Dismissal of Agent Orange chemical case angers victims

THE dismissal of a case in the United States which accused chemical companies of war crimes by supplying the US Army with Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, triggered angry protests from Vietnamese victims yesterday.

"His verdict is completely unreasonable and unjust," Nguyen Trong Nhan, vice president of Vietnam's Association of Victims of Agent Orange said, a day after US District Court Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed the case.

"We will pursue the suit until justice is done," Nhan said.

The civil suit was based on allegations by the Vietnamese that they were injured and that their land was left barren by the US use of Agent Orange and other herbicides from 1965 to 1971.

More than 30 companies were named in the lawsuit, among them Dow Chemical Co and Monsanto Co.

"Judge Weinstein has made it easier for our country to continue to evade moral responsibility for the consequences of its actions," John McAuliff, an executive director of the New York-based Fund for Reconciliation and Development, said in a statement.

The suit said up to four million Vietnamese people suffered from dioxin poisoning due to Agent Orange, a defoliant dumped by US warplanes on Vietnamese jungles to destroy sources of food and cover.

Dioxin can cause cancer, deformities and organ dysfunction.

US forces sprayed an estimated 20 million gallons of herbicides, including Agent Orange, on Vietnam during the war, but the chemical remained in the water and soil decades later.

Judge Jack Weinstein said that the evidence of injuries in the case was presented in "brief anecdotal form", and "the fact that the diseases were experienced by some people after spraying does not suffice to prove ... that the harm resulted to individuals because of the spraying".

The case had been closely watched as a test of the reach of US courts as it considered the power of the US president to authorise use of hazardous materials during war.

The chemical companies argued they produced Agent Orange according to US government specifications and there was no proven connection between Agent Orange and the health problems it is accused of causing.

Other companies who were named in the lawsuit included Hercules Incorporated, Occidental Chemical Corporation, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation, Maxus Energy Corporation, Uniroyal Incorporated and Wyeth.