Agent Orange Dismissed

[reeb]

Thursday, March 10, 2005



Judge dismisses massive Agent Orange suit
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published March 10, 2005


NEW YORK -- An Agent Orange case for millions of Vietnamese was dismissed in New York Thursday, closing a controversial chapter of American history.

The damage suit, filed by an association of Vietnamese, claimed American chemical companies committed war crimes by supplying the military with the defoliant Agent Orange. The civil suit, filed last year, had sought what could have been billions of dollars in damages and the environmental cleanup of Vietnam, the New York Times said.

The suit claimed that the defoliant, which contained the highly toxic substance dioxin, left a legacy of poison in Vietnam that caused birth defects, cancer and other health problems and amounted to a violation of international law. Until 1971 Agent Orange was widely used by the American military to clear the jungle's foliage.

But, U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, of the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, sided with the chemical companies and the Justice Department, which argued that supplying the defoliant did not amount to a war crime. He said no law barred its use until "at the earliest April of 1975."

William H. Goodman, a lawyer for The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin that filed the class action suit, said the group would appeal

enough.....

[MORTARDUDE]

what a travesty. Dow chemical new it was cancer causing in 1949.

Larry

P.S. The ones with the most money buys the best or most lawyers and usually wins....JUSTICE ....

[Andy]

Two countries go to war. The war ends and one country, which was not defeated on the field of battle is supposed to pay for killing people on the other side? Did anyone pay the other for using poison gas in WWI? Did we pay individuals for nuking Japan? Did anyone ever pay "victims" for sinking ships using submarines? (Subs are outlawed by the Geneva convention.) For once, I think a federal judge make a logical decision.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[reconeil]

How about adding DDT,...before it got banned?

Neil