Latest update: 19/01/2011

- health - Vietnam - war

Vietnam: for victims of Agent Orange, the war isn't over

In Vietnam, 30 years after the war, Agent Orange is still claiming victims. Used on a massive scale by the US army to prevent Viet Cong soldiers from hiding, this powerful herbicide permeated the ground. From encephalitis to congenital deformities and leukaemia, thousands of children are being born severely handicapped due to the chemical.

REPORTERS

By Dung Vo Trung / Gael Caron / Michaël SZTANKE

From 1961 to 1971, the US army sprayed massive amounts of dioxin over Vietnam. In total, between 2.1 and 4.8 million people living in some 20,000 villages were directly affected.

40 years after it was sprayed, Agent Orange continues to cause deaths, cancers, leukaemia and birth defects. The Vietnamese Red Cross estimates that there are one million victims.

At the end of 2009, US President Barack Obama decided to double the amount of American aid set aside to repair the damage caused by Agent Orange in Vietnam. Six million dollars will now be put towards decontaminating the worst-affected areas. Part of this money is expected to go to centres where the victims of Agent Orange live. The Vietnamese welcomed this gesture by Obama, but found it insufficient considering the amount of damage caused in their country.

Unable to attack the US government, the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange filed a lawsuit in the US courts against the main American herbicide suppliers, including Dow Chemical, Thompson, Diamond, Monsanto, Hercules and Uniroyal. The first verdict was delivered on March 13th 2007: the lawsuit was dismissed.

But the NGOs are not giving up. They want those responsible for this sanitary catastrophe to be tried, and the victims awarded compensation. On May 15th and 16th 2009, an International People’s Tribunal of Conscience met in Paris to hear the testimony of Agent Orange victims and determine responsibilities. Over 40 years after it was sprayed, Agent Orange is still a daily preoccupation for the Vietnamese.

Our reporters went to the contaminated zones of Vietnam to meet the victims.

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Comments (5)

Excellent site, keep up the good work

by Anonyme - 22/03/2011 - 15:25

I've been searching in google for some items and occasionally found this www.france24.com website. Aw, this is a really quality post. In theory I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real effort to make a good article... but what can I say... I prolong alot and never seem to get something done.

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Can you fix the video i need

by Anonyme - 01/02/2011 - 05:10

Can you fix the video i need to watch it for a french class please

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video

by Anonyme - 29/01/2011 - 12:07

I saw this report on TV and wanted to post a link to it on my Facebook page to let others how people are still suffering. I cannot get the video to work....

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Human Rights

by Anonyme - 19/01/2011 - 22:27

Monsanto is the company who made agent orange. The Vietnamese should do what the holocaust survivors did and hire sharp American lawyers to seek redress. The big joke of course is that America is always talking about human rights in China, as though they respected human rights outside their borders. At least China never sprayed another country with toxic chemicals. It's disgusting they are allowed to get away with this.

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Agent Orange

by Anonyme - 19/01/2011 - 17:05

Quite unforgivable. Until the United States resolves this question in a satisfactory manner nothing they ever say can have any meaning to me.

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