Major General Tran Ngoc Tho, former Chief of Staff of Military Region 7 , sent a letter on April 16 to US courts to demand the resumption of the lawsuit filed by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange (AO) in 2004 against 37 US chemical firms, including Monsanto and Dow Chemical.In the letter, Tho, who is now Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) and Chairman of the VAVA chapter in Ho Chi Minh City, said the US court’s recent ruling on Monsanto is further proof showing that the firm’s Roundup herbicide has a direct impact on the human body.Previously, on March 19, the San Francisco court concluded that this herbicide has been a key cause of cancer for Edwin Hardeman, a resident in California, and required Monsanto to pay a total of nearly 81 million USD to the plaintiff.In August 2018, the San Francisco court also ruled that Monsanto had to pay 289 million USD to Dewayne Johnson after he developed cancer from long-term exposure to the Roundup and Ranger Pro herbicides produced by the firm.Tho stressed in the letter that Vietnamese AO victims require US chemical companies that provided herbicides to the US troops during the war to be responsible for helping, supporting, and overcoming the consequences caused by the chemical damage to Vietnamese people and the environment.Reiterating the claim of Vietnamese victims denied by the US federal court on grounds of insufficient grounds, Tho said that scientific studies and living witnesses whose lives were destroyed and affected by the toxic chemical in Vietnam are the most convincing evidence.International and Vietnamese scientists conducted many practical tests and had direct contact with witnesses, and made verification activities at Bien Hoa, Phu Cat, Chu Lai, and Da Nang airports to support detoxification and cleaning the environment there, the letter added. –VNA