More on Monsanto, Agent Orange, and Recent Trickery and Profiteering

Chuck Palazzo

Agent Orange Editor

VetSpeak.org

Danang, Vietnam - The more I read and attempt to understand Monsanto and to go as far as to put myself in their corporate shoes, I just cannot. No matter which way I look at them, no matter what avenue I investigate and pursue, my conclusions are the same. Monsanto the company, its executives, and many of their employees in middle and upper management (and probably the rank and file as well) knew and know exactly what is going on with the company. Why should anyone from the inside blow the whistle? They are very well paid and they are deemed to be an excellent company to work for (morality and war crimes and playing God aside, of course). In addition, the so-called revolving door of US (and probably other) Government officials who once worked for Monsanto are now on the various Government’s side – and vice versa – so many former Government officials are now employed by Monsanto or one of its subsidiaries. The highest court in the US, The US Supreme Court just happens to have a former Monsanto Attorney sitting on its bench. 

I am probably being redundant, as I have mentioned this before, but we need to be reminded – Justice Thomas was a former Monsanto Corporate Attorney! I am not accusing Justice Thomas of anything – but just knowing that someone worked for the company that produced so much Agent Orange before and during the Vietnam War (and possibly afterwards as well) is now a US Supreme Court Justice just does not sit well with me. The list certainly goes on and on. Look at the FDA, look at Monsanto. Please see the Documentary “The World According to Monsanto” and more will be revealed to each of you.

I came across some very interesting articles and websites during the past few days regarding Monsanto, its products, and how it continues to destroy human lives as well as our environment. But most important, how Monsanto continues to get away with it. True, they have been convicted of lying about their labeling practices for their Round-Up Product – and were fined a pittance compared with their annual (or weekly, for that matter) revenue. Yes, their stock was affected. But are they staring at a potential bankruptcy proceeding as a result? Absolutely not! They just continue to produce, and in many cases, forcibly sell, their products for a huge profit margin.

I cannot set aside what Monsanto caused, and never will set aside what they continue to cause as a result of Agent Orange. But here is another example: Aspartame was made by Monsanto. To make matters worse, Aspartame is made from genetically manufactured bacteria.

http://www.knowthelies.com/?q=node/2148

What makes no sense, other than the fact that Monsanto wants to dominate the world’s food supply and possibly the world itself, is how they sue, beat up, bully, etc., etc., the small farmers (larger ones as well) to ensure their genetically manufactured products are being used – and said use reaping a very large royalty for Monsanto.

Hiding the presence of PCB’s from local residents? See how Monsanto did it for years – about 40 years to be exact! Suicides in India, and probably elsewhere because Monsanto has forced poor farmers to go into such huge debt just to buy seeds from this terror of a company, just to realize that their crop production was not close to what was being promised?

http://rawearthliving.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/monsanto-atrocities-read-and-take-action/

All this and more, from the folks who brought us Agent Orange – then refused to pay the proper compensation for its ongoing treachery and deaths. Sure, they were part of the infamous 1984 settlement in the amount of $180 million – with most affected veterans who were tricked and lied to - receiving a one-time lump sum payment of $1,200.

Monsanto continues to make huge sums of money and at the expense of human life. How and why do they continue? The bottom line, cash, greenbacks, MONEY! And I dare say – the revolving door.

www.VetSpeak.org

Forbes Company of the Year - Anti-Green Monsanto: Agent Orange Creator and Defense Department Vendor

By Chuck Palazzo

Agent Orange Editor

www.VetSpeak.org

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Danang, Vietnam - A slap in the face! What an insult. What a display of ignorance. What little to no compassion, let alone admission of guilt to the war crimes this company was involved in. No, they were never convicted – because they settled out of court like Dow and the rest of the criminals who created, sold, and made hundreds of millions of dollars creating, selling and reaping the profits from Dioxin – yes, Agent Orange. (Photo: Vietnam File Photo - circa 1965-1968)
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http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0118/americas-best-company-10-gmos-dupont-planet-versus-monsanto.html

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This week, Forbes Magazine named Monsanto its company of the year. Can you believe it? Forbes – sure, a conservative, capitalist magazine – but nominating and approving Monsanto? A killer that was and continues to be, responsible for MILLIONS of deaths, MILLIONS of humans affected with disease as a result of being sprayed and exposed, MILLIONS of offspring whose health (and most of the time, untimely deaths), all caused by the evil poison known as Agent Orange.

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They still produce Round-up, a watered down version of Agent Orange. However, the French Courts have found in favor of those who brought suit against them – Monsanto was accused and convicted in the French Courts about the make-up and what actually Round-up is and does – they were convicted of lying to the courts - perjury. Their sentence? A fine – a pittance, compared with the BILLIONS of dollars in revenue they achieve each year.
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However, that recent series of court cases in France is indeed significant – Round-up sales have dropped since the court’s decision, and this might just be a start – because Monsanto did in fact earn less than their forecasted revenues in 09 as a result in a drop in sales of Round-up.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8308903.stm

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Their CEO did in fact receive less in bonus compensation as a result of much of this being revealed – but he still earned millions of dollars!

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http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/mound-city-money/st-louis-companies/2009/12/monsanto-ceo-grant-sees-bonus-shrink-in-09/

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Today, Monsanto is viewed by many, as a savior in terms of world hunger – because of its creation of genetically engineered seeds. Two very important facts:

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   1)  GE seeds are in fact NOT better than natural seeds and are, some believe, even worse – in terms of the environment, human lives, spread of new diseases and humanity in general.
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2)  It has been revealed by the AP as well as other trusted sources, that Monsanto has and continues to use strong arm tactics in forcing farmers to buy and use their seeds.

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This is a short video about the lie of what Monsanto and others preach about GE crops:

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http://www.techblogarchives.com/2010/01/06/genetic-engineering-the-worlds-greatest-scam/
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The GE seed issue is certainly a serious one – but brothers and sisters, let us never forget Vietnam, Cambodia, Canada, Korea and other countries where Agent Orange was sprayed in both war and peacetime. Let us not forget all human tolls it has taken – and continues to take. The lives that have been devastated, the lives removed. The profits and GE seeds and eventual crops that wind up on your supermarket shelves have all been brought to you buy the profits Monsanto received as a result of the US Government paying them hundreds of millions of dollars for the poison we all despise:  Agent Orange.
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More about Monsanto, the food industry in general, and the devastation and lies they and others like them are propagating, in this wonderful piece called “Food, Inc.”

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http://www.theconsci​ous.com/?p=61

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This may or may not be available free of charge, depending on what country you reside in, but it IS available to all from www.thepiratebay.org. Remember, you will need a torrent program to download it. Email me if you need further instructions.

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http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5142533/Food__Inc__%282008%29

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I urge you all – please login to Forbes, create an account, and comment about this truly wrong winner this year. Monsanto and its executives belong behind bars – not recipients of Forbes’ Company of the Year Award!

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Not a single word about their involvement with the US Government during the Vietnam War. Not one mention of all the death and destruction they have and continue to be responsible for. This is the true corporate world – its finest for its shareholders and executives, but its worst for all of us who were exposed to, suffer from, and pass on the devastation we know as Agent Orange. Genetic alteration to seeds? What about the genetic alteration, eventual disease, disability and death from Agent Orange?

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www.VetSpeak.org

Afghanistan: Are the Impacts of Vietnam Fading, is it Possible?

Looking forward into the past:  Vietnam & Afghanistan
By
Chuck Palazzo
Agent Orange Editor
www.VetSpeak.org

Da Nang, Vietnam - How can the U.S. decry human rights violations as it fails to be responsible for a war that should never have been waged in the first place?  As a VVAW member and correspondant living in Vietnam I receive a great amount of feedback as a result of my efforts to help people affected by the chemical Agent Orange, a defoiliant manufactured by Monsanto.  This contribution is an interchange of dialog on some key points of the Vietnam War. The following comment which began this dialog is from a source that we are choosing not to name:  

"Let it go, Brother. Your attention to figures can scramble your brain. And don't think 58,000 Americans died in vain in Viet Nam. There were lessons to learn and a need for this for the U.S. to realize the limits of its power. Viet Nam didn't matter in the scheme of things and it wouldn't have made any difference to the vast majority of us, regardless of the outcome."

But I responded and told him I would publicize our dialog. He was writing to me in response to my asking for stats re: how many of us are left, how many disabled, etc. This was my reply:

"I appreciate what you have said, and I agree with you to an extent. But to never let anyone believe our brothers and sisters have died in vain? I for one, cannot ever let it go. Yes, I have let many things go - including the fact that I was an 18 year old kid thrust into a war that I had no idea was about - except I came from an era and was told, by my dad, friends, and of course the US Government that we had to fight the spread of communism. What crap, I am sure you would agree.

You see, in my opinion, Vietnam does matter in the scheme of things, especially when it comes to facts and figures - and more important, what continues to occur in Iraq and the current escalation in Afghanistan. You cannot fix what you cannot measure. 


It might be easy for some to forget what the US did in Vietnam, the loss of the 58,000 plus, the daily deaths as a result of the collateral damage known as Agent Orange, even now, 40 years later - but unless we remind each other, and continue to educate other people as well, we as humanity are destined to make the same mistakes, commit the same war crimes, and foster the same money making schemes we did back then. Yes, perhaps we have learned some lessons, but Monsanto continues to be a multi-billion dollar company and the US refuses to admit its war crimes.  Will the US government opt for chemical defoliants as a weapon in their war on the poppy trade, in Afghanistan?  If so, who you gonna call?

Look at our sons and daughters, our friends, and our allies, who are dying daily in Iraq and Afghanistan? Who knows how many years, how many generations, how many innocents as well as warriors will be affected - and for how long? We haven’t learned a thing as a nation, brother. My opinion - and perhaps many others' as well.

I do appreciate your feedback, and thanks.

Semper Peace!

Chuck"

The fact that light is still being shed on this topic is extremely important. The story has to keep on being told, and while war is war - how can the U.S. government decry human rights violations as it fails to stand up and take responsibility for the lives that have been torn apart because of a war that should never have been waged in the first place - along with the chemicals used to fight it?

www.VetSpeak.org

Agent Orange: The tragedy continues....

The Damages Continue

Relief possibly in sight, still more to do, and so little time

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By

Chuck Palazzo

Interim Agent Orange Editor, VVAW Member

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Toxin in Agent Orange still polluting South Vietnam, study says.  Link to the story:

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=11113506
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It’s absolutely no surprise that even to this day, environmental tests confirm extremely high levels of dioxin, the toxic ingredient that made Agent Orange what it was – an insidious poison that was sprayed for years in Vietnam as well as other countries for a variety of reasons– but especially in Vietnam. The base referred to in this article is Da Nang. That’s where so many of us flew in and out of, were stationed in or around, and where this poison was mixed, stored and loaded onto aircraft for eventual spraying in Vietnam.
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The earth was sprayed and contaminated, trees and plants defoliated, wildlife sprayed and killed, and worse, Americans as well as Vietnamese have suffered premature deaths, diseases they would not have been stricken with if not exposed to Agent Orange. They as well as their offspring continue to suffer as this toxic cocktail continues its journey from generation to generation. Dioxin levels at this location, to this day, continue to exceed ALL international standards and guidelines for toxic chemicals.
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"The work we have done really demonstrates that this is a manageable problem," said Thomas Boivin, president of Hatfield. "We now know where the contamination is coming from; we just need the international financial support to get on with the cleanup."
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We have known for years. It’s been well documented. In fact, the US Government, while they still contend they did no wrong in spraying Agent Orange on the Vietnamese as well as Americans and our allies, actually outlawed the use of Dioxin in the US for that very same reason. After years of disagreement on how to handle the ongoing problem, the US and Vietnam finally agreed to work together and come up with a solution in 2006. Yep, that’s not a typo folks – 2006. 31 years after the fall of Saigon.
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How toxic is toxic?
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Between 1961 and 1971, the U.S. military released more than 19 million gallons of herbicides in South Vietnam to destroy enemy crops and deny a very formidable foe cover by defoliating dense mangrove forests and triple canopy jungles.
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What some people knew at the time and people at the very top of the US Government and War Machine was that some of the herbicides contained a highly toxic form of dioxin, known as TCDD. The toxin was a byproduct created while manufacturing mixtures such as Agent Orange, the most widely used of a handful of herbicides contaminated with TCDD. Unintended? Perhaps. But known to be toxic and by more than just a few folks? Absolutely!
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Environmental scientists from a Canadian firm (Hatfield) last week presented the findings from the study, which documents that high levels of TCDD from the herbicides still contaminate soil inside a former U.S. airbase in Da Nang as well as sediment from a lake that abuts it. And this is just Da Nang – one of 3 hotspots identified within South Vietnam that was sprayed and that is still contaminated. Approximately 10 percent of South Vietnam was sprayed during those years.
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The study uses TCDD's chemical fingerprint to trace its movement through the food chain, from the soil and lake sediment to the fat of fish and ducks to the blood and breast milk of humans.
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Where are we today?
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Plain and simple, we are worse off than we were when we started a series of lawsuits, blogs, demonstrations and everything else we possibly could do to seek justice from the US Government.
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The VAVAO brought suit, after numerous other failed attempts to make things right against the US Federal Government. The arrogance of successive administrations in Washington was nail after nail in the coffins of those who suffered and eventually died.
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The then President of the Veterans For Peace (VFP) David Cline, was quoted as stating: “While the chemical companies had responsibility and should be held liable, the primary responsibility lies with the U.S. government which ordered the continued use of these poisons” after they were known to be toxic. “Our demand has always been testing, treatment and compensation for Agent Orange victims” by the U.S. government.
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Progress was made with passage of the Agent Orange Act in 1991 admitting that these chemicals cause a long list of diseases, he continued. Unfortunately, David succumbed to his many ailments, primarily directly linked to Agent Orange, before any major laws were enacted, and funds granted to help us all – which we still await. David was a dedicated activist as well as a decorated combat hero. His mission, and his legacy, were and are to make things right and make the US accountable for these and so many other wrongs.
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Judge Jack
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That brings us to recent days. On March 10, 2005 Judge Jack Weinstein of Brooklyn Federal Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange against producers of chemicals defoliants/herbicides, denying millions to those poisoned by the rainbow defoliants. Good ole boy, Judge Jack Weinstein threw out the lawsuit that was initiated by the VAVOA, rejecting their argument that Agent Orange was a weapon subject to the Geneva Convention and their use against civilians was a war crime. Weinstein held that Agent Orange did not target people in Vietnam but was instead a “defoliant” aimed at Vietnam’s jungle.
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 Judge Jack, please allow us to spray you from head to toe with Dioxin – an eye for an eye? Certainly not. But The Honorable Judge needs to feel it and needs to pass it on to his offspring – then perhaps his head will come out of the sand. And guess who appointed Judge Weinstein? Our old friend and former US President, Lyndon Johnson. Starting to see a pattern evolve here brothers and sisters? Gulf of Tonkin lie and farce – thank the former President for that lie that caused the US to become more deeply involved in the Vietnam War.
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An additional case against the manufacturers filed by US veterans in the mid-1990s was dismissed at the same time. Both dismissals were upheld by an appeals court in 2008 and an appeal of the Vietnamese case to the US Supreme Court was dismissed in March 2009.
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The Recent International Tribunal
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Most recently, an International Tribunal convened in Paris. Rena Kopy, our sister member of the VVAW was selected to represent our organization as well as all of those affected by Agent Orange – US Veterans, allied Veterans as well as the Vietnamese and of course their offspring. The Tribunal, amongst other things, found in our favor:
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The US government is guilty of crimes against humanity for using Agent Orange in Vietnam according to a ruling by the International People’s Tribunal of Conscience announced in Paris on May 18. The verdict, reached after a two-day trial held May 15 - 16, found the US guilty of violating International Law by using Agent Orange to conduct illegal chemical warfare. Millions of gallons of the chemical were sprayed over Vietnam despite knowledge that it contained dioxin, one of the deadliest substances known to science. Dow Chemical, Monsanto, Uniroyal Chemical and 29 other chemical manufacturers were found guilty of collusion with this criminal act.
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After hearing testimony from 27 victims and expert witnesses, the tribunal ruled that Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and their families are entitled to full compensation from the US government and the companies that manufactured and supplied the chemical. The judgment also requires the defendants to restore the environment to pre-war conditions and remove all traces of dioxin from Vietnam. Additionally, it concluded that the Vietnamese State should be compensated for the costs of caring for victims and restoring the environment.
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To implement the verdict, the tribunal advised formation of an Agent Orange Commission to determine the amount of compensation for individual victims as well as their families and communities; to assess the amount needed to provide victims with health care, counseling, and other social services; and to project the cost of studying contaminated areas and conducting clean up operations. The amounts would be paid into a trust fund by the US government and the chemical companies. The defendants were not present at the trial, having ignored the summons and complaint sent to them by the Peoples’ Tribunal.
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The People’s Tribunal was organized to keep the issue of justice for Agent Orange victims alive in the court of international public opinion despite legal roadblocks erected by US courts. The tribunal was formed under auspices of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, a non-governmental organization of progressive lawyers and judges founded in 1946. The IADL has consultative status with UNESCO and ECOSOC.
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Next Steps
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Indeed a good question and sadly, not an easy one to answer. We must continue our fight, brothers and sisters, and never give up. Write and call your congressional representatives, the press, the President himself. I leave you with this tidbit of information. The US has allocated $3million in funds earmarked for the cleanup of Da Nang and the surrounding area of the former airbase. Earlier this year, President Obama signed a bill allotting $6million in assistance for dioxin cleanup efforts – it’s not clear to me, however, if the $6million includes the original $3million or is an additional $3million to the already allocated $3million. In either case, it’s a pittance of what is really required. 
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Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but Vietnam has not seen a penny of this funding to date. I hope I am wrong, but I can’t find any evidence indicating otherwise. As my good friend and fellow activist who lives here in Vietnam as well, points out to me, the boondoggle that Bush Jr. orchestrated as a “good will” gesture towards the citizens of Vietnam cost the United States a $3million hotel and related expense bill. Thank you Chuck S. for continuing to remind us of that fact – as sad as it is, it's fact.
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The US remains an imperialistic and arrogant country and refuses to admit its wrongs and remain true to its commitments - to its own veterans, our allies, and the people and environment that we so wrongly maimed, killed and destroyed.
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Semper Peace!
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