VIETNAM NOW DEMANDS COMPENSATION FROM IG FARBENSANTO

A few blogs previously, I wrote about the recent decision in the courts against IG Farbensanto (our nickname here for "big agribusiness" and their desire for corporate control over the world's food supplies, and more particularly, our nickname here for the Bayer buyout of Mon[ster]santo). The verdict returned a 289,000,000 dollar judgement against Mon(ster)santo in favor of a school worker who claimed that exposure to that company's herbicide, Roundup, had given him terminal cancer. The jury agreed, and came back with the judgement. Bayer, the new and proud owners of Mon(ster)santo, has indicated it will appeal the verdict and judgement.

As I wrote when this story appeared, this is not good news for IG Farbensanto, as the pending lawsuits against it are now well into the thousands, and that means spending a lot of money to litigate those suits. Bayer, however, can afford it, since it is awash in cash, having bought the American company with cash. But its problems are just beginning. Most regular readers here are aware that India has taken action against the big argibusiness-GMO giants, and the recent decision in California against Mon(ster)santo has brought in a new, or rather, old problem: Vietnam. According to this RT article shared by Mr. B., that country is considering legal action for the damage done to its citizens by Mon(ster)santo's "Agent Orange" herbicide dropped on it during the Vietnam war in order to defoliate vast areas of Vietnamese jungles:

Vietnam demands Monsanto compensate Agent Orange victims after US cancer ruling precedent

It might be argued that Vietnam has no legal case, since it was, after all, wartime, and in war - as one adage has it - anything goes. More tricky arguments might involve whether or not a former combatant has legal status before the courts. Now, that may sound a bit dicey from a legal point of view, but after all, this is IG Farbensanto we're dealing with, and according to researchers like F. William Engdahl (Seeds of Destruction) or Monique Robin (The World According to Monsanto), the company has a history of suing farmers for the presence of GMO crops on their land (even when they didn't plant any) and for non-payment of royalties. In other words, they'll stop at nothing in order to protect the "bottom line." It would be rather like British or German civilians during World War Two trying to sue British or German explosives manufacturers (which in Germany's case would be IG Farbensanto, by the way) for property damage.

Now, I'm not an attorney (thank goodness!), but it seems to me that if Vietnam chooses to take legal action, the hearings on legal "standing" alone could take some time, and cost a bundle in legal fees. Here's two paragraphs from the article explaining why:

“The verdict serves as a legal precedent which refutes previous claims that the herbicides made by Monsanto and other chemical corporations in the US and provided for the US army in the war are harmless,” deputy foreign ministry spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Tra said Thursday. “Vietnam has suffered tremendous consequences from the war, especially with regard to the lasting and devastating effects of toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange.”

Around three million people in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange during a brutal chemical warfare campaign between 1961 and 1971, in which 12 million gallons of herbicide produced by Monsanto Corporation, among others, were dropped over the jungle to defoliate it. Because of such a high level of exposure to dioxin, a byproduct found in Agent Orange, millions of Vietnamese continue to suffer health conditions, often resulting in deformities which are passed through gene mutations to future generations.

In other words, it's the descendants of those Vietnamese experiencing the problems, and Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesman Nguyen Phuong Tra has already indicated what Vietnam's legal strategy might be, for he has indicated Mon(ster)santo played its typical game of claiming its Agent Orange was "harmless" when it wasn't. That's the first point of the strategy, and the second is, of course, that Vietnam would be seeking compensation for the current generation of victims of Agent Orange, not the combatants at the time. And of course, that will raise all sorts of other legal issues - should a corporation be held liable for inter-generational damage allegedly done by one of its products during wartime, when in fact the corporation wasn't bombing Vietnam, but rather, the US government was; Mon(ster)santo merely sold the product. It did not tell the government what to do with it. And that makes sense too; one doesn't sue the knife-maker for selling a knife to a collector, or a chef, which subsequently is used in an assault on someone. On the other hand, one knife in one assault is hardly the same thing as an intergenerational effect of a technology on a whole human population and its descendants, especially if the government was told the product was harmless when it wasn't, and - wink wink nod nod - the government bought the narrative.

My point in all of this is that just this one point alone might have to be litigated, and that might take some time. And time, for an attorney, is money. And the bigger and more prestigious the law firm, the more money per "billable hour" that turns out to be. Add to that the practice (that everyone does and no one admits doing) that such hours are "padded", and it's a healthy chunk of money. The retainer fee just went up guys.

That's just the beginning of it. Much also depends on where Vietnam might choose to sue: in an American court, a German court, or "all of the above". Vietnam, of course, is not a bottomless pit of money, but neither is IG Farbensanto, and rest assured, if Vietnam does pursue legal action, then other countries having had dealings with the company might follow suit (not to coin a pun). And that list is quite long: India, Argentina, the Ukraine, Hungary... Imagine that, entire countries in a class action suit...

See you on the flip side...

Posted in

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

17 Comments

  1. zendogbreath on August 27, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    Interesting. Isnt agent orange half glyphosate n half dioxin? How much money did bhopal victims get from unocal n the company who bought them? How much did johnson n johnson lose last week on hernia mesh suits n how much did they make last week? How much was paid out over deepwater horizon? How many days of bp profit was the ruling against bp?

    Does anyone wanna ask doug y he’s cool with werking with agent orange?



    • Robert Barricklow on August 27, 2018 at 11:06 pm

      ZDB
      Just a little note on your BP question.
      Transocean Ltd. was the owner of the oil rig that exploded. Its CEO’s salary was actually raised after the mishap[eleven workers killed; forever polluting our e\whole ecosystem/Fukushima and God knows how many others are in the wings] to 1.1 million[+200,000]. The reason? Outstanding safety record.. “The best year in safety performance in our company’s history”.
      That’s SHOWBIZ for you.



      • Robert Barricklow on August 27, 2018 at 11:11 pm

        His name?
        Steven L. Newman
        That’s how the business world operates; on the premise that the worse the executive performance, the more compensation should be offered-
        especially when it comes to the military[via govt.]



    • zendogbreath on August 28, 2018 at 10:42 pm

      How much did bp spend gettin barry sortero to shut down access to the crime scene? Or to hide the crime with limitless aerial drops of toxic corexit?



  2. DownunderET on August 27, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    Never mind the chemicals, the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a hoax and then millions of peoples lives ended. LBJ went to congress and said “that some of our boys are floating in the water”. In the end, the American military forces just packed up and left, THERE IS A MESSAGE HERE !!!!!!!!



  3. Richard on August 27, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    . . . The phrase, once arrogantly flaunted, “. . . too large to fail,” no longer carries the financial surety it once did. . . Chemical, biological, nuclear, and material resource misuses continue to quantitatively increase. . . One need only and reliably test for toxins in the blood circulating in one’s body. . . There’s already plenty of them that get into the system from environmental conditions. . . Once a convenient excuse, “. . . it was already in the environment,” no longer bodes well in the courtroom or for bailouts. . .

    Mr and Ms, too-large-to-fail, have run out of planet to plunder, dump, and exploit without people affected noticing. . . When poisons disperse they cycle back. . . So it seems in everyone’s best interest to use less of them – Preferably, none at all. . .

    . . . Generational effects mount just as toxins and pollutants accumulate in addition to the unknowns yet to play out from exposure. . . Some of the questions that seem to percolate up, “How does one manage the accumulations that have pooled and find a route into water, air, soil, and food chains?”. . “Should anything actually be done to re-direct or curtail crop borne pests and plants when the overall toxic results build or become ineffective as well as cause health and wellness to decline with hefty medical costs across the board?”. . “How does one manage or balance monetary costs and profits as they fluctuate?”. . “Who’s afraid of change and is not aware that they are?”. . “How do major economies detoxify while they prosper?”. .



    • Robert Barricklow on August 28, 2018 at 11:11 am

      Too small to succeed, becomes the inevitable outcome.



  4. goshawks on August 27, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    I would say this ‘foray’ is tied to the sale to Bayer:

    While a US-based corporation, enough Vietnam War politicos and Cold War types are still alive that Monsanto could easily appeal to background ‘sympathy’ to stave-off any compensation. Not a good ‘risk’, especially as a precedent…

    However, when corporate ownership transferred to a German firm, lawyers may have convinced Vietnamese politicos that Deutsche courts were a more susceptible mark. ‘Mark’ in the sense of “The Sting” movie…

    (In addition, some legal firms might have taken the case on a Contingency Fee [only-pay-if-win] basis. That way, Vietnamese politicos have nothing to lose and might pocket half of a major settlement…)



  5. marcos toledo on August 27, 2018 at 6:53 pm

    Why stop at chemical pesticides the landmines that go on killing maiming crippling long after a conflict is over. But then IG Farben has had a long history of being in the industrial killing business going back over a century I am assuming Monsanto was its USA equivalent.



  6. RBG Santa Monica on August 27, 2018 at 5:15 pm

    This case may open doors for American servicemen exposed to Agent Orange and now suffering debilitating diseases such as Parkinson’s to pursue legal action.



  7. Robert Barricklow on August 27, 2018 at 11:56 am

    Deep pockets are what lawyers thrive on & target.
    Still, when the smoke clears the settlements undergo a dramatic downsized transformation. Some strategies like the E XXON Valdez was to stretch the litigation out to bleed the cash of the other; but in this case, a number of bot flies are being attracted to the perceived carcass. Plus, the political angle is bound to keep this carcass fresh via media eyeballs feasting.
    Those bot flies are also computer lawyers; now invading the legal profession. Many haves ties to Wall Street hedge funds. Soros is allegedly an investor in this ne form of financier financed litigation using AI bots specializing in legal algorithms.

    And of course, the proverbial FIX Is In
    the Just Us boys’
    bottom line
    escape clause.

    Anyway, sit back and enjoy the show.
    Justice, like its brother media, has become…
    SHOWBIZ.

    There’s no business like showbiz?
    Really?



    • Robert Barricklow on August 27, 2018 at 12:01 pm

      The never ending spin on this should be telling.



      • Robert Barricklow on August 27, 2018 at 12:44 pm

        Today’s Showbiz:
        Perception Management.



  8. Kahlypso on August 27, 2018 at 9:53 am

    Vietnam should be suing McNamara.. So should Laos.



  9. DanaThomas on August 27, 2018 at 6:47 am

    The world is opportunely reminded of the chemical warfare waged by the “land of the free and the home of the brave” against millions of people and the land itself. Authors of Syrian and Salisbury false-flag attacks please take note.



  10. Neru on August 27, 2018 at 6:37 am

    Will this change anything? No, the Monsanto’s, Darpa’s and its ilk never pay for the monstrosities they produce and use, the slaves do in health and payment.

    Will this reduce the Anglo-American savagery, plundering, and conquest on/of our planet, doubt it.

    The Western system is untrustworthy and rotten to the core and sadly many slaves have become infected by the same sickness as their masters.

    All I see is a game being played out that will squarely land on top, in this case, the slaves of the EU and Monsanto will start anew under another name and constitution.



  11. WalkingDead on August 27, 2018 at 6:17 am

    Karma is a fickle bit_h at times. Couldn’t happen to a “nicer” bunch of folks. Guess we will see just how far the corruption goes. You may not be able to pay off all the Judges and juries all the time; but sometimes you can pay off the right ones at the right time. Time will tell……
    Keep those lawsuits coming; the war is far from over.



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