Sunday, December 4, 2005
Agent
Orange Victims Speak
By
Russell Max Simon
Journal
Staff Writer
An
estimated 3 million to 5 million Vietnamese are currently reported to be
suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant used by the
Two of them, Ho Sy Hai and
Dang Thi Hong Nhurt, were at El Museo
Cultural in
Sy Hai, a truck driver on
the Ho Chi Minh trail for the North Vietnamese Army,
said he was exposed to Agent Orange multiple times over the course of three years
during the war.
"We were young soldiers, and we were living on natural animals.
Vegetables, animals— all were contaminated by this spray," Sy Hai said.
Sy Hai returned to his
village after the war to get married and start a family, but his wife's first
two pregnancies— she had also been exposed to the chemical— ended in
miscarriages. Sy Hai now
has three kids, two of whom he said are deaf and dumb. The third has a serious
mental disorder.
Both Sy Hai and his wife
suffer from diabetes, and Sy Hai
still suffers from tumors and ulcers.
In 2004, he and other members of a victims' rights group called the Vietnam
Association for the Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin filed a class-action lawsuit
in New York requesting compensation from chemical companies that were involved
in making the chemical, including Dow Chemical and Monsanto. But in March, a
district judge dismissed the case.
The judge wrote in the case that the random poisoning of a large number of
people was a side effect of the deforestation of a battleground, did not
qualify as a crime against humanity— as VAVA claimed it was— and did not
violate any treaty to which the United States was a signatory at the time.
The case is on appeal to the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Agent Orange was used extensively in
It's the Dioxin, VAVA argues, that is responsible for birth defects, mental
disorders, high instances of cancer, polio, ulcers and a host of other health
problems among millions of Vietnamese.
American veterans of the Vietnam War who were affected by Agent Orange have
received monetary compensation in the past as the result of lawsuits and continue
to receive money from their veterans' benefits.
In addition to Sy Hai and
Thi Hong Nhurt's stories on Saturday, the audience
was shown a vivid and haunting 15-minute video that detailed the birth defects
of Vietnamese children born of parents who were exposed to the chemical.
The event also featured a healing ceremony performed by Ralph Steele, a
helicopter gunner during
He said the ceremony was a step toward reconciliation.
"We were just doing our job, or trying to do our job, as kids," said
Steel, who was 19 at the time.
Steele draped white silk blessing scarves over the Vietnamese's necks,
prostrating himself at each of their feet. He then crumpled up a photograph of
him in his helicopter before an Agent Orange run. He lit it on fire and put in
a bowl on the floor.
Later, he and Dr. Nguyen Trong Nhan,
former president of the Vietnam Red Cross and spokesman for the group, clasped
hands while Steele chanted and the photo burned.
Afterward, an audience member asked Nhan why he and
the other victims weren't more angry about the issue. Nhan and the others were a model
of politeness and gentility throughout the event.
"It is part of our character," Nhan
responded. "We are proud of being a nation of tolerance. As a county that
has undergone 30 years of war, we want only peace."
The group, whose trip has received coverage in the Vietnamese press, has
already visited
"I understand it's not easy to pull a crowd, but we have deep respect for
those who come to see us, and we have trust that as the first listeners to our
story that you will share it with others," he said.
E-MAIL Journal Staff
Writer Russell Max Simon