{"id":54,"date":"2020-11-05T09:26:13","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T14:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/?page_id=54"},"modified":"2020-12-21T16:01:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T21:01:20","slug":"your-choosing-ii","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/your-choosing-ii\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

In 2004, there was a court case filed in New York district courts on behalf of Vietnamese Agent Orange <\/span>victims<\/span> (<\/span>Palmer 2007). The case was filed against multiple chemical <\/span>corporations but<\/span> was dismissed in March with the court siting a lack of evidence that Agent Orange was the common factor of injury (Palmer 2007). <\/span>Eventually<\/span>, during this suit the government revealed that it was aware of the dangers from the chemicals in the early 1960s (Palmer 2007).\u00a0The case was appealed eventually to the Supreme Court, who refused to hear the case\u00a0leaving Vietnamese victims without another way to file a civil suit (Cusato 2018).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This ironically happened <\/span>thirteen<\/span> years after the Agent Orange Act passed through <\/span>Congress making it possible for U.S. veterans to receive compensation for health effects of the chemicals. \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1966, Hungary challenged the United States use of the chemicals under international law (<\/span>Cusato 2018). This would be the first <\/span>time<\/span> that the U.S. had to defend its actions <\/span>in front<\/span> of <\/span>an international sphere (Cusato 2018). <\/span>The <\/span>Geneva <\/span>Protocall<\/span> which <\/span>outlines<\/span> war crimes and regulations specifically <\/span>outlines<\/span> chemical agents that have a direct negative impact on people<\/span>\u00a0as prohibited \u201cbacteriological methods of <\/span>warfare<\/span>\u201d (<\/span>Cusato 2018).<\/span>\u00a0This same section of the <\/span>Geneva<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Protocall<\/span> also makes clear that the international law applies generally and can hold a state accountable regardless of that <\/span>state’s<\/span> participation in the accords<\/span>\u00a0(Cusato 2018). This particular <\/span>section of the accords<\/span> is important to the U.S. case as the United States did not sign onto the accords until 1975, when the spraying was already <\/span>done (<\/span>Palmer 2007).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The U.S. refuted <\/span>all the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>claim<\/span>s from the international community by claiming\u00a0<\/span>that the law did not ban <\/span>herbicides<\/span> nor <\/span>was the <\/span>herbicide<\/span> used with the direct intent of causing harm (Cusato 2018). This led to <\/span>further investigations and international pressure <\/span>for the U.S. to end the war and admit to wrongdoings against Vietnam (Cusato 2018).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though<\/span> the U.S. continues to not accept fault or fully <\/span>accept<\/span> the <\/span>damages<\/span> of the chemicals, the Bush administration stating projects to assist Vietnam in 2006 (<\/span>Cusato 2018). <\/span>The United States has assisted in cleanup of chemically concentrated \u201chotspots\u201d as well as donated to general disability funding (Cusato 2018). <\/span>None of<\/span> this however is considered reparations, and instead is <\/span>referred<\/span> to as \u201cVoluntary <\/span>Remedition<\/span>\u201d taking any burden of <\/span>perceived<\/span> guilt or <\/span>wrongdoing<\/span> from<\/span> the United States (Cusato 2018).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>While the united states <\/span>were<\/span> not held accountable for this chemical and ecological <\/span>warfare<\/span> under the law, <\/span>international scrutiny and discussions of the international law could lead to improved clarity for future conflict. At this point the science is clear enough in the harms that <\/span>chemicals<\/span> like Dioxin in Agent Orange can cause. <\/span>Considering the backlash against these actions and the impacts that continue to afflict <\/span>millions<\/span> of people decades later, it seems <\/span>likely<\/span> that future instances of chemical <\/span>warfare<\/span> against people will not be easily written off an accident.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is evident that while the discussion around Agent Orange has changed, there are still implications from the disaster to this day. As of 2008, the Veterans Association had nineteen diseases and disabilities in U.S. veterans and their children as reason for government compensation (Veterans Affairs). In 2020, a bill is set to take into effect that will include U.S. veterans suffering from high blood pressure as eligible for benefits and relief (Shane 2020).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In 2004, there was a court case filed in New York district courts on behalf of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims (Palmer 2007). The case was filed against multiple chemical corporations but was dismissed in March with the court siting a lack of evidence that Agent Orange was the common factor of injury (Palmer 2007). … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-54","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}