Battleangel

As reported last month and recently mentioned in Nature, there will not likely be any further examination of the thousands of birth defects, cancers and malicious maladies caused by dioxin exposure.

It’s pretty simple really. No research means no proof of foul play and no chance of reparations for Vietnamese plaintiffs against draconian American bio-tech and chemical companies like Monsanto (which did the most contamination), Dow Chemicals (which also made Napalm), Uniroyal, Hercules, Diamond Shamrock, Thompson Chemical and TH Agriculture.

Nor does the United States even offer decontamination (because doing so would acknowledge guilt).

It is also notable that the above chemical companies settled US veterans’ cases (some 291,000 were part of the class-action suit) for $180 million in 1984. But they never accepted liability … and now any sort of proper closure seems unlikely.

Agent Orange in the News:
Taiwan News: Vietnam still suffers from Agent Orange exposure
KRT Wire: Rediscovering Vietnam: Agent Orange’s effects
Korea Times: Veterans Carry Scars of Vietnam War 30 Years On