Agent Orange Lawsuit

February 4, 2004

First Vietnamese Agent Orange lawsuit filed
Three Vietnamese who say they or their families became ill after being exposed to Agent Orange, the defoliants used by America in the war nearly 30 years ago, have filed the first lawsuit against Agent Orange manufacturers in Vietnam. The two largest makers of the chemical, Dow Chemical Co. and Monsanto Co., have been named among more than 20 firms in the suit.

American veterans of the Vietnam War have complained for years of a wide range of health problems because of Agent Orange, including cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and diabetes. In 1984, Dow and Monsanto agreed to pay U.S. veterans $180 million for the health effects suffered, but that lawsuit continued to be challenged by the many veterans excluded from the settlement plan that were later diagnosed with illnesses linked to Agent Orange exposure.

One of the Vietnamese plaintiffs is suing for illnesses from exposure to Agent Orange sprayed from aircraft saying, "I do not want to do this for myself as it has been a long time already, but in Vietnam, the poorest, the most miserable and most discriminated ones are the Agent Orange victims so anything I can do for them, I will."

The other woman is seeking compensation on behalf of herself and a child who died from Agent Orange exposure, and the man is representing himself and his two children. The man is dying from lung cancer and says his children are also victims of Agent Orange.

There was an estimated 20 million gallons of herbicides, including Agent Orange, sprayed between 1962 and 1971. Agent Orange contains dioxin, a human carcinogen that remains in the soil for a long time and causes cancer, birth defects and organ dysfunction.

Please contact us to confer with an Agent Orange attorney.