The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA)

[glorias]

I think someone should translate this into Vietnamese:

Thread-- http://projectagentorange.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=87.msg1554#msg1554

[mhbrownstein]

From the Agent Orange Legacy Project: Children of Viet Nam Veterans--

Translated by Nhu Trang Pham

Roundup chứa một thành phần hóa học mới là một loại thuốc diệt cỏ,
thuốc diệt cỏ glyphosate. Các nghiên cứu về glyphosate đã tìm ra rằng
nó là nguyên nhân gây ra dị tật bẩm sinh. Kể từ khi nông dân được giới
thiệu về Round cho mùa màng , họ đã phun quá mức loại thuốc này lên
đồng ruộng và tạo ra siêu cỏ dại. Những siêu cỏ dại này miễn dịch với
Roundup và thành phần chính của nó là glyphosate. Để giải quyết vấn đề
này 2,4-D được tái giới thiệu để trừ siêu cỏ dại. 2,4 - D là một loại
thuốc diệt cỏ và một thành phần của chất độc da cam.

Roundup bao gồm một thành phần được gọi là " chất độc xanh". Chất này
đã được sử dụng ở Việt Nam và được biết đến là một " hóa chất trừ cỏ
cầu vồng". Không còn những quy định của liên bang về các ngưỡng phơi
nhiễm cháp nhận được lên con người của "chất độc xanh".

Roundup contains a new chemical ingredient which is an herbicide, glyphosate.  Studies of glyphosate have found it to cause birth defects.  Since farmers have introduced Round up ready crops they have over-sprayed their fields which have produced super weeds.  These super weeds are immune to the Roundup and its main ingredient glyphosate.  To resolve this problem 2,4 -D is being re-introduced to fight these super weeds.  2,4 – D is an herbicide and part of the Agent Orange formula.

Roundup contains an ingredient known as 'Agent Blue'. 'Agent Blue' was used in Vietnam and was known to be one of the 'Rainbow Herbicides'. Federal regulations that used to monitor acceptable thresholds of human exposure to 'Agent Blue' no longer exist.

[kjtouhy]

Important link:

http://naturalsociety.com/millions-of-pounds-of-toxic-dioxin-to-flood-us-farmland/

[donnab]

Very important:

http://naturalsociety.com/outrageous-agent-orange-maker-monsanto-seeks-return-to-vietnam-for-gmo-crops/

Vietnam here we come! At least that is what biotech giant Monsanto is saying. The multinational agricultural corporation most known for creating the hazardous chemical Agent Orange, which led to thousands of deaths and birth defects due to its widespread use within the country, is now attempting to begin providing Vietnam with their genetically modified foods.

During the Vietnam War, Monsanto’s Agent Orange was used as a part of the United States’ ‘herbicidal warfare program’. Having killed an estimated 400,000, deforming 500,00, and sickening 2 million, even 30 years after the war people are still suffering from the health effects induced by the chemical. Agent Orange has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and other major health problems. Although the damage is great, US courts have protected both Monsanto and Dow Chemical from liability and criminal prosecution. The US government has shielded Monsanto and Dow from the massive cost of medical treatment for victims and environmental remediation cleanup costs that would spell out bankruptcy for the corporations.
 
Despite enormous opposition, now Monsanto is making further attempts to profit from Vietnam by selling their genetically modified creations. It would be completely outrageous to see Vietnam accept Monsanto’s GMO’s, as they have already ruined hundreds of thousands of lives with their toxic Agent Orange. Given the well-known human and environmental destruction behind GMOs, Vietnam would only be inviting back tragic health complications.

The Thanh Nienn News in Ho Chi Minh City reports:

No biotech company has yet got the official green light for selling genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but it does not assuage the fears that Vietnam could end up with another tragic legacy from a company that once caused many deaths in the country, environmental activists say.

The alleged purpose of using Agent Orange was to deny the enemy cover in forested areas through defoliation. However, the US Army did contract studies in 1943 of the effects of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (the other ingredient of Agent Orange) on cereal grains, including rice, and developed the concept of using aerial herbicide spraying to destroy enemy crops to disrupt the food supply. It seems that poisoning the enemy, farmland and civilians was a chemical warfare strategy.

The Global Post reports:

Monsanto is, of course, highly aware of Agent Orange’s reputation and has fought numerous lawsuits filed by chemical’s victims both Vietnamese and American. The chemical, commissioned by the U.S. military, was dumped over jungles to kill vegetation and rout communist forces.

In Monsanto’s own primer on the Agent Orange era, it casts the chemical as patriotic — it was meant “to save the lives of U.S. and allied soldiers,” Monsanto says — and contends that the matter “should be resolved by the governments that were involved.”

We will see if Vietnam allows for Monsanto or any other biotech corporation to provide them with genetically modified foods, but the decision not to allow such measures seems clear as crystal to many.

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/outrageous-agent-orange-maker-monsanto-seeks-return-to-vietnam-for-gmo-crops/#ixzz21p9ST7rc

[bobo]

And now the bad news: a 2011 Canadian study conducted at Sherbrooke Hospital discovered that 93% of the pregnant women they tested had Bt-toxin from Monsanto’s corn in their blood. And so did 80% of their unborn fetuses.[26]

The toxin is likely to wash out of our blood fairly quickly. If that is the case, how can we explain why more than 9 out of 10 women had it circulating?

And this is bad news (see thread: http://projectagentorange.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=7.msg1688#msg1688)--Monsanto and Dow Chemical, we are waiting for an answer to this question.

[sarahjean]

From: Agent Orange LegacyChildren of Vietnam Veterans--

http://agentorangelegacy.com/

http://agentorangelegacy.com/blog/

http://agentorangelegacy.blogspot.com/?zx=f39a6e0d7667dfd5

[sarahjean]

Viet Nam

Approximately 11 million gallons of Agent Orange was dumped on Viet Nam between 1962 to 1970.  It is estimated that Agent Orange is responsible for 400,000 deaths, 3 million victims of disease and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

Over 14 million acres of Vietnamese forests were sprayed.  Agent Orange was also dumped in water supplies.

In 2004, Vietnamese victims filed a lawsuit against Dow, Monsanto and other manufacturers of Agent Orange.  Judge Weinstein (yes, the same Judge Weinstein) presided over this case and dismissed it.  Weinstein used the excuse that Monsanto and Dow had government sovereign immunity that extended to them because they were government contractors.  He also ruled that Agent Orange was not considered a poison during that period, under international law.

The Supreme Court refused to hear this case, too.

The stated purpose of using Agent Orange was to deny the enemy cover in forested areas through defoliation.  However, the US Army did contract studies in 1943 of the effects of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (the other ingredient of Agent Orange) on cereal grains, including rice, and developed the concept of using aerial herbicide spraying to destroy enemy crops to disrupt the food supply.  Obviously, poisoning the enemy, farmland and civilians was a chemical warfare strategy used by the US government.

Monsanto Immunity

Currently, there is a court case pending against Monsanto's dioxin contaminated 2,4,5-T herbicide filed by parties who lived near the plant where it was produced in West Virginia.  The judge in that case, Paul G. Gardephe denied Monsanto immunity!   Judge Gardephe asserted that because Monsanto burned dioxin waste in open pits and the US government was not aware of this practice, nor did they evaluate it for hazard, Monsanto's contractor defense was denied.

http://morphcity.com/home/112-the-white-house-us-courts-a-the-epa-shaft-veterans-to-protect-monsanto-a-dow 
 

 

[kayjay]

Video trailer from "Former Soldier": clip from Agent Orange: Thirty Years Later by John Trinh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bRAeciyo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6daXw1WWo

[kjtouhy]

Dicamba not safe nor environmentally friendly

The toxicity of the Dicamba herbicide is worth reviewing. Both pure Dicamba and Banvel proved to increase sister-chromatid exchange in human lymphocytes. The study concluded that Dicamba is a DNA damage agent and potentially hazardous to human [12]. Dicamba proved genotoxic in mutation tests using transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants [13]. Dicamba was found to be a peroxisome proliferator in rats, an activity associated with liver cancer in rodents [14]. Dicamba is certainly not safe or environmentally friendly, and its increased deployment must be resisted.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Dicamba_Ready_GM_crops.php 

[sarahjean]

Stop Dow's GMO Agent Orange Soy!
Take Action Before the September 11th Deadline! 
Organic Bytes

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun to fast-track the approval of genetically modified crops under a new policy aimed at cutting the time it takes on reviews from an average of 3 years down to 13 to 16 months.

To jump-start the process, they've opened a 60-day comment period on nine new GMOs. This list includes a new Dow Chemical soybean that tolerates three herbicides, including 2,4-D. 2,4-D is the herbicide that was half the formula of the infamous chemical weapon Agent Orange, used to decimate Vietnamese agriculture during the U.S. war on Vietnam.

As Tom Philpott points out in his recent article, "USDA Prepares to Green-Light Gnarliest GMO Soy Yet," USDA approval of Agent Orange Soy will expose us to a much heavier dose of this toxic pesticide through our food, drinking water and the environment.

2,4-D is already the third-most-used US herbicide, after glyphosate and atrazine, and as a leading source of dioxin pollution, it's one of the most deadly.  As of yet, however, it's hardly used on soy at all. Just 3 percent of total US soybean acres were treated with 2,4-D in 2006. Not only will this percentage skyrocket once Agent Orange Soy hits the market, the amount used per acre may triple according to the USDA.

Please take action before the September 11th deadline to stop Agent Orange Soy!

[BobbyS]

Today I was party to a group of Vietnamese who are in Columbia, Missouri learning bio safety from Monsanto.

Yes, you heard right--Monsanto--that very same corporation that continues to cause havoc to the Vietnamese because of their use of Agent Orange during the Viet Nam War. The same corporation that refuses to compensate the victims of their bio hazardous actions.

Isn't it bad enough that Agent Orange impacts Viet Nam so widely and yet the Vietnamese now are learning about GMO foods--and knowing Monsanto it's not because they are saying anything negative about GMOs.

I guess Monsanto wants to create a double whammy--first destroy the people slowly with Agent Orange and now destroy more of them slowly with GMO crops.

Please Viet Nam, tread carefully around Monsanto.

For more information on why Monsanto and GMOs cannot be trusted, go to the thread Dow Chemical and Monsanto in this forum.

[mhbrownstein]

Thread:  http://projectagentorange.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=87.msg1825#msg1825

Translated into Vietnamese by nhu trang pham:

Hôm nay, tôi đã đến tham dự bữa tiệc của các bạn Việt Nam hiện đang học về
an toàn sinh học từ Monsanto tại trường Columbia và Missouri.
Tôi đoán rằng Monsanto muốn tạo ra một cú đúp: dầu tiên hủy hoại họ
bằng chất độc da cam và giờ đây tiếp tục hủy hoại họ bằng cây trồng
biến đổi gen.
Các bạn Việt Nam, hãy cẩn thận với Monsanto
Để biết thêm thông tin rằng tại sao không thể tin được Monsanto và
GMOs, hãy đọc tại diễn đàn Dow Chemical and Monsanto.

Original English from Bobbys:

Today I was party to a group of Vietnamese who are in Columbia, Missouri learning bio safety from Monsanto.

Yes, you heard right--Monsanto--that very same corporation that continues to cause havoc to the Vietnamese because of their use of Agent Orange during the Viet Nam War. The same corporation that refuses to compensate the victims of their bio hazardous actions.

Isn't it bad enough that Agent Orange impacts Viet Nam so widely and yet the Vietnamese now are learning about GMO foods--and knowing Monsanto it's not because they are saying anything negative about GMOs.

I guess Monsanto wants to create a double whammy--first destroy the people slowly with Agent Orange and now destroy more of them slowly with GMO crops.

Please Viet Nam, tread carefully around Monsanto.

For more information on why Monsanto and GMOs cannot be trusted, go to the thread Dow Chemical and Monsanto in this forum.

[kayjay]

Based on BobbyS's statements below and nhu trang pham Vietnamese translation--this post is very important:

The federal government has just embraced a more coordinated and intensive safety review policy for proposed genetically engineered crops. There's now a new procedure to review GMOs that requires the USDA and EPA to review data on proposed crops in tandem, rather than separately. This groundbreaking change is a direct result of your advocacy for labeling, so thank you.

But our job isn't over: The USDA and EPA are about to apply this extra scrutiny on Dow's 2,4-D-resistant corn called "Enlist." It's genetically engineered to withstand large doses of 2,4-D, which some studies have shown may be linked to reproductive abnormalities, birth defects, and several forms of cancer. The USDA and EPA must continue to hear the concerns of consumers like you – will you speak out again today?

Please contact Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack and EPA Administrator Jackson and tell them we do not want 2,4,-D corn to be approved.

Our successes have not gone unnoticed. Powerful chemical companies have hired expensive lobbyists to insert dangerous language into the U.S. House of Representatives' version of the Farm Bill and the 2013 Agricultural Appropriations Bill. These proposed provisions would undo years of thoughtful and careful deliberations that put into place regulatory procedures to keep the food our families eat safe.

All in the name of profit from selling seeds, pesticides, and herbicides to farmers, these greedy companies want to rush untested and unproven crops from their factories to our dinner tables. In particular, 2,4-D corn requires large quantities of 2,4-D herbicide to be applied to farm fields. The drifting of 2,4-D has been linked to major human health problems such as cancer, liver dysfunction, and Parkinson's disease.

Today you have a chance to fight back: contact the USDA and EPA while they begin their intensive review of 2,4-D-resistant corn.Although we might not all agree on the science concerning the long-term effects of eating genetically engineered foods, we should be able to decide for ourselves whether to feed them to our families. But if this new corn is approved, we won't be able to make that choice since genetically engineered foods aren't labeled.

We'll need your help on many battles that lie ahead in the coming months, but the most critical challenge immediately before us is to keep 2,4-D corn from being approved and commercialized. Our government processes must be open, transparent, and honest in order to protect our families and our children. That is why we must stop genetically engineered crops that are harmful to the environment and our health, and demand labeling on all genetically engineered foods.

Please take two minutes to contact Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack and EPA Administrator Jackson today.

Thanks for all your efforts.

David Bancroft,
Just Label It

[joejoe]

2,4-D is a component of Agent Orange. Both Dow chemical and Monsanto developed this. 2,4-D is now used as a herbicide.

What are 2,4-D's health effects?
Some people who drink water containing 2,4-D well in excess of the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for many years could experience problems with their kidneys, liver, or adrenal glands.

How does 2,4-D get into my drinking water?
The major source of 2,4-D in drinking water is runoff from herbicide used on row crops.

A federal law called the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) requires facilities in certain industries, which manufacture, process, or use significant amounts of toxic chemicals, to report annually on their releases of these chemicals. For more information on the uses and releases of chemicals in your state, contact the

http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/2-4-d-2-4-dichlorophenoxyacetic-acid.cfm#six

[kayjay]

An effect of Agent Orange:

About peripheral neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition of the peripheral nervous system, which consists of nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.

The acute or subacute ("early-onset") form of peripheral neuropathy refers to symptoms occurring within weeks after exposure. (In chronic cases, effects appear much later.) It is a temporary condition.

Signs and symptoms include numbness, tingling or prickling in the toes or fingers in early stages. This may spread to the feet or hands and may cause burning, throbbing or shooting pain that is worse at night. Other symptoms include pain equally in both sides of the body (in both hands or in both feet), muscle weakness, loss of balance or coordination, and extreme sensitivity to touch.

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/peripheral_neuropathy.asp