Vietnam supports AO victims’ claims for justice: spokesperson
Vietnam supports Agent Orange/dioxin victims in requesting legal responsibilities from US companies producing and selling the toxic chemical used during the war in Vietnam, stated Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on February 4 while commenting on a French court’s acceptance of the lawsuit filed by Tran To Nga, a French Vietnamese, against 14 US chemical companies.
Millions of AO victims' descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.(Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam supports AgentOrange/dioxin victims in requesting legal responsibilities from US companies producingand selling the toxic chemical used during the war in Vietnam, stated ForeignMinistry’s spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on February 4 while commenting on a French court’s acceptance of the lawsuit filedby Tran To Nga, a French Vietnamese, against 14 US chemical companies.
“We believe that the companies must bear the responsibilityin addressing the consequences that Agent Orange/dioxin left on Vietnam,” she said at the Foreign Ministry's online press conference.
Hang underlined that Vietnam has suffered severe war aftermaths,including the long-term and devastated impacts of Agent Orange/dioxin.
Nga, born in 1942, filed the lawsuit in May 2014.Among the companies named in her suit, there are such names as Monsanto (nowunder the German group Bayer) and Dow Chemical.
With the support of several non-governmental organisations, Nga accused thecompanies of causing lasting harm to the health of her, her children and countlessothers, as well as destroying the environment.
Nga graduated from a Hanoi university in 1966 and became a warcorrespondent of the Liberation News Agency, now the Vietnam News Agency.She worked in some of the most heavily AO/Dioxin affected areas in southernVietnam such as Cu Chi, Ben Cat and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, ultimatelyexperiencing contamination effects herself.
Among her three children, the first child died of heartdefects and the second suffers from a blood disease.
On April 16, 2015, the Crown Court of Evry city held thefirst hearing on the case, but since then, lawyers for the chemical companieshave tried every way to draw out procedures.
The trial was scheduled to open in October 2020 but waspostponed due to COVID-19.
From 1961-1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides -44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin -over southern Vietnam.
As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical.Many of the victims have died, while millions of their descendants are livingwith deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.
Nga claims compensations for health problems.
The French court is expected to rule on the lawsuit on May 10.
If the court decides in her favour, Nga would be the first Vietnamese AO/dioxinvictim to be compensated./.
The trial of Vietnamese-Frenchwoman Tran To Nga’s lawsuit against 14 American Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin producers, which opened in France on January 25, has grabbed the attention of local media, which has called it “historic”.
The historic trial initiated by Tran To Nga, a 78-year-old Vietnamese-French woman, against 14 US multinational companies that provided the chemical toxins used by the US Army in the war in Vietnam has received coverage in German media.
Hundreds of people gathered in Paris on January 30 to show their support for Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxine victims after a litigation session of the Crown Court of Evry city for the case filled by Vietnamese-French woman Tran To Nga against 14 multinational companies for producing and selling chemical toxins sprayed by US forces in the war in Vietnam.
Over the past days, the international media continue running articles highlighting Vietnamese-French Tran To Nga’s lawsuit against 14 multinational companies for producing and selling chemical toxins used by the US army in the war in Vietnam, which have destroyed the environment and affected the health of generations of Vietnamese people.
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Millions of AO victims' descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.(Photo: VNA) 
