Prof. Nguyen Trong Nhan, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) released the news at a press conference in Hanoi, on April 24.

As a representative of Vietnamese AO victims, the VAVA began legal proceedings against 37 US chemical companies including global giant Dow, on January 30, 2004.

The plaintiffs claim that the production of toxic chemicals that were used by the US Army during the Vietnam war have direct links to extreme adverse health effects for generations of the Vietnamese public.

However, a US Lower Court dismissed Vietnamese dioxin victims’ petition at the March 10, 2005 oral argument, finding that the herbicides that the US Army used during the war in Vietnam were not classified as forbidden weapons for that time.

In September 2005, the VAVA appealed to the US Court of Appeals in a bid to seek restitution for the victims of the herbicide that is almost universally banned.

According to the VAVA, around 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to dioxin with 3 million of them becoming AO victims.

Mr Nhan said that attending the argument will be Tran Xuan Thu, VAVA Vice Chairman and General Secretary, and four AO victims, namely Nguyen Van Quy from Hai Phong city, Nguyen Thi Hong from southern Dong Nai province, Vo Thanh Hai and Nguyen Muoi who are both from central Thua Thien-Hue province.