Alan Simpson: “I personally know of his deep, deep interest in agent orange issues. The Senator from South Dakota and I have been…”

“I personally know of his deep, deep interest in agent orange issues. The Senator from South Dakota and I have been bandying that about for many a year. We will continue to do so, because I continue to insist--and the law insists--that we stick with sound medical and scientific evidence, period. We do not deal with these issues on the basis of emotion or fear. This makes it very difficult because there is no sound medical or scientific evidence that dioxin does anything related to birth defects except for one study of a highly exposed group called the ``ranch-hand study.'' Remember, too, that there was a civil suit against the producers and manufacturers of herbicides containing dioxin. It was to be the greatest class action of all time. It was to destroy huge corporations in America and bring them to their knees for producing this substance. What happened to that suit? It was settled for less than $200 million. The judge recommended that the plaintiffs settle because there wouldn't be any way they could prove through the testimony what they had to prove to show sound medical and scientific evidence linking dioxin to what had happened to the plaintiff class. They settled for an amount that would amount to a few thousand dollars each for members of the class, perhaps $6,000, $7,000, or $8,000 each.”