In their letter to the US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit in New York, the committee said there was evidence that dioxin, commonly known as Agent Orange, seriously harmed Vietnam's population when it was sprayed by the US military during their war in Vietnam, which ended in 1975.

"Among wars using chemical weapons in world history, the war in Vietnam has suffered from the most serious effects," the letter said. "Vietnamese AO victims' lawsuit against US chemical companies is appropriate to the minimum justice."

Lawyers in the United States representing the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) have said they intend to appeal against a US judge's ruling in March 2005 that rejected their attempt to sue 36 chemical companies and put them on trial. The judge ruled against the association on the grounds that the use of herbicides by or on behalf of the United States in Vietnam before 1975 was not a violation of international law.

The victims' lawyers said they would appeal to the higher court, in this case the US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit,  in March or April this year. 

One of the arguments of the Vietnamese victims is that because the US government gives allowances worth billions of US dollars to its war veterans poisoned by Agent Orange and their offspring, the United States has admitted to the harmful effects of dioxin used during the war.

The governments of New Zealand and Australia, which sent their soldiers to support the Americans in the war, have said they would consider appeals for help from their AO-infected veterans.

The committee also said that Vietnam has sufficient evidence and scientific basis to prove the poisonous and harmful effects of dioxin.

"The essence is whether the US Court could overcome obstacles against the lawsuit or not. When the Vietnamese AO victims' case comes up for trial, the defendants' arguments cannot change the truth that US chemical companies have intentionally hidden over the past 40 years," the committee stressed.

VNA