http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/americas/20070619-Vietnamese-victims-of-Agent-Orange-sue-manufacturers.html Vietnamese appeal 'agent orange' suit in New York
By Reuters
NEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) - Several major U.S. chemical
companies are directly accountable for supplying the U.S.
military with dioxin, or "agent orange," during the Vietnam War
and causing widespread dioxin poisoning, a lawyer for
Vietnamese plaintiffs told a federal appeals court on Monday.
The plaintiffs appealed a lower court decision that
dismissed a civil suit seeking class-action status on behalf of
more than 3 million Vietnamese people against the chemical
companies. It could have resulted in billions of dollars in
damages and the environmental cleanup of Vietnam.
More than 30 companies, including Dow Chemical Co. and
Monsanto Co., are named in the lawsuit.
U.S. warplanes dumped about 18 million gallons (70 million
litres) of the defoliant on Vietnamese forests between 1962 and
1971 to destroy Vietnamese sources of food and cover. The
plaintiffs seek damages from dioxin poisoning which decades
later they say has caused cancer, deformities and organ
dysfunction.
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