12 January 2012

The Director Monsanto
Mr Nguyen Thi Anh
Unit 1303, Floor 13, Centec Tower
72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street
Ward 6, District 3
Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam
E-mail: thi.anh.nguyen@monsanto.com

Dear Mr Nguyen,

Sorry not to have received a reply to my letter to you of 10th December, so I assume you did not visit the children at the Hoa Binh Village at Tu Du Hospital. I find this worrying that you a Vietnamese, as are some of your staff, could not find time to see children affected by Agent Orange a product! made by the company you work for and represent in the country on which 80 million liters were sprayed. I need not tell you of the legacy it has left to the people and land of your country.

Dead Forests, Dying People
Agent Orange & Chemical Warfare in Vietnam

Fred A. Wilcox
Photographs by Brendan B. Wilcox

“In the abominable history of war, with the sole exception of nuclear weapons, never has such an inhuman fate ever before been reserved for the survivors”.

—Dr. Ton That Tung, Vietnamese research scientist

December 2011

 An Open Letter to Shareholders of Monsanto

          As you prepare to study the various resolutions for the coming annual general meeting of your company, being held in St Louis 24^th January 2012, I ask you to take into consideration the history of your company and the policies you have supported at various annual general meetings.

It is a record that very few can be proud of.  For example, can you as a shareholder be proud, even satisfied, that your company has been responsible for the deaths of many thousands of Vietnamese, many thousands of abnormal births in Vietnam, and today in Vietnam due to the product manufactured by your company, you have left four million Vietnamese suffering from various illnesses and deformities, and thousands of acres of once magnificent forests destroyed.  The product was of course Agent Orange.

Olympic Games set to compete in a stadium surrounded by a curtain of shame made by Dow Chemical.

(LONDON) – Next year in East London the two Olympics will be held when sportsmen and women from many countries will compete against each other in many fields of sport. This will be an opportunity to meet your competitors and to establish friendships.

Unfortunately, the Stadium, in which the opening and closing ceremonies will take place and field events held, will be stained in blood.

by Doctor Le Ke Son
Deputy Director General of The Vietnam Environment Administration

1. With about 80 million liters of herbicides, containing at least 366 kg dioxin, the chemical/dioxin war by the America in Southern Vietnam is the largest chemical one in the history of humankind.
2. The high and very high concentration of dioxin residues (hundreds of times higher than the permissible level of the Environment Protection Agency of the United State) in the environment, animals and humans, at present, in some hot spots is clear evidence for the long-term impacts of chemicals/dioxin, confirming the origin of dioxin from warring herbicides used by the US.

      I knew about America when I was a little boy. At that time, like any other little boy, I was not interested in politics, but enjoyed watching  American movies like the cartoon The Snow White and seven dwarfs, Pinocchio and cowboy films.  We enjoyed American movies not because of the scenes of riding and shooting, but their happy endings, which mean “the good defeats the evil”. And I longed naively to see America! But how the US has come to Vietnam ?

Monsanto, the company that manufactured Agent Orange used on Vietnam resulting in the deaths of many thousands of Vietnamese and the abnormal births of many thousands more, and also among military forces from the US and other countries who served during the Vietnam War, announced on 25^th October that its Board of Directors has designated

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 as the date of the next annual meeting of shareowners.

 Monsanto’s annual meeting will be held at the company’s headquarters facility in suburban St. Louis. Additional meeting details will be included in the company’s proxy statement, which will be available in December.

Len Aldis, Chairman of Agent Orange Action Group called upon all who are suffering from the effects of Agent Orange to take this opportunity to purchase shares in the company in so doing they can express their anger and concerns by asking questions to the board members for the criminal damage Agent Orange has caused to all victims and their families.

For those unable to purchase share, to encourage others to join you outside the meeting in a peaceful expression of your anger.

By Marie-Hélène Lavallard

A July 8 post by Stephen Messenger on the Food Freedom blog, titled “Monsanto’s Agent Orange being used to clear Brazil’s rainforest,” has given rise to hundreds of comments in just a few days. The post has been picked up by many other sites and has quickly gathered international attention.

Most comments express indignation at the destruction of the planet’s vital lung. The story has also prompted many to remember the deadly results of ten years of defoliant rain dropped over southern Vietnam by the US military. People are asking questions about the liability of those who produced Agent Orange, and about the US army’s responsibility in the matter, and about the lack of compensation for the victims.

And they are right to do so.

October 16, 2011
Da Nang, Vietnam
Chuck Palazzo

Da Nang International Airport

Agent Orange and the Removal of Dioxin: Status

History
Da Nang International Airport is the 3rd largest airport in Vietnam.  Over 1 million passengers travel through the airport annually.  This number is expected to rise to over 4 million passengers by 2020.  In anticipation of this growth, there is a major project underway to expand the runways as well as the construction of a new international terminal.  After the project is complete, the airport will have a total capacity of 6 million passengers per year.

During the Vietnam War, the facility was known as Da Nang Air Base.  This was a major United States military base.  Da Nang became the world’s busiest airport in the single runway category.  In the mid-1960’s, 1,500 landings and takeoffs were recorded on peak days.  When a second runway was added in 1966, Da Nang rivaled Tan Son Nhut as the world’s busiest airport.  By 1968 an average month saw the number of takeoffs and landings of fixed-wing aircraft exceeding 55,000.  With helicopter activities added, this figure approached 67,000.

On the 50th anniversary of the use of the deadly Agent Orange in Vietnam, an international conference seeks justice for its victims.