Nguyen Thi Hien, president of the VAVA chapter in Da Nang City, and Pham The Minh from Hai Phong City, will make a one-month trip to a number of major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington DC, New York and San Francisco.

This is the Vietnamese AO victim’s fifth trip to the US since 2005 to gather support for AO victims in Vietnam, the US and elsewhere in the world.

Minh’s parents were exposed to the chemicals in Quang Tri province – a contaminated hotspot in central Vietnam. He was born during peacetime but suffered from immobility and other diseases due to the harmful effects of toxic chemicals sprayed by US troops.

In May 2009, Minh took part in an international court of conscience in Paris, France, in support of Vietnamese AO victims.

VAVA President Nguyen Van Rinh says that the trip was made at the invitation of the Vietnamese Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) and the America Veterans for Peace. 

During their stay until May 16, they will meet with American war veterans, students and overseas Vietnamese to gather support and increase their coordination when demanding justice for the victims.

On April 18, they will join American war veterans in a special event to condemn the US chemical companies, including Dow and Monsanto for supplying the herbicides that contained Agent Orange to US troops for spraying them over Vietnam. They will demand that these companies compensate the victims of both countries and clean up the contaminated areas.

VAVA Vice President Tran Xuan Thu said that VAVA officials will also fly to the US to rally public support for the Vietnamese victim’s lawsuit against US chemical companies. The association will also gather new evidence and lodge an appeal against these companies in 2011.