Monsanto’s ‘Bribe’ Is Latest Insult To Vietnam

Agent Orange Advocacy
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© 2014 ‎(COVVHA) Children Of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC
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Monsanto Hush Money

The U.S. group Monsanto and the US.-based Room to Read has announced a cooperation program worth VND 3.2 billion (roughly $150,000) to improve education and gender equality for children of farmers in Vietnam.

The Monsanto group is a giant in the agriculture (editor’s note: and chemical/genetically engineered seeds) business while Room to Read is an international non-government organization operating in the field of offering education support.

The joint program of the two organizations is expected to help improve the ability and love of reading among students at the elementary level through the establishment of libraries and book publishers.

It will also help give secondary education to hundreds of girls and equip them with necessary life kills.

The partnership will be extended from northern Vietnam (Thai Nguyen province) to the central region (Binh Dinh province) and the southern region (Long An and Tra Vinh provinces).

So far Vietnam has successfully implemented the universalization of elementary education and is trying its best to reduce gender inequality. However, in more remote areas, especially in areas where ethnic minority people live, the situation has not improved radically, so cooperation between many organizations, individuals and societies is needed to improve it.

The funding from Monsanto Fund will be divided into two programs: one for educational support for school girls and the other for language training for elementary students.

Specifically, the language program for elementary students will be implemented through the building of reading skills and love for reading for more than 60,000 primary students, and the establishment of eight libraries and publication of two books intended for children.

Meanwhile, the educational assistance program for school girls will provide about 175 school girls from low-income farming families with financial support, means for studying, training on life skills, and vocational orientation training.

“Education is a particularly important work, so the program is committed to supporting farmers and their families to improve their lives as well as helping their children to have access to education” said Juan Farinati, Monsanto vice president for Asia Pacific.

Monsanto’s Denies Responsibility for Dark History in Vietnam

While the $150,000 in Vietnam is certainly welcome, it’s a paltry sum compared to the unconscionable amount of damage the company caused in the region, damage it still refuses to acknowledge to this day.

During the Vietnam War, an estimated 3 million Vietnamese citizens suffered from their own, or their parents’, exposure to Agent Orange, a chemical cocktail comprised of all 15 herbicides used in the war. In total about 4.8 million people were exposed.

A total of more than 1/8 of South Vietnamese land was sprayed from the air or ground killing about 1/5 of the jungle foliage and 1/3 of the mangrove forests in the area.

Monsanto also put profit ahead of any semblance of humanity during the war, ramping up production of its chemicals in order to secure larger profits from the U.S. government.

Included as a byproduct of their chemicals was dioxin, one of the most deadly chemicals known to man, capable of killing animals at as little as 3-10 parts per trillion.

Monsanto learned of dioxin in their products by 1965 at the latest yet chose not to notify officials, and instead raised the temperatures on their batches of chemicals which only increased dioxin levels as they scrambled to pump out more and more chemicals to be dumped in Vietnam.

Lawsuits Mostly Unsuccessful

A class-action lawsuit was filed by several veterans against Dow Chemical and Monsanto for illnesses they thought were caused by exposure to Agent Orange, and was settled for $180 million in 1984.

But sadly, no veterans received more than about $5,600 from the settlement and most got far less; their medical expenses skyrocketed and they were left fronting the bill. The fund was quickly depleted within 10 years and a judge ruled that Dow and Monsanto would not have to face further liability for future claims.

Congress has since forced Veterans Affairs to study Agent Orange related illnesses and an association between 15 diseases has been found; the VA now compensates 350,000-400,000 Vietnam veterans for those diseases with total expenses numbering in the billions of dollars each year.

But Monsanto has remained mostly blameless and has contributed virtually nothing to help those who have suffered at their hands.

A major 1994 class-action lawsuit by Vietnamese citizens against Monsanto, Dow and other companies for help with Agent Orange-related diseases, along with two others from Vietnam veterans, were all thrown out after the Supreme Court refused to hear the cases.

Monsanto has still never taken responsibility for its litany of crimes during and after the war, and now they’re even on the verge of introducing their highly controversial and highly damaging genetically engineered seeds and chemical farming system on Vietnam.

No amount of aid to the Vietnamese and U.S. veterans can ever come close to making up for the destruction Monsanto has caused.

But taken in context of this information it’s hard to consider their latest offer anything less than insulting, don’t you think?

First section reprinted via Tuoitrenews.vn. 

The post Monsanto’s ‘Bribe’ Is Latest Insult To Vietnam appeared first on Children Of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance.

© 2014 ‎(COVVHA) Children Of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC
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(COVVHA) Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC.
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