LEWISTON – One of three Vietnamese plaintiffs in a lawsuit against American chemical manufacturers and the deputy director of the New York-based Fund for Reconciliation and Development will discuss the historic case today at Bates College.

Dr. Phan Thi Phi Phi and Susan Hammond will give a lecture titled “Agent Orange: A New Vietnam War” at 6:30 p.m. in Chase Hall Lounge at 56 Campus Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

During the Vietnam War, the United States used the chemical Agent Orange to kill trees that gave cover to the enemy and to cut food supply. Western experts believe that more than 40 million liters of the dioxin-containing Agent Orange were sprayed in Vietnam.

The U.S. government insists there is no proof linking Agent Orange with any illnesses.

The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange filed a lawsuit in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Jan. 30, 2004, against more than 30 U.S. chemical companies, seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Dr. Phi Phi, one of the Vietnamese plaintiffs, studied epidemiology at Hanoi University of Medicine, and has been investigating the link between rates of cancer and exposure to dioxin in Vietnam. Having served as director of Hospital No.1, a mobile facility in the heavily sprayed provinces of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai, Phi Phi believed that she was a victim of dioxin.

Hammond has lived in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, working on projects that help build mutual understanding and respect between the United States and these three South East Asian nations. She has coordinated projects that examine and address the effects of Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance.

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