MONSANTO, AN EXPOSED CRIME

Senior Colonel Le Cuong

More from a crime

After 8 weeks of trial, on 10^th August 2018, the Superior Court of California County of San Francisco ordered Monsanto to pay Dewayne Johnson a total amount of USD 289 million ($250 million in punitive damages and about $39 million in compensatory damages).

In a lawsuit filed in 2016, Dewayne Johnson, a school groundkeeper in San Francisco, alleged that glyphosate, the main component in the Roundup Pro or Ranger Pro herbicides produced by Monsanto, caused him cancer. The man was said to use the week killer up to 30 times per year and is suffering his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system and predicted not to live longer than 2020.

In the trial, Johnson’s lawyers argued that in many years Monsanto had run counter scientific proofs and denied the warnings of scientists about health risks of the company’s products. Monsanto’s tentacles not only affected the public and scientists but also influenced the authorities to change the scientist studies in their favour. Earlier on 18^th April 2017, the La Haye-based International Monsanto Tribunal released its 60-page advisory opinion concluding that Monsanto had depleted the environment and violated human rights. The tribunal concluded that Monsanto had produced toxic products killing thousands of people, including the glyphosate found in the Roundup herbicide, the 2,4,5-T chemical contained in the agent orange sprayed by the US Military in the Vietnam War. The judge concluded that Monsanto had breached the regulations and violated the basic rights in environmental protection, the freedom of speech, and information access…

Monsanto was established in 1901 in St Louis, Missouri and began to produce agricultural chemicals since 1940. In June 1918, the company was acquired by Bayer at the cost of over USD 66 billion.

In the periodical press conference held on 23^rd August 2018, Ms Nguyen Phuong Tra, Vice-speaker of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: “This is a case law refuting the previous arguments holding that the herbicides provided by Monsanto and other chemical companies for the US Military in the Vietnam War are harmless to human health. We strongly believe that Monsanto is responsible for and consequences caused by the herbicide provided by this company and, hence compensating for the victims of AO in Vietnam.

Reminding the lawsuit made by Vietnam’s victims of AO

On 10^th January 2004, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange was officially established. As a representative for more than 3 million victims of AO in Vietnam, right after its inception, the Association initiated a lawsuit against 37 US chemical companies in which Monsanto is one of the two leading companies in producing and providing AO for the US Military in the Vietnam War in the 1961 – 1971 period.

The lawsuit lasted over 5 years from 30^th January 2004 to 2^nd March 2009. Through lower court and court of appeal phases, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to accept the request of the plaintiffs, reasoning that: the AO is a herbicide, not a toxic chemical. If the herbicide is toxic, it is accidental not deliberate (???). This shameless fallacy is to deny the fact that “the United States Government is guilty of their use of AO and its damage to the environment of Vietnam can be defined as “ecocide”; and the Chemical companies who were charged in the summons and complaint are guilty of complicity in the offenses” as found in the judgement of the International Peoples’ Tribunal of Conscience in May, 2009, in Paris, France.

Nearly 10 years have gone by, the judgement of the US Supreme Court in the lawsuit filed by Vietnam’s victims of AO against US chemical companies still represents a shame in the human legal history and a pain of each Vietnamese citizen in general and of victim of AO in particular.

Steadfast in the struggle for justice

Struggling for justice for victims of AO is a heavy responsibility and a noble mission of the Vietnam Association for victims of Agent Orange (VAVA). The AO issue is not only an issue of justice but also of humanity and human rights; of progress, development, peace and war; and the historical debt that the US Government can’t deny.

The struggle for justice for AO victims will endure hardships but we strongly believe in victory because the just and the right belong to us. Our struggle aims not only to remedy the war consequences but also contribute to preventing a possible chemical war; demand justice for AO victims in Vietnam and other countries as well; for the cause of protecting a Green Planet, protecting a peaceful and happy life of human being.

Mr. Dewayne Johnson has won his lawsuit against Monsanto. There is no reason for our discourage and dispirit in this struggle. The US court has demanded Monsanto to compensate for a US victim of cancer due to the use of the company’s herbicide, are they deliberate to ignore the pain that millions of Vietnam’s AO victims are suffering due to their usage of chemical toxic in Vietnam War?