The Plaintiffs in this action include several individuals residing in both the North and South of Vietnam who in one way or another have been harmed by their exposure to Agent Orange and other chemical weapons manufactured and sold by the defendants. An organization, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, is also a plaintiff in this case.

Plaintiff PHAN THI PHI PHI is a Vietnamese national originally from the City of Hue in the central part of Vietnam. Plaintiff Phi Phi is a medical doctor. From April 1966 through July 1971, Dr. Phi Phi served as Director of Hospital No. 1, a mobile hospital with different units which moved to various locations in Quang Nam province and Quang Ngai province in southern Vietnam. The hospital units were often located near the Ho Chi Minh trail and near various rivers and streams in the said provinces. The hospital staff, including Dr. Phi Phi, and the patients receiving treatment at the hospital, relied upon food they cultivated or found in the nearby valleys for daily sustenance.

Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces, especially near the Ho Chi Minh trail, were two of the areas heavily sprayed with chemical weapons manufactured by one, some or all of the defendants pursuant to operations Trail Dust and Ranch Hand both before and during the time of Dr. Phi Phi’s residence there.

Before the war and her exposure to the defendants’ chemical weapons, Dr. Phi Phi had given birth to a healthy daughter. During the war, Dr. Phi Phi became pregnant three times. Each of those three pregnancies ended with miscarriages in the first trimester of her pregnancy. In 1973, Dr. Phi Phi became pregnant again. Although the pregnancy proceeded normally through the first trimester, on or about July 1973, she again suffered a miscarriage which required hospitalization and termination of the pregnancy.

Plaintiff HO KAN HAI is a Vietnamese national and sues in this action along with her son, NGUYEN VAN HOANG. Since 1972, plaintiff Ho Kan Hai has been a farmer residing in Aluoi (formerly Ashau) Valley in southern Vietnam, living in close proximity to the former US military air base in A So. Ms. Hai and her family’s diet has consisted of local rice, vegetables, manioc, fish and poultry, among other foods. Ms. Hai has had four miscarriages during her time in A So, and two of her children have died young, one at the age of 16 days, one at the age of two years. She has also had surgery to remove ovarian tumors. One of her living children is plaintiff Nguyen Van Hoang. He was born on or about September 7, 1992. Hoang was born with severe physical and mental developmental disabilities and currently lives with his mother.

Plaintiff DANG HONG NHUT is a Vietnamese national originally from Tien Giang, in southern Vietnam. Before the war with the U.S., she lived in Saigon. In 1959 Ms. Nhut was married, and in 1960, she gave birth to a healthy son. In 1965 Ms. Nhut traveled to Cu Chi to visit her husband, and spent approximately one month there. Cu Chi was an area heavily sprayed with chemical weapons, and Ms. Nhut often noticed a fog or mist and a strong odor in the air, and a white substance on plant leaves. Ms. Nhut returned to Saigon in 1965.

In 1966, Ms. Nhut was arrested by the RVN regime [the government of South Vietnam] and held in prison in Bien Hoa from 1966 through 1972. During her time in prison, she ate dried fish and other food she could not identify. After her release from prison, she lived in Tay Ninh, Binh Duong and Cu Chi. After the war, she found work as a tailor at a small shop.

In 1974, Ms. Nhut became pregnant again. She suffered a miscarriage two months into the pregnancy. In 1975, Ms. Nhut became pregnant a third time. Again, she suffered a miscarriage two months into the pregnancy. In 1977, Ms. Nhut became pregnant a fourth time. An ultrasound examination performed at Tu Du hospital in Saigon five months into the pregnancy determined that the fetus had spina bifida and other deformities. The pregnancy was terminated, and the fetus was removed and kept at the hospital.

In 1980, Ms. Nhut became pregnant a fifth time, and again suffered a miscarriage two months into the pregnancy. At that time, her doctor advised her not to become pregnant again, because of the health risk involved. In 2002, a tumor was discovered in Ms. Nhut’s intestine, and she had surgery at Nguyen Trai hospital to remove it. In May 2003, Ms. Nhut had her thyroid surgically removed because it was not functioning.
 
 
Related articles:
Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange sue U.S. chemical giants
Monopolies poisoned U.S., Vietnamese workers  
 
 
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