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War veteran Nguyen Thi Thanh in Quang Tri Province's Gio Linh District with her 16-year-old daughter who is AO-infected. All her other seven children also suffer. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc |
HA NOI — The two organisations that represent Viet Nam's Agent Orange victims are to intensify their effort to win more help from the United States Congress and Administration to rid contaminated land of the toxic chemical.
The effort will be based on the realisation that the US Government carries paramount responsibility for compensating those exposed to the chemical, says the Viet Nam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) and the Viet Nam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) in a joint statement.
The statement follows a VAVA delegation's visit to the US from November 21 to December 5.
It says both organisations will work together to target the Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto and other makers of Agent Orange that have never paid compensation to their victims in Viet Nam.
The 16-day visit was the sixth the VAVA has made to seek support for the victims from Americans and other people throughout the world since since 2005.
Led by VAVA chairman Nguyen Van Rinh, the delegation's itinerary included San Francisco, New York and Washington.
Its primary purpose was to persuade the Congress to pass an Agent Orange, Viet Nam, Bill and have the Administration pay more attention to the health problems the defoliants have caused.
In so doing, the Administration would have to address the damage attributed to Agent Orange.
VAVA chairman Rinh said members of the House of Representatives; aides to Senators and State Department representatives received a delegation from Viet Nam Agent Orange victims.
House of Representatives Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment Subcommittee chairman Eni Faleomavaega said his congressional hearings had changed attitudes.
And although further hearings were unlikely, Viet Nam would always have his support.
Frank Jannuzi, a senior aide to Senator John Kerry, said that addressing the effects of Agent Orange in Viet Nam was a humanitarian act that needed immediate action.
Although America was in the economic doldrums, it was still capable of finding a way to deal with the issue, he said. — VNS
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