HCM City (VNA) —The memoir of a 75-year-old Vietnamese-French woman, Tran To Nga, whowas correspondent for the Liberation News Agency, the predecessor of the VietnamNews Agency, was released in HCM City on August 30.

The 450-page book, Duong tran-Ngon lua khong bao gio tat (Path oflife-The fire never dies), features memories of her life in the revolutionarycause.

It includes her work in an Agent Orange (AO) lawsuit against 37 USchemical companies, which began in 2009. 

The book also highlights her time in HCM City in 2015. She met AO victims tosue US chemical companies that manufactured the defoliant. The trial washeld before the Crown Court of Evry in Paris.

AO, which contained the deadly chemical dioxin, was a defoliant used by the USduring the war in Vietnam.

The writer’s love for her country, comrades and family are also featured. 

Nga was born in Saigon in 1941. She moved to Hanoi and later worked for theLiberation News Agency during the fiercest period of the American war.

In 1966 and later she worked in some of the most heavily AO/dioxin-affectedareas in southern Vietnam such as Cu Chi and Ben Cat of Saigon (now HCM City)and Song Be province (now Binh Duong) and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail,ultimately experiencing the effects of contamination herself.

She gave birth to three children, the eldest of which died of a heart disorderand the second one inherited a blood disease.

Nga herself suffers from numerous diseases as a consequence of her exposure toAO, many of which have been recognised by the US government as associated withthe toxic chemical.

In 2009, Nga appeared as a witness at the Court of Public Opinion in Parisagainst the US chemical companies.

From 1961 to 1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicidesover southern Vietnam, 44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly370kg of dioxin.

Last year, Nga released her book, Ma terre ampoisonnée (My poisonedland), features her views about wars in Vietnam and dioxin. 

More than 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical. Many ofthe victims have died, while millions of their descendants live withdeformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.

“I hope young readers will learn some things about life and happiness afterreading my book,” Nga said.

“Nga wrote her book for a better life,” said Nguyen Minh Nhut, Director of theTrẻ (Youth) Publishing House, the printer of the book. 

Nga’s status as an AO victim and French national have allowed lawyers to suethe US chemical firms in France, and this could end up benefiting not only Ngabut also millions of Vietnamese AO victims.-VNA