More than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange were used in Vietnam by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. The highly toxic chemical cocktail was used as a defoliant during the war to clear vegetation and pave the way for bombing.

It is estimated that three million Vietnamese suffer the effects of the U.S. use of Agent Orange. Among those affected are hundreds of thousands of children whose parents were exposed to the chemical.

Tran Thi Hoan was born without legs and with one hand seriously atrophied.
Her mother was exposed to the chemical while working in the fields in the early 1980s. 

Hoan is now traveling the U.S. as part of the 4th Vietnam Agent Orange Justice Tour. She is part of a case against Dow and other chemical companies that produced defoliants like Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The case is now petitioned for a hearing in the Supreme Court. Merle Ratner is a representative of the Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign.

Jerome spoke with Merle Ratner and Tran Thi Hoan about the case. But first, he asked Hoan to tell her story.