versions of the appeal in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese and Korean are also available at http://www.aafv.org/petition/petition-franc.html, http://www.vysa.jp/aovn/ and www.vnkronline.net.

Dubbed for the color of the barrel in which it was shipped, Agent Orange was the most effective chemical herbicide sprayed by United States Armed Forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It contains extremely toxic byproducts known as dioxins. Exposure to dioxins has been associated with severe birth defects and certain rare cancers in humans.

The lawsuit “raises serious issues,” including that of genocide, said U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein who presided over the case during a pre-trial hearing in March.

More than 19 million gallons of Agent Orange containing 500 kg of dioxins were sprayed in South Vietnam between 1961 and 1970. The U.S. estimates the number of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims ranges from 2 to 4 million among some 4.8 million Vietnamese who were exposed to Agent Orange during the war.

Reported by G.M. – Translated by The Vinh.
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 13 October, 2004, 01:05:37 (GMT+7)
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