It is time to make good on Richard Nixon’s promise and remedy the terrible wrong the US government perpetrated on the people of Vietnam, said Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in the US.

Marjorie Coh wrote that between 1961-1971, the US army sprayed Vietnam with Agent Orange containing large quantities of dioxin – one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man. The chemical has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as a carcinogen (that causes cancer) and by the American Academy of Medicine as a teratogen (that causes birth defects).

Between 2.5 and 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, and 1.4 billion hectares of land and forest – approximately 12 percent of the country’s land area – were sprayed.

She wrote that those who were exposed to the chemical have suffered from cancer, liver damage, pulmonary and heart diseases, damage to their reproductive capacity, and skin and nervous disorders. Children and grandchildren of those exposed have severe physical deformities, mental and physical disabilities, diseases, and shortened life spans.

Meanwhile, the forests and jungles in large parts of southern Vietnam have been devastated and denuded. They may never grow back and if they do, it will take 50 to 200 years to regenerate.

US soldiers who served in Vietnam have experienced similar illnesses. After they sued the chemical companies, including Dow and Monsanto, that manufactured and sold Agent Orange to the government, the case settled out of court for US$180 million which gave few plaintiffs more than a few thousand dollars each. Later, the US veterans won a legislative victory for compensation for exposure to Agent Orange. They receive US$1.52 billion per year in benefits.

But when the Vietnamese AO victims sued the chemical companies in federal court, US District Judge Jack Weinstein dismissed the lawsuit, concluding that Agent Orange did not constitute a chemical weapon prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1907.

At the International People’s Tribunal of Conscience in Paris last month, chemist Dr. Pierre Vermeulin testified that it was estimated that US$1 billion would be required to restore a hectare of contaminated land in Vietnam. The cost of caring for the victims, many of whom need 24-hour care, is enormous.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon promised US$3.25 billion in reconstruction aid to Vietnam “without any preconditions.” However, the aid was never granted.

According to the author, Vietnam has only 11 Friendship Villages, but it needs 1,000 such villages to care for the child victims of Agent Orange.

She concluded that for many other Vietnamese and US veterans and their families, the war continues to take its toll and congress must pass legislation to compensate the Vietnamese victims as it did for the US Vietnam veteran victims.

VietNamNet/VOV