Text 29617, 59 rader
Skriven 2012-06-10 08:20:40 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 29602 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Napalm & Agent Orange
=============================
Ward Dossche wrote to Lee Lofaso on Sunday June 10 2012 at 05:07:

WD> In claims brought forward, the American courts decided that Agent
WD> Orange was not chemical warfare as there was no intent to harm people.

And isn't that true? The purpose was to defoliate jungle to rob the Viet Cong
of cover, not to kill people. That was done more directly with guns and bombs.

WD> This ruling withstood appeal and the Suppreme Court has refused the
WD> hot potato.

If the question is one of intent, the case could hardly be a "hot potato",
since there was no intent to harm humans, only to deny the Viet Cong cover for
their activities.

If it's one of the actual effect, determined subsequent to the action, it might
be, but it seems to me that if the Supreme Court had acknowledged that Agent
Orange was intended to harm people, the same logic would have had to be applied
to the use of guns, bombs, Napalm and the rest, i.e. the war itself.

But if you do that, what about the other side, who's also shooting people and
making such nice little traps like pits with sharp stakes in them?

I can easily understand why the Supreme Court didn't want to get into that kind
of a mess.

WD> As a consequence all claims are without merit and Monsanto can become
WD> richer (again).

No, the claims - if based on personal damage caused unintentionally, by
negligence - would probably have their merits, but would have to be settled
individually, depending on the circumstances.

Anyway, those culpable would be the people who applied Agent Orange, not the
manufacturer that had nothing to say about how the product was used. The same
kind of herbicide is still being used as a weed killer in agriculture. It was
never made to spray on humans.

Just as an aside, did you know that Zyklon B is still being manufactured as a
pesticide, albeit not by the original company and not under that name? Just
goes to show that the way things are used is critical, not the fact they are
manufactured and sold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon_b

As for Monsanto... leave off the company bashing, please. Monsanto is no more
and no less interested in making and selling products that the market wants
than any other company, and is no more and no less "culpable" for doing that
than any other company.

Start in on that kind of thing, and you'll never be able to stop. How about the
companies that made the tanks, the guns, the ammunition, the bombs, the Napalm,
the helicopters... see where that leads? In the end, you have to damn industry
as a whole for even existing.

Cheers, Bob

--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-0613
 * Origin: Jabberwocky System - 02363-56073 ISDN/V34 (2:2448/44)