Agent Orange: French court rejects lawsuit against chemical companies

The US military sprayed Agent Orange defoliant to deprive the communist Viet Cong of cover and food

A French court has thrown out a bid by a former journalist to hold companies to account for supplying the toxic herbicide "Agent Orange" during the Vietnam War.

Tran To Nga, 79, wanted 14 agrochemical giants including Bayer-Monsanto and Dow Chemical put on trial for the crime of ecocide - destroying the environment.

However, the court in Evry, near Paris, declined to hear the case.

It said it had no jurisdiction over the wartime actions of the US government.

American bombers dropped tens of millions of litres of Agent Orange defoliant in Vietnam and Laos to deprive North Vietnamese fighters of camouflage and food between 1962 and 1971.

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Ms Tran, who is French-Vietnamese and covered the conflict as a journalist, says she and millions like her suffer chronic health problems as a result.

She said she would appeal against Monday's decision.

According to the ruling - seen by French news agency AFP - the judges upheld the companies' argument that they had acted "on the orders" of the US government which was engaged in a "sovereign act". The court said that it did not have the jurisdiction to judge such a case.

Ms Tran's legal team had contended that the multinationals should have refused to supply the US military with Agent Orange - so named because of the orange identifying stripes on the drums.

But the firms said they could not be held responsible for whatever use the US military made of their product, AFP reported.

In a statement on Twitter, one of Ms Tran's lawyers, William Bourdon, called the ruling "astounding", and said the court was contradicting modern principles of international and national law.

In a statement, Bayer said it welcomed the court's decision while adding that it had "great sympathy" for Ms Tran and "all those who suffered" during the Vietnam War, Reuters news agency reports.

Ms Tran filed the lawsuit in 2014 with the support of several human rights groups. She says she is suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, including Type-2 diabetes and a rare insulin allergy.

Ms Tran was seeking damages in recognition of the health problems she and others have suffered as well as recognition of the damage Agent Orange has caused to the environment.

"I'm not fighting for myself, but for my children and the millions of victims," she said in January.

The US compensates its veterans exposed to the defoliant but does not compensate Vietnamese nationals.

The defoliant contained dioxin, which is one of the most toxic chemicals known to humans, and has been linked to increased rates of cancers and birth defects.

Vietnam says several million people have been affected by Agent Orange, including 150,000 children born with severe birth defects.