I do not have much time for posting and later on reading the comments. But this should not be ignored or lost.
I would like to display this picture, but don’t know how, so here the link to the picture.
Update [2005-5-2 14:55:48 by BooMan]: BooMan posts your picture:
And here the link to the BBC article: article.
Thirty years after hostilities ended between the US and Vietnam, relations remain strained by one of America’s most notorious weapons during the war, the chemical Agent Orange.
The Vietnamese believe that the powerful weed killer – the use of which was intended to destroy crops and jungle providing cover for the Vietcong – is responsible for massively high instances of genetic defects in areas that were sprayed.Nguyen Trong Nhan, from the Vietnam Association Of Victims Of Agent Orange and a former president of Vietnamese Red Cross, believes the use of Agent Orange was a “war crime”.
This is not only the legacy of Agent Orange, this is also the legacy of the US. And the way it looks the US is going to leave another disastrous legacy in Iraq. DU’s and other poisons. It seems cancer rates are already up. We might no be able to avoid seeing this kind of picture coming out of Iraq in 30 years, or maybe even earlier, but we can work to stop it from happening in another place.
Booman or Susanhbu could you display the picture for me, I think it should be seen – and couldn’t figure out how to post a picture. Thanks in advance for your help.
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Photo Xuan Minh - Vietnam doctors believethe effects of Agent Orange are ongoing.
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
Oui, thank you for displaying the picture! How did you do it?
Thanks for posting this, Fran. When I saw the link this morning over at MoA, I wanted to do a story on it, but I am glad that you did it directly!
If you have some pictures to post, I can download it via MoA and give you the code to insert. It’s a bit cumbersome, but it can be done.
However, b warned me against posting photos that have the AP (or any other agency) logo on them as they can ask for royalties if they find them on the site.
Thanks Booman for the picture. I hope next time I will be able to figure it out.
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Fran – your and my first steps …
How’d boo do that? (An HTML Primer)
by superscalar Sat Apr 30th, 2005
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
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BBC article March 10, 2005.
has dismissed a legal action brought by Vietnamese plaintiffs over the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The plaintiffs had sought compensation from the firms that manufactured the chemical, which allegedly caused birth defects, miscarriages and cancer.
Judge Jack Weinstein ruled there was no legal basis for their claims.
The civil action was the first attempt by Vietnamese plaintiffs to claim compensation for the effects of Agent Orange, which has been linked to a multitude of heath problems, including diabetes.
The defendants – including Dow Chemical and the Monsanto Corporation, said no such link had been proved – and argued that the US government was responsible for how the chemical was used, not the manufacturers. They maintained that US courts could not punish corporations for carrying out the orders of a president exercising his powers as commander-in-chief.
Birth defects
In a 233-page ruling, Judge Weinstein threw out the case, saying: “There is no basis for any of the claims of plaintiffs under the domestic law of any nation or state or under any form of international law.”
The US justice department had urged the federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit. In a brief filed in January, it said opening the courts to cases brought by former enemies would be a dangerous threat to presidential powers to wage war.
Between 1962 and 1971, large quantities of Agent Orange were sprayed across parts of Vietnam to deprive communist North Vietnamese forces of forest cover.
In 1984, several chemical companies paid $180m (£93m) to settle a lawsuit with US war veterans, who said that their health had been affected by exposure to the substance.
Agent Orange was named after the colour of its container. As well as herbicides which stripped trees bare, it contained a strain of dioxin. In time, some contend, the dioxin spread to the food chain causing a proliferation of birth defects.
Some babies were born without eyes or arms, or were missing internal organs.
Vietnam's Red Cross says 150,000children were severely affected
A group representing alleged Vietnamese victims says three million people were exposed to the chemical during the war, and at least one million suffer serious health problems today.
BBC — provides excellent links, plus special site:
Agent Orange Website
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
That picture is not very nice.
There’s quite a good entry on Agent Orange, with lots of links, in Wikipedia. Some key points:
Three thoughts arising from this:
I think there’s a lot of material around on the effects of depleted uranium shells used in the first Gulf War. Birth defects and cancers in the Iraqi population – I’m not sure of the impacts on troops, but is this connected with Gulf War Syndrome?
Fran, do you want to do some digging for info?
I wish I had the time for digging, but at present I am fully into tests and writing projects. I shouldn’t even be posting here.
However I just remembered, I once did a diary on DU, Link.
Emmasnacker posted this link
and Diane101 posted this Link and this Link.
I am sure there is much more. By summer, hopefully, I have more time to research more deeply into topics.
Good luck with your work!
The US, in conjunction with the Colombian authorities, is spraying RoundUp over wide areas in Colombia, in the interests of the ‘drug war’. At least, a couple of years ago it was still going on. Of course, it covers food crops, people and the plant its trying to kill, indiscriminately.
Not to worry though!:
Glad we can always trust the State Department to do the right thing. Otherwise…
US courts could not punish corporations for carrying out the orders of a president exercising his powers as commander-in-chief.
There ya go. Once the order is given there is no liability for companies providing any product the military orders during wartime.
but we can work to stop it from happening in another place.
As long as we know about the dangers of any product before they’re used. Seems fairly simple: if we’ve banned use of any product containing any compound ruled a danger to people and/or the environment, all existing stock of that compound shall be destroyed.
Further, any use in, sales, and/or exports of that compound beyond the effective date of the legislation is a felony; punishable by a fine of not less than a $10,000,000, and a minimum five years in federal prison. “Responsible person” specifically includes all officers, and members of any Board of Directors, their successors and assigns, of any Corporation or Company, foreign or domestic, licensed to manufacture and/or use that compound, whether produced domestically or imported.
You get the idea. I’m not too good with legalese. Any lawyers around who want to draft legislation? All we need is a few paragraphs and a petition to sign and send. Straight to Harry’s desk.