Veterans will continue

Press, 21 December 1981, Page 21

Veterans will continue

NZPA Sydney The refusal by the United States Supreme Court to handle a test -case connected with the Agent Orange defoliant issue would not affect a class action being brought in the United States by Australian and New Zealand servicemen. according to the Australian Vietnam Veterans’ Association. The court declined to take up the issue of whether United States Vietnam veterans could sue the Dow Chemical Company and other manufacturers of Agent Orange. Instead, the Court decided, the veterans would have to

pursue their case through state courts. The president of the Vietnam Veterans’ Association, Mr Philip Thompson, said in Sydney that the Australians and New Zealanders’ case was not connected with the one on which the United States Supreme Court ruled. He said the case would proceed early next year, and counsel who would represent the Australian and New Zealand veterans would leave for the- United States on December 30. Mr Thompson said he had been told that the American veterans would appeal against the Supreme Court decision.