Agent Orange slachtoffers pakken VS multinationals aan

AGENT ORANGE CASE MAY GROW
(VNS, VietNam News, 28-02-04)

The Vietnam Agent Orange Victims' Association has called for national and international support for the three Vietnamese who have taken legal action against the US chemical companies that made the toxic defoliant.

Many more victims are seeking to join the lawsuit, it says in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The public has expressed their full support for the legitimate action taken by the Agent Orange victims whom it describes as having suffered extreme hardship and loss for several decades.

The statement says the Vietnamese people with their tolerant humane tradition have expressed their willingness to co-operate with the United States to resolve post-war issues. Regrettably, their good-will has been ignored.

The statement emphasises that the legal action has not been undertaken for the three plaintiffs alone, but for all Agent Orange victims, including those in the US. The lawsuit is for the many generations who have and will go on suffering, it says.

The statement says the Association has strong confidence in the public's conscience and justice and support from organisations and individuals throughout the world, but especially the US, is welcomed and expected.

It also gives its support to the statement issued by the Stockholm Conference held in Belgium in July, 2002, that called on governments, NGOs and people throughout the world to support and help Vietnamese Agent Orange victims.

An estimated 76 million litres of Agent Orange produced by US companies were sprayed on Vietnam from 1961 to 1971.
At least 3 million Vietnamese are suffering from the diseases caused by Agent Orange. Many of these are fatal.

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