Socialist Republic of Vietnam

About 100 Vietnamese citizens exposed to Agent Orange during the war are seeking compensation from chemical companies in a historic class-action lawsuit. Thanks to a federal law that allows foreigners to sue in U.S. courts for alleged violations of international law, thirty years after the war, this is the first time Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange have taken legal action against American corporations that produced the highly toxic herbicide.

Agent Orange contains TCCD, a strain of dioxin that stays in the body once a person has been exposed. During the war, it was designed to defoliate the jungle and deny cover to enemy forces. Nationalist Vietnamese troops used dense vegetation to stage operations against technologically superior U.S. forces.

In April, American scientists announced that the United States sprayed 26 million gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants over Vietnam between 1962 and 1971. U.S. veterans have been suing the government since 1979 in a class action lawsuit representing 2.4 million individuals.

In Vietnam, financial support is limited. Now the effects have reached the grandchildren of the war generation, on both sides of the conflict, American and Vietnamese. For years, Vietnam has asked the former enemy for assistance in detoxifying highly affected areas and providing support to families who suffer many of the same effects as American veterans. Washington has refused to acknowledge any responsibility, offering funding for research and scientific conferences, but none to compensate for the consequences of Agent Orange.

A knife through our hearts

Lai Van Bien did not know he had been affected by Agent Orange when he married a beautiful young woman in 1978. He had returned from the war and was ready to start anew – a new life after the war in his now unified country. A year later, Bien and his wife Vuo Tho Tham happily expected their first child. The boy seemed to be a healthy baby at first, but as he grew physically, it became clear that his mind did not keep up. He was mentally retarded. The couple hoped their second child would be healthy, but their daughter was born with deformed limbs. Tham got pregnant for the third time, but yet again the baby was born with deformed limbs.

"After 30 years, the country has gained peace, but my family has never had a day living with peace of mind," Bien said. His oldest son has left home now, but the two other children, both in their twenties, need constant attention from their parents. "Our children sometimes scream in the night with the pain of their deformities. My wife and I lie down in a bed near them, living with the pain as a knife through our hearts."

Washington Times Vietnam Report 2004, published September 28, 2004