Vietnam Joins Protest Against Dow Chemicals
Cain Nunns Special to Salem-News.com
Vietnam joins the protest against Olympic sponsor Dow Chemical, accused of “green-washing” its Agent Orange sins.
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Len Aldis, Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society is a staunch advocate for Viet Nam's people living with the U.S. manufactured nightmare known as Agent Orange.
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(HANOI, Viet Nam) - The organisers of London’s 2012
Olympics call them the Green Games — a monument to best sustainable
practice within the sports world.
The Vietnamese government says the
organisers should tell that to the hundreds of thousands of children
born with cleft palates, mental disabilities, hernias, lung, larynx and
prostate cancer, missing limbs and extra fingers and toes.
Vietnam
joined the growing chorus of protest against Olympic sponsors accused of
“green-washing” their past sins earlier this month.
In a letter
obtained by GlobalPost, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
castigated the Lausanne-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) for
green-lighting Dow Chemical as a major Olympic sponsor.
Dow produced about one-third of the 80 million liters
of Agent Orange defoliants sprayed over southern Vietnam, during what
the Vietnamese call “The American War.”
The Vietnamese Red Cross
estimates that up to 3 million Vietnamese have been affected by Agent
Orange, including at least 300,000 children born with birth defects.
The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates are much higher.
It says 4.8
million people were exposed, resulting in 400,000 deaths and injuries
and about 500,000 children born with defects, many of which are still
being born to this day — some four generations later.
“Agent Orange …
destroyed the environment, claimed the lives of millions of Vietnamese
and left terrible effects on millions of others, who are now suffering
from incurable diseases. Hundreds of thousands of fourth generation
children have been born with severe congenital deformities,” wrote Hoang
Tuan Anh, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to the IOC.
“Dow Chemical has expressed indifference and refused
compensation for victims of Agent Orange, as well as their
responsibility to clean up contaminated areas. Dow also continues to
destroy the environment. In 2010, US EPA listed Dow as the second worst
polluter in the world,” the letter said.
Vietnam has unsuccessfully brought legal action against
Dow and other Agent Orange producers in US courts...The producers of
Agent Orange blame the US government for its use, while sovereign
immunity shields Washington from prosecution in American courts.
US helicopters and planes sprayed about 20 per cent of
southern Vietnam with the defoliants over a 10-year period...to strip the...Vietnamese of jungle cover and limit access to food
supplies. A less reported aim was to drive rural Vietnamese...into US-controlled cities in what was then
South Vietnam.
“It’s ironic that Dow is allowed to sponsor sporting
events including Paralympics athletes when it is responsible for
creating generations of severely disabled children and refuses to do
anything to help them,” wrote a Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent
Orange/Dioxin spokesman in an email.
Dow, the IOC and the London Organising Committee of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games ignored repeated requests for comment. Dow
Chemical inked a 10-year deal with the IOC in 2010. Dow envisioned a
global sales bump of about $1 billion by promoting, ironically enough, a
raft of environmentally-friendly products.
But it was the $11.25 million contract doled out to Dow
for the 336 giant panels that will make up the decorative wrap that
first sparked controversy. The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012,
a watchdog body charged with overseeing the Games’ environmental
credentials, was rocked when commissioner Meredith Alexander resigned
last month in protest over Dow’s awarding of the stadium contract.
Campaigners believe that Dow also has ongoing
liabilities relating to the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal,
India, that led to an estimated 20,000 deaths and serious injury to tens
of thousands more.
“But the Olympics is big business. There is an
expensive machine behind the Games that is funded by corporate sponsors.
Sadly when these sponsors are selected, money talks much more loudly
than values,” said Alexander to The Guardian. Big business indeed.
Dow’s
Olympic stable mates also include BP and Rio Tinto, two resource
extraction behemoths that rights groups say have woeful environmental
and human-rights track records.
“Dow refuses to accept responsibility. They state they
were told to make the chemicals by the US government and will not and
have not paid one cent in compensation,” writes Len Aldis, secretary of
Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society, in an email to GlobalPost.
“Despite
their record, money talks. The IOC should cancel Dow’s sponsorship of
the Games.”
This article was originally published by Noon Post
Full text of letter from Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for
green-lighting Dow Chemical as a major Olympic sponsor.
(Official translation)
International
Olympic Committee (IOC)
Chateau de Vidy,
1001 Lausanne, Switzerland
Fax: +41 21 621
6216
Ha Noi, 2 May 2012
Dear Mr. Jacques Rogge, President of the International
Olympic Committee and other members of the Executive Board,
First of all, on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Sports
and Tourism of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, I would like to extend the
best compliments to Mr. President and other members of the Executive Board of
the International Olympic Committee.
It is with regret that I have to express profound concerns
of the Government and people of Viet
Nam about the decision of IOC to accept the
Dow Chemical Company as a global partner sponsoring the Olympic Movement from
now to 2020.
The Dow Chemical Company is one of the major producers of
the Agent Orange, which have been used by the US Army with the amount of 80
millions litres to spray over villages in the South of Viet Nam over 10 years,
from 1961 to 1971, destroying the environment, claiming the lives of millions
of Vietnamese people and leaving terrible effects on millions of others, who
are now suffering from incurable diseases and some hundreds of thousands of
children of the fourth generation were born with severe congenital deformities.
What is worth condemning is the fact that, despite of international opinions, Dow
Chemical expressed their indifference and refused compensation for victims of
the Agent Orange produced by the company, as well as their responsibility to clean
up contaminated areas. Spending zero effort to recover their mistakes in the
past, Dow continues to destroy the current living environment. In 2010, US
Environmental Protection Agency listed Dow as the second worst polluter in the
world.
Since the ultimate goals of the Olympic Movement are to
promote good health, equality and progress of the mankind, we think that the
acceptance of IOC for Dow sponsorship is a hasty decision. Therefore, we call
upon IOC to reconsider your decision and stand up for millions of Agent Orange
victims in Viet Nam
and over the world, asking Dow Chemical to fulfill their responsibilities for
victims of the Agent Orange and spend the adequate financial resources to solve
these problems, only by then they could be eligible to sponsor the Olympic Games.
On this occasion, I would like to reaffirm our support and
commitment of Viet Nam
to activities of the Olympic Movement in general and the Olympics/ Paralympics
in particular. The sports delegation of Viet Nam would try their best in
the spirits of sportsmanship to contribute to the success of the Olympic Games.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed by)
Hoang Tuan Anh
Minister
Copies to:
- The London Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic Games
- Vietnam National Olympic Committee
