(VOVWORLD) - The lawsuit at a French court by Vietnamese-French Tran To Nga against 14 US companies including chemical giant Dow Chemical has captured the attention of foreign media.
 The article on Tran To Nga's lawsuit on Junge Welt. (Screen shot) |
Germany’s Junge Welt newspaper wrote it is likely to be one of the last attempts to bring legal justice to the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange.
Agent Orange was sprayed extensively over southern Vietnam by the US army between 1964 and 1971, it said, stressing that the procedure can be described as chemical warfare under international law and continues to have devastating consequences. Those who were directly affected showed typical signs of intoxication, and later cancer.
The US government still refuses to admit responsibility or make amends, according to Junge Welt, which said even the corporations that manufactured the chemical still refer to the fact that they "only produced it at the direction of the government".
The paper quoted Nga as saying she just wants the crime to be recognized and justice as she keeps fighting for the millions of other victims.
Swizerland’s der Bund daily reported that Nga’s fight is not about money, nor about hatred or revenge, but about justice - on behalf of all the people affected in Vietnam. It quoted Nga as saying what Agent Orange did in Vietnam must never be forgotten and this crime against humanity should be atoned for and the companies responsible should be held accountable.
Der Bund said the hopes of the Vietnamese Agent Orange victims now rest on Tran To Nga and should the court follow her lawsuit, it would be the first time a Vietnamese victim has been compensated.
Tran To Nga graduated from a Hanoi university in 1966 and became a war correspondent of the Liberation News Agency, now the Vietnam News Agency. She worked in some of the most heavily AO/Dioxin affected areas in southern Vietnam, ultimately experiencing contamination effects herself.
Among her three children, the first died of heart defects and the second suffers from a blood disease. 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 living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.
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 living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.