Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society Len Aldis has asked US agencies and companies involved in the production of Agent Orange to take responsibility and provide compensation to Vietnamese AO victims.
Aldis made the request in his letters sent to the headquarters of Monsanto in St Louis, the US and its offices in Cambridge, the UK and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as well as the offices of Dow Chemical and DuPont in Vietnam on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the use of AO in Vietnam.
He also sent letters to British Prime Minister David Cameron and MP Leader of the Labour opposition Ed Miliband, calling on them to consider what the UK government could do to help ease the suffering of Vietnamese AO victims.
Aldis stressed that in Vietnam there are near to four million victims of AO produced by Monsanto, Dow Chemical, DuPont and other companies and sprayed by US forces during the 10-year period beginning August 10th, 1961. Many of them have not been able to be treated in a hospital or a clinic. These tragic victims and their parents need help, especially help of Monsanto Company that made profits running into billions of USD, in manufacturing AO, wrote Len.
The effects of Monsanto’s AO have gone into the third generation of the Vietnamese. Soon, if not already, it will enter into the fourth, he wrote.
Aldis pointed to the fact that in the US there are also thousands of Vietnam veterans suffering from illnesses and disabilities, as are their children, as a consequence of their exposure to AO during the war in Vietnam.
The Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society, express hope that his letter will be met with a positive response, from related companies and individuals, not only in accepting responsibility for the damage done to the people and land of Vietnam, but also in giving financial and practical support to the victims and their families. (vietnamplus.vn May 31)
