HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnam designated Tuesday the country's first Day for Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims to draw attention to thousands who say they're suffering from the effects of the chemical defoliant that American forces sprayed during the Vietnam War.
The Communist Party's Vietnam Fatherland Front inaugurated the day after three Vietnamese - claiming to be victims exposed to Agent Orange - in January sued several American companies that produced the defoliant. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Brooklyn, New York, and is expected to go before a judge later this year.

State-controlled media promoted the day and encouraged readers to sign a petition to be sent to the president of the United States, which urges the acknowledgment of the devastation caused by Agent Orange in Vietnam.

So far, 55,220 signatures have been collected and the goal is to obtain 300,000, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.

Between 1962 and 1971, US planes sprayed an estimated 79 million litres (21 million gallons) of defoliant, mostly Agent Orange, over Vietnamese jungles where communist troops were believed hiding.

An estimated 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the chemicals, according to the Nhan Dan (People) newspaper, the Communist Party's mouthpiece.