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Q79: Why is there not a law suit against the manufacturer of Agent Orange?
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A1: This should also be available for our offsprings. My daughter suffer from depression, bipolar & other symptoms. My condition has deteriorated to where I can hardly walk and the VA has dragged its feet to help me. All AO veteran's are suffering and not getting any help. This is comparable to AO survivors being sprayed with AO all over again. (HR) 7/11/18
A2: Because our administration is only interested in their stock portfolio. A lawsuit will effect trump's money. (RK) 7/11/18
A3: That what my husband had he died and we never got help he served his country proud and it's a shame how they treat the vets when they come back home the wife and children still hurting behinds this looking for help it never none keep being put on hold for everything thing and the doctors that works for they VA they don't give a dam I was there with my husband until he took his last breath he had agent orange and it's a dam shame the doctors at the VA new it I'm not giving up on this matter they need to take care there widows and family it's so sad nothing been done about this it's being going on to long we need answers and I need them now! (MH) 7/11/18
A4: Because there appears to be a coverup by the government entities who have been paid to espouse untruths. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the DA, Department of the Army, which I find weird, since the first pesticide committee was formed by the President at the time in the 1940s, T. Roosevelt, and from that day forward it was the President, VP, treasurer, past president, War Dept, the USDA, the HEW, the DOI, the Navy worked closely with the USDA for initial testing. Agent Purple was first used in Puerto Rico, Panama for testing in the 1940s. Orange came out in 1964 and shipped in 1965. In the summer of 1977 they found 4 barrels of Purple at Johnston Island off the coast of Panama before supposedly burning all of Agent Orange, yet Panama was still shipped thousands of pounds as late as December 1977 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. These records have been available since the first shipment of herbicides in the 1940s to the VA/DoD, and yet, no one has ever found them. I found them online by googling, submitted them for my husband, who was a Vietnam-era Veteran, has a presumptive disease according to 38 CFR 3.309, only to be denied. Turns out if the area where this agent was used is not on the list, you are automatically denied. And yet, we have proof it was shipped almost every month, shipped/stored/used in Panama since 1959. 2,4-D, half of Agents Purple and Orange was used in Gatun Lake, Panama Canal Zone since 1948 to kill the hydrilla. Gatun Lake was our drinking water source. Source for fish we ate, recreational lake. There are hundreds of thousands of us who need help and have been denied. The reason there is no lawsuit, is because of a coverup. There is no other explanation. (DT) 7/11/18
A5: There was because I got a claim. In the early 90's Vets exposed to AO were asked to submit a claim against Dow and Monsanto in a class action lawsuit. When I got my packet the only claim one could make was for about 3 types of rare cancer or death directly attributable to it. I did not qualify so I turned it over to a friend whose husband died from it. She got $3000 dollars from the fund and the fund was closed down a few years later. I hear the average claim was about $3000. (JR) 7/11/18
A6: Like A5 said, there was a class action lawsuit against agent orange many years ago, and I thought that settled it all. The big winners were the lawyers who made millions by getting the veterans to accept a settlement to avoid a trial. (EF) 7/11/18
A7: U.S. veterans class action lawsuit against manufacturers
Since at least 1978, several lawsuits have been filed against the companies which produced Agent Orange, among them Dow Chemical, Monsanto, and Diamond Shamrock. (DO) 7/11/18
A8: There was a law suit filed against Dow(for one, maybe Monsanto too) back in the late 70's early 80's and it was settled for $180 million dollars which absolved them from any further law suits. Since then the money disappeared and to this date no one knows what happened to it. (DH) 7/12/18
A9: Dow Chemical and Monsanto were the two largest producers of Agent Orange for the U.S. military, and were named in the suit, along with the dozens of other companies (Diamond Shamrock, Uniroyal, Thompson Chemicals, Hercules, etc.) (AP) 7/12/18
A10: I was responsible for the initial use of 2 4 5 T in Vietnam. I was an Ag pilot and a veteran of the Korean conflict. I flew rice fields of Louisiana and sprayed thousands of gallons, getting soaked in the process. While ferrying an ag-aircraft from Long Island to South Louisiana, I landed for fuel at Destin, Florida. I was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base for five years as a test pilot and looked up some of my friends. One was a Major who had just returned from Vietnam. During our conversation, he mentioned some of the problems using our Air Power. Among these was the fact that there was so much jungle with heavy foliage which concealed the movement of enemy forces from observation from the air. I mentioned the fact of 2 4 5 T use. This resulted in the Majors contacting the group at Hurlbut AFB that was devising tactics for the Vietnam War. Immediately, the group set in motion the purchase of the weed killer/defoliant. Under the emergency orders, no bids were required for the purchase. The first shipment came from chemical used in the United States, which did not contain Dioxon, a chemical to cause multiple physical problems. The results of the 2 4 5 T spraying defoliated the jungle. Therefore, authority for the purchase of a much greater quantity was obtained. This order required obtaining bids with the low price bidder getting the job. There are two processes for making the chemical for sale. In both, the chemical 2 4 5 T is completed, but the process leaves Dioxin in the compound. Removing the Dioxin is more expensesive! The Agent Orange retained the Dioxin! The manufacturer had to know this! I do not know what the profit margin was, but it had to be substantial. (FR) 10/19/19
A11: There has been a lawsuit filed in 1985, and there is program that is called the Agent Orange and there are several diseases that are granted service connection for those diseases. I believe there are 15 listed diseases under that program. (GR) 3/18/21
A12: I do believe there was a law suit against Monsanto back in the 70's and 80's which was settled and an account set up for veterans exposed to agent orange, but it did not cover all the disabilities that are currently presumptive today. Why more law suits have not been filed is strange to me. (AM) 1/17/22