1967. A team of Japanese filmmakers talk with Vietnamese who live in areas where Agent Orange has been used.
1969. Dr. Bert Pfeiffer and other scientists from the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science pass a resolution urging the Department of Defense to “immediately cease all use of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T in Vietnam.”
1969. Bionetics Laboratories of Bethesda, Maryland, releases the results of its study, completed in 1965, which demonstrates that even in the lowest dose given, 2,4-5-T causes cleft palates, missing and deformed eyes, cystic kidneys, and enlarged livers in the offspring of laboratory animals.
1970. Congress directs the Department of Defense to engage the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study of the ecological and physiological effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam.
1970. On April 15, 1970, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard announces the immediate suspension of the use of 2,4,5-T in Vietnam. Also, the Surgeon General reports to the Hart committee on the restrictions placed on 2,4,5-T: suspension of liquid formulation for home use, suspension of all aquatic uses, intent to cancel registration of nonliquid formulations for use around homes and on all food crops.
1970. Thomas Whiteside writes in the June 20, 1970, issue of the New Yorker that the sale and use of 2,4,5-T continues within the United States.
1978. Paul Rheutershan announces that he “died in Vietnam and didn’t even know it.” Beginning of class action lawsuit on behalf of Vietnam veterans and their families.
1979. Environmental Protection Agency issues emergency suspension of 2,4,5-T and 2,4,5-TP (Silvex) in the United States.
1984. Vietnam veterans’ class action lawsuit is settled out of court for $180 million.
1984. “Fairness Hearings” into out-of-court settlement begin in Brooklyn Federal Court.
1990. Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Jr. completes a classified study for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
1991. The Agent Orange Act directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to request the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study of scientific studies and medical information on the health effects of exposure to herbicides in Vietnam. The Academy will include in their study the possible effects of dioxin on human beings.
1994. Wayne Dwernychuk, a scientist working with Hatfield Consultants, meets with Committee 33 in Vietnam.
2004. Lawyers acting on behalf of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange launch a class action suit charging Dow Chemical, et al. with war crimes.
2005. Judge Jack B. Weinstein dismisses the Vietnamese lawsuit. Lawyers file an appeal.
2007. A court of appeals rules against Vietnamese plaintiffs’ attempt to reinstate their class action lawsuit.
Acknowlegments
I would like to thank the following people for their love and support of victims of chemical warfare, for their support of and belief in this book, and for their excellent advice and professional editing:
Dr. Professor Nguyen Trong Nhan, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, Nguyen Thi Hien, Nguyen Thi My Hoa, Chairman Nguyen Dinh An, Nguyen Thi Nga, Dr. Pham VietThan, Professor Phung Tuu Boi, Nguyen Mai Phuc Minh, Dr. Wayne Dwernychuk, Professor John Marciano, Dr. Michael Viola, Paul Sutton, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Jeff Cohen, Jack Hopper, Maura Stephens, George Sapio, Adelaide Gomer, Kenneth J. Herrmann, Richard Hughes, Dean Kokkoris, Trinh Kokkoris, Rev. Peter Phan Khac Tu, Gabe Espinal, Elizabeth DeLong, Dan Simon, Ruth Weiner, Beverly Cherweznik, Joyce Garwood, Marian MacCurdy, Sandi Strait, Jerry Strait Sandra Steingrabber, Elizabeth McAlister, Phoebe Wilcox, Gilea Hurley, Danica Wilcox, and Brendan Wilcox.
Notes
INTRODUCTION
No notes.
CHAPTER 1: ECOCIDE
1. Memorandum from Secretary of State Rusk to President Kennedy, November 24, 1961. Quoted in “Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss All Claims in Plaintiffs’ Amended Class Action Complaint for Lack of Jurisdiction over the Subject Matter and for Failure to State a Claim upon Which Relief Can Be Granted.” U.S. District of New York, 2005: 9.
2. Constantine P. Kokkoris, Amended Complaint in The Vietnam Association for Vietnam Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, et al., v. The Dow Chemical Co., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, docket No. 04CV 0400: 14.
3. Ibid., 17.
4. Ibid., 15.
5. Ibid., 18.
6. Ibid., 15.
7. “Memorandum of Law,” 11–12.
8. Barry Weisberg, The Ecology of War (San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1970) 18–19.
9. Ibid., 4.
10. Secret Confidential Report, Operation Pink Rose, 1967. Declassified and Re-graded, By order of the Secretary of the Army, 1988, 3.
11. Allied Leaflet, AH 23365.
12. Operation Pink Rose.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Weisberg, The Ecology of War, 69.
18. Tom Mangold and John Penycate, The Tunnels of Cu Chi (New York: Ballantine Books, 2005.)
19. Arthur H. Westing, “Chemical Warfare Against Vegetation in Vietnam,” Environmental Awareness 25, no. 2 (2002), 51–58.
20. Vo Guy, “The Attack of Agent Orange on the Environment in Vietnam and its Consequences,” presented at International Conference on Agent Orange/Dioxin, Paris, 2005.
21. Ibid.
22. Westing, “Return to Vietnam: the Legacy of Agent Orange,” lecture, Yale University, 2002.
23. “Statement on the Geneva Protocol of 1925 and the Biological Weapons Convention January 22, 1975.” The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=5049&st=Geneva+Protocol&st1=#axzz1HiN7DpbE.
24. Thomas Whiteside, Defoliation (New York: Ballantine, 1970), 74.
25. Ibid., 99.
CHAPTER 2: TRANSFORMATIONS
1. Fred A. Wilcox, Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange (New York: Random House, 1983), 51–53.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Michelle Mason, The Friendship Village (Cypress Park Productions, 2002), DVD.
5. Ibid.
6. “Nation: Where is My Country?” Time, February 25, 1980, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952592,00.html.
7. Louis Edwards, “Genetic Damage in New Zealand Vietnam War Veterans,” Institute of Molecular Biosciences (Massey University, 2006), 12.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. “Johnny can’t read, sit still, or stop hitting the neighbor’s kid. Why?” 7 vols. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, no date.
11. Ibid.
CHAPTER 3: PROMISES
1. Dr. Professor Nguyen Nhan, “The Chemical Warfare and Its Consequences in Vietnam” Proceedings of The International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, March 28–29, 2006, 11.