24 March 2006

Media Advisory

Kedgley to attend International Agent Orange conference in Vietnam

Green MP Sue Kedgley will be speaking at an International Conference of the Victims of Agent Orange which will be held in Hanoi next Tuesday and Wednesday (28 - 29 March).

She will be calling on the New Zealand Government and other countries around the world to support the Vietnamese in their campaign to get support and compensation for the ongoing health and environmental effects from nine years of spraying with Agent Orange and other defoliants during the Vietnam War.

Delegations from Australia, Canada, South Korea, the USA, New Zealand and Vietnam will attend the conference which will issue a Declaration calling for international action on this issue.

There are an estimated 1 million Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange and other toxic defoliants, including thousands of children who are still being born with deformities as a result of their parents' or grandparents' exposure to toxic chemicals.

"After thirty years, it's time for the USA and the international community generally to face up to its moral responsibility to help solve this humanitarian tragedy," Ms Kedgley says.

ENDS

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