http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4336941.stm
Last Updated: Thursday, 10 March, 2005, 15:38 GMT
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Agent Orange legal case dismissed
Vietnam's Red Cross says 150,000 children were severely affected
A US federal court in New York has dismissed a legal action brought by
Vietnamese plaintiffs over the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
The plaintiffs had sought compensation from the firms that manufactured
the chemical, which allegedly caused birth defects, miscarriages and cancer.
They said use of the defoliant - to strip away forest cover during the
war - was a war crime against millions.
But Judge Jack Weinstein ruled there was no legal basis for their claims.
The civil action was the first attempt by Vietnamese plaintiffs to claim
compensation for the effects of Agent Orange, which has been linked to a
multitude of heath problems, including diabetes.
However, the chemical companies said no such link had been proved.
The defendants - including Dow Chemical and the Monsanto Corporation -
also argued that the US government was responsible for how the chemical was
used, not the manufacturers.
They maintained that US courts could not punish corporations for carrying
out the orders of a president exercising his powers as commander-in-chief.
Birth defects
In a 233-page ruling, Judge Weinstein threw out the case, saying: "There
is no basis for any of the claims of plaintiffs under the domestic law of any
nation or state or under any form of international law."
The US justice department had urged the federal judge to dismiss the
lawsuit.
The court decision in full (930K)
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In a brief filed in January, it said opening the courts to cases brought
by former enemies would be a dangerous threat to presidential powers to wage
war.
Between 1962 and 1971, large quantities of Agent Orange were sprayed
across parts of Vietnam to deprive communist North Vietnamese forces of forest
cover.
In 1984, several chemical companies paid $180m (�93m) to settle a lawsuit
with US war veterans, who said that their health had been affected by exposure
to the substance.
Agent Orange was named after the colour of its container. The active
ingredient was a strain of dioxin that stripped the jungle bare.
In time, some contend, the dioxin spread to the food chain causing a
proliferation of birth defects.
Some babies were born without eyes or arms, or were missing internal
organs.
A group representing alleged Vietnamese victims says three million people
were exposed to the chemical during the war, and at least one million suffer
serious health problems today.
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