Veterans For Peace: Agent Orange Cleanup Just Beginning

Veterans For Peace: Agent Orange Cleanup Just Beginning

The United States is beginning the work of cleaning up Agent Orange in Vietnam. American and Vietnames veterans have been working together to address this problem and to advance the cause of healing and reconciliation. Susan Schnall is a member of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, a project of Veterans For Peace. http://vn-agentorange.org

Schnall traveled to Vietnam two years ago to work on this project. She is currently attending the Veterans For Peace National Convention in Miami, Fla., where she and Paul Cox will lead a workshop on Friday on the topic of pending legislation in Congress that would advance the Agent Orange cleanup. Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at the convention, a caucus will discuss the late VFP leader Dave Cline who was a founder of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign.

Schnall commented: "It's been 51 years since the beginning of the spraying, and the first of 28 hot spots is now being dealt with. Hot spots are the areas where the United States had military bases and left behind Agent Orange dioxin which remains in the land. August 10th is Worldwide Agent Orange Day, marking 51 years since the spraying started. So it's very appropriate that the cleanup is beginning now. To ensure that the United States continue this process with the remaining 27 hot spots, we're asking people to support legislation that would clean up all 28 hot spots: the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2011 (HR 2634). People can go to our website http://vn-agentorange.org and sign orange cards in support. This legislation also would provide services to the children of both Vietnamese and Americans who are suffering by the millions from the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam a half-century ago. This is a reminder to the government and to the people of the United States that war causes untold suffering that continues with succeeding generations."

The full schedule of the VFP Convention is available at http://vfpnationalconvention.org

Veterans For Peace was founded in 1985 and has approximately 5,000 members in 150 chapters located in every U.S. state and several countries. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United Nations, and is the only national veterans' organization calling for the abolishment of war.

http://veteransforpeace.org

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