Toxic Legacies – Agent Orange as a Challenge

 

Agent Orange, the herbicide used during the Vietnam War, has left usboth a bitter legacy and a historical lesson. Countless people have struggled with the human and environmental damage caused by the chemical exposure that still continues today. Questions remain for lawyers, scientists, and affected  individuals about potential and ongoing risks, about who should be held responsible, and whether compensation should be paid to victims.

 

In this conference, we will examine this chapter of the Vietnam War in the context of a broader discussion of comparable military and civil environmental disasters. The story of Agent Orange is still topical: its historical focus is primarily on Vietnam and the United States, but it raises questions of  environmental justice, military and peacetime interventions, economic damage, and sustainabile development, that are relevant across the world.

 

The conference brings together participants from all sectors of society, including those working in the insurance industry and in business, lawyers, environmentalists, human rights activists, academics from all disciplines, military personnel, and those with a strong connection to the Vietnam War and the peace movement.

 

Amy Hay, University of Texas-Pan American/Rio Grande Valley

Martin Held, Evangelische Akademie Tutzing

Christian Lahnstein, formerly Munich Re

Nga Le, Social entrepreneur and political activist, Munich

Christof Mauch, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC), LMU