New York (VNA) - A first eight-hour hearing on the lawsuits filed by Vietnamese Agent Orange victims against  37 American chemical companies ended on Feb. 28 at a court in Brooklyn district, New York, without conclusion.

The judge, Jack B. Weinstein, announced that the court needed more time to study the evidence put forward by the plaintiffs and the defendants.

About 50 lawyers attended the hearing, representing Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO)  victims, American chemical companies and American veterans who were affected by AO during the Viet Nam war.

Phan Thi Phi Phi, one of the Vietnamese AO victims, also took part in the court proceedings on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Lawyers for the defendants presented legal stipulations to the court in support of a dismissal of the lawsuits filed by the more than 100 Vietnamese AO victims with a view to avoid being liable for compensation.

Lawyers of the plaintiffs presented to the court the legal evidence for the lawsuits filed by Vietnamese AO victims and rejected the motions raised by the defendants' lawyers  to dismiss the lawsuits.

 Meanwhile, lawyers of American AO affected veterans put forward evidence which showed that the defendants have concealed the truth about the toxicity of the Agent Orange they had  manufactured and had supplied to  the US army.

The representative of the Center for Constitutional Rights, an American non-government organisation, also raised legal evidence in support of Vietnamese AO victims in the lawsuits.

In an interview conducted right after the hearing by a reporter from the Viet Nam News Agency, Jonathan Moore, a lawyer  for the plaintiffs, described the hearing as a good opportunity for the representatives of the Vietnamese AO victims to put forth new evidence to force the American chemical companies to bear responsibilities for the toxic chemicals they had produced for the American army to use in Viet Nam during the war.

The lawsuits will bear positive results, lawyer Jonathan said, adding that he will, together with other lawyers for Vietnamese AO victims, continue with the lawsuits until their end.

Also present at the first hearing were representatives of many American organisations, including the Indochinese Fund for Reconciliation and Development and the Campaign for Reconciliation and Relief for Agent Orange Victims, which had launched movements to support the lawsuits and  to raise funds for Vietnamese AO victims./.