Press release of Vietnamese Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign

Supreme Court’s Denial of Vietnamese Agent Orange Lawsuit Denies Justice

Corporate Campaign Launched Against Dow & Monsanto

The Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign deeply regrets the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to review the dismissal of the lawsuit of Vietnam’s more than three million aggrieved Agent Orange victims against 37 chemical companies that manufactured this deadly chemical weapon! 

We are also saddened by the decision not to review the dismissal of two actions brought by U.S. Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange, who did not receive compensation from the chemical companies in the original, 1984, class action settlement, because they did not become sick until later.

“It is unfortunate that U.S. courts have chosen, contrary to U.S. and international law, to deny justice to millions of Vietnamese who suffer from the spraying of dioxin-laden Agent Orange which has left several generations of victims severely sick and disabled,” said attorney for the Vietnamese plaintiffs, JonathanC. Moore.  Agent Orange also destroyed the ecosystems in many locations in Vietnam, and a number of toxic “hot spots” remain contaminated with dioxin in the soil and water.  Similarly, large numbers of U.S. veterans and their children and grandchildren, who suffer the awful affects of dioxin from Agent Orange, are left with no redress from the chemical companies who knowingly manufactured Agent Orange with unnecessarily high levels of dioxin in order to rush their deadly product to market and increase profits.

But while this particular legal action may have ended it has succeeded in awakening an unstoppable worldwide effort to assure justice and compensation for Vietnam’s Agent Orange victims!  Together with the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign will not rest until the chemical companies that profited so handsomely from their lethal product do the right thing and compensate the victims in Vietnam.  We will work together with U.S. veterans and their families until all victims receive what justice!

In the following months, we will be stepping up our corporate campaign aimed at bringing public support for the victims to bear o­n the two largest and most culpable of the corporations – Dow & Monsanto.  We will bring these two giant corporations that before the court of public opinion until they meet their responsibilities to compensate their victims!