Should U.S. taxpayers fork over $300 million to Vietnam for Agent Orange reparations?
That’s what the Aspen Institute continues to recommend since its report released a year ago.
The $300 million reparations package is based on the dioxin scare which JunkScience.com debunked long ago courtesy of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. See e.g., “A Scoop of Debunkey Monkey.”
The Aspen Institute report claims,
Dioxin levels in soil, sediment and fish in the Da Nang airport area are 300 to 400 times higher than international limits. Breast milk and blood samples from people who previously lived near the site and raised lotuses or ate fish from Sen Lake there showed the highest dioxin levels ever recorded among Vietnamese, more than 100 times international limits.
But so what? We found the level of dioxin in a single scoop of Ben & Jerry’s World’s Best Vanilla ice cream to range from 200 to 2,000 times (depending on the selected EPA cancer potency factor) the level of the dioxin that the EPA said was safe — and nobody consumes scoops of Da Nang dirt.
When I testified before the EPA Science Advisory Board on this matter, I’m pretty sure I suggested that Ben & Jerry’s “Orange and Cream” flavor ought to be renamed “Agent Orange and Cream.” But I digress…
Inquiring minds want to know: If taxpayers were to fall for this scam and send $300 million to Vietnam, would the Aspen Institute get a kickback?
It is time for a little corporate social responsibility! Will the highly profitable chem corps please step up to the plate and show some responsibility for the damage done to the Vietnamese people and land and match all US$300 million Aspen is giving? CSR! CSR! CSR!
Please read this article and give particular attention to the hundreds of comments!
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/monsantos-agent-orange-being-used-to-clear-brazils-rainforest/
There are hundreds, if not thousands of different types of dioxins. The one in question, TCDD, is not in B&J’s ice cream but it was in Agent Orange. It, TCDD, is the base line dioxin that all others are measured by.
They way our government has been working of late, they will promise to pay $600 million then cut $300 million and call it a deficit reduction!
I think it’s time that the Aspen Institute step up to the plate. If they think it’s gonna’ take $300M to make everyone happy, then they know where to send the check!