French trial opens on lawsuit against US chemical producers
A trial was opened on January 25 in the Crown Court of Evry city in the suburb of Paris, France, on Vietnamese-French Tran Thi To Nga’s lawsuit against 14 multinational companies for producing and selling chemical toxins used by the US army in the war in Vietnam that have caused severe health damage to herself and millions of victims.
Vietnamese-French Tran Thi To Nga speaks to the press. (Photo: VNA)
Paris (VNA) – A trial was opened on January25 in the Crown Court of Evry city in the suburb of Paris, France, onVietnamese-French Tran Thi To Nga’s lawsuit against 14 multinational companiesfor producing and selling chemical toxins used by the US army in the war inVietnam that have caused severe health damage to herself and millions ofvictims.
Nga, born in 1942, filed the lawsuit in May 2014. Amongthe companies named in her suit, there were such names as Monsanto (now underthe German group Bayer) and Dow Chemical.
With the support of several non-governmental organisations,Nga accused the companies of causing lasting harm to the health of her, herchildren and countless others, as well as destroying the environment.
After six years and 19 hearings, the trial official beganwith lawyers of all the sued companies required to be present. Lawyers andsupporters of the lawsuit in France believe it is a step forward for Nga’s effortsto search justice for millions of AO/Dioxin victims in Vietnam.
Tran To Nga (third from the left). (Photo: VNA)
Tran To Nga graduated from a Hanoi university in 1966 andbecame a war correspondent of the Liberation News Agency, now the Vietnam NewsAgency. She worked in some of the most heavily AO/Dioxin affected areas insouthern Vietnam such as Cu Chi, Ben Cat and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail,ultimately experiencing contamination effects herself.
Among her three children, the first child died of heartdefects and the second suffers from a blood disease.
In 2009, Nga, who contracted a number of acute diseases,appeared as a witness at the Court of Public Opinion in Paris, France againstthe US chemical companies.
On April 16, 2015, the Crown Court of Evry city held thefirst hearing on the case, but since then, lawyers of the sued chemicalcompanies tried every way to prolong the procedures.
A trial is opened on January 25 in the Crown Court of Evry city in the suburb of Paris, on Vietnamese-French Tran Thi To Nga’s lawsuit against 14 multinational companies for producing and selling chemical toxins used by the US army in the war in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)
The trial was scheduled to be opened in October 2020, butit was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 1961-1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 millionlitres of herbicides - 44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly370 kilograms of dioxin - over southern Vietnam.
As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposedto the toxic chemical. Many of the victims have died, while millions of theirdescendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of thechemical’s effects./.
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Vietnamese-French Tran Thi To Nga speaks to the press. (Photo: VNA)
Tran To Nga (third from the left). (Photo: VNA)
A trial is opened on January 25 in the Crown Court of Evry city in the suburb of Paris, on Vietnamese-French Tran Thi To Nga’s lawsuit against 14 multinational companies for producing and selling chemical toxins used by the US army in the war in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)
