Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society Len Aldis hassent an open letter to the committee members of the London Olympic andParalympic Games, reminding them of what Dow Chemical, which is to be asponsor of the Games, has done to Vietnamese people with the use oftoxic chemical Agent Orange.
Below is the full text of the letter:
“Ina few weeks, unless you take action, the Olympic Stadium will have beensurrounded by a wrap comprising 336 giant panels made by a companyresponsible for deaths of many thousands, including thousands of babiesthat died in their mother’s womb and responsible for the deaths of manymore thousands of those that lived for just a few months.
Thatcompany is Dow Chemical, whose record was known to each and everyone ofyou through the many court cases it has had brought against them in theUnited States for disposing tonnes of highly toxic waste into rivers andlakes near its plants. For lawsuits brought by American VietnamVeterans and Vietnamese suffering from the effects of Agent Orange.
Butlet me remind each of you, the biggest crime of Dow Chemical was itspart, along with 35 other U.S. Chemical Companies, headed by Monsanto,in manufacturing Agent Orange used with devastating effect on SouthernVietnam for a period of TEN-YEARS, yes, TEN-YEARS. 80 million litresof the chemical was sprayed over the forests, crops, hamlets and thePEOPLE themselves, from August 1961 to 1971, resulting in the deathsmentioned above.
Through the use of Agent Orange, Dow Chemicaland the others have left a legacy that today in Vietnam affects fourmillion. It has also entered into the fourth generation. From myfirst visit in 1989 and each year since, I have met and seen many ofthese tragic victims, of all ages, from newborn babies that are minusfeet and sometimes hand, young children suffering from water on thebrain, and their heads four-times the normal size where their illness isslowly crushing the brain that ends in death.
I have met withyoungsters minus a limb, some minus two; some will be confined to a bedor wheelchair for the rest of their lives unable to fend for themselves.In Dong Nai I met a mother and her two daughters both unable to moveor speak but just lay on their bed, the mother looks after them andtheir needs and has done so for 42 years, the age of her eldestdaughter, the other daughter is 36 years. I could describe more ofthe people I have met over the past 22 years. But what angers me moreis when I see children affected that were born after the sprayingstopped in 1971 and long after the war ended in 1975.
This iswhat Dow Chemicals has done to the people of Vietnam, and each of youhave seemed fit to support the appointment of the company to be asponsor of the Games that opens in London on 27 th July, despite themany objections made by people from a number of countries. ”.-VNA
Below is the full text of the letter:
“Ina few weeks, unless you take action, the Olympic Stadium will have beensurrounded by a wrap comprising 336 giant panels made by a companyresponsible for deaths of many thousands, including thousands of babiesthat died in their mother’s womb and responsible for the deaths of manymore thousands of those that lived for just a few months.
Thatcompany is Dow Chemical, whose record was known to each and everyone ofyou through the many court cases it has had brought against them in theUnited States for disposing tonnes of highly toxic waste into rivers andlakes near its plants. For lawsuits brought by American VietnamVeterans and Vietnamese suffering from the effects of Agent Orange.
Butlet me remind each of you, the biggest crime of Dow Chemical was itspart, along with 35 other U.S. Chemical Companies, headed by Monsanto,in manufacturing Agent Orange used with devastating effect on SouthernVietnam for a period of TEN-YEARS, yes, TEN-YEARS. 80 million litresof the chemical was sprayed over the forests, crops, hamlets and thePEOPLE themselves, from August 1961 to 1971, resulting in the deathsmentioned above.
Through the use of Agent Orange, Dow Chemicaland the others have left a legacy that today in Vietnam affects fourmillion. It has also entered into the fourth generation. From myfirst visit in 1989 and each year since, I have met and seen many ofthese tragic victims, of all ages, from newborn babies that are minusfeet and sometimes hand, young children suffering from water on thebrain, and their heads four-times the normal size where their illness isslowly crushing the brain that ends in death.
I have met withyoungsters minus a limb, some minus two; some will be confined to a bedor wheelchair for the rest of their lives unable to fend for themselves.In Dong Nai I met a mother and her two daughters both unable to moveor speak but just lay on their bed, the mother looks after them andtheir needs and has done so for 42 years, the age of her eldestdaughter, the other daughter is 36 years. I could describe more ofthe people I have met over the past 22 years. But what angers me moreis when I see children affected that were born after the sprayingstopped in 1971 and long after the war ended in 1975.
This iswhat Dow Chemicals has done to the people of Vietnam, and each of youhave seemed fit to support the appointment of the company to be asponsor of the Games that opens in London on 27 th July, despite themany objections made by people from a number of countries. ”.-VNA
