First Agent Orange cleanup to start in Vietnam

Vietnam's Ministry of Defense and the U.S. now plan to excavate 2.5 million cubic feet of soil from the airport and heat it to a high temperature in storage tanks until the dioxin is removed. The project is expected to be completed in four years.

Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Washington-based Aspen Institute, said Thursday's start "marks the coming together of our two countries to achieve a practical solution to dioxin contamination."

His organization coordinates the U.S-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin, which connects prominent American and Vietnamese scientists, health experts and former officials.

The group in May said that $450 million is needed to clean up dioxin hot spots, provide services to people with disabilities, and repair damaged landscapes across Vietnam over the next five years.

The U.S. is rolling out a $9 million project to address disabilities in Vietnam through 2015, but it continues to dispute Vietnam's claim that dioxin has caused health problems there. It remains unclear whether the U.S. will clean up all of Vietnam's dioxin, and how much it will allocate in the long term for people who claim to be Agent Orange victims.

A national action plan that Vietnam's government released in June lays out goals for dealing with Agent Orange, but does not give a price tag.

Every penny counts for Nguyen Thi Hien, who directs three rehabilitation and vocational training centers for 150 children and young adults with disabilities in Danang on a budget of roughly 100 million dong ($5,000) per month.

The children, busy drawing and making plastic flowers that are sold to raise funds, suffer from a range of physical and mental ailments that Hien says are linked to dioxin.

Vo Duoc, the steel salesman, will travel to the capital, Hanoi, next month to receive treatment for his diabetes. But he says he's more concerned about what will happen to his six grandchildren, who haven't yet been tested for dioxin.

"They had nothing to do with the war," Duoc said. "But I live in fear that they'll test positive like me."

• prev
• no next page

2/2

[sweetcakesmaria]

Dad was a scrappy young athlete with no medical issues when he was drafted into the Army in 1969. He was sent to Vietnam in 1970 and after one year in Vietnam, he was released from the military in 1971. In 1974, Dad experienced chest pains, rapid heart beats and shortness of breath on a daily basis. He underwent open heart surgery in 1977 that saved his life. Over the years he developed a weird skin rash, high blood pressure and continued difficulty with his heart. It has since been discovered that other Vietnam veterans have experienced similar medical issues which has been traced to chemicals the Dow Industries developed for the U.S. military to clear brush and other defoilage in Vietnam. To this day, many Vietnam Veterans suffer from the damage done to their health by these chemicals that was sprayed on them in Vietnam. Our Government sent these people to Vietnam and sprayed agent orange in areas where these soldiers ingested it. Now our Government delay and deny claims to these Vietnam Veterans as if they played no role in the crippling illnesses these Vets are experiencing. To think that our Government is going to readily admit that the agent orange they sprayed all over the country side in Vietnam that are now affecting the health of the Vietnamese people is a fallacy.

[Dukme]

War is never good for any reason. The US government should be responsible to help clean up agent orange. Unfortunately $43 million won't be enough. How many billions did BP dish out to pay for the oil spill even though the oil spill isn't even close to the poisonous agent orange? Vietnam was probably used as a lab to test the weapons of mass destruction.

[karek40]

They won anyone heard about them helping vietnam vets with problems, hmmm thought not.

[woozybarnes]

Vietnam did not dump 20 million gallons of poisonous chemicals on the United States. Nor was a single American (civilian or military) ever killed or injured on US soil by invading Vietnamese troops. And ya, I was there, '70-'71.

[sweetcakesmaria]

U.S. Govt doesn't even want to help Vietnam war vets that suffer from agent orange related illness so they surely aren't going to take responsibility for the damage they,ve done to the people of Vietnam.

[karek40]

They won let them clean up their own war mess, stop using my tax dollars for people in other countries.

[TuuTuuTango]

The comment by steeler254 is so revolting. The lives of precious and innocent children are ruined because a group of chemist and a greedy chemical company failed to do enough research when they developed this compound... I served in Vietnam as a volunteer soldier, I wasn't drafted and I arrived in Vietnam when I was 19. After my discharge, I was old enough to vote in my first presidential election and voted for Nixon, and I last voted for a Vietnam hero, Senator McCain... I am so discouraged when tightwads in my own party (I suspect steeler254 is a TEA Party member, I am not) and they only look at their wallet and not our responsibility as the greatest nation on earth, to set the bar high and do a much better job at protecting our soldiers and innocent people like those who weren't even born when we were at war in Vietnam.

In the last 24 months, I have had cancer and surgery and MS... and hell yes I was sprayed by our own airplanes with this dioxin... three times and I have my 8mm movies to prove it. I'd like steeler254 to go and stand under an Air Force cargo plane when it is dropping Agent Orange from 300 feet... then wonder why (when he is older) has cancers and his children are deformed and retarded...

[John_Merritt]

Good grief what is the biological half life of those agents? That is absolute craziness.

[waynenipper]

Hatfield Consultants, a Canadian environmental consulting firm, were the ones who identified the dioxin problem on former US bases in Viet Nam. They will be at the ground-breaking ceremonies tomorrow in Da Nang, initiating the cleanup. More credit should be given to this Canadian firm which has lead the research on Agent Orange in Viet Nam for over 18 years.

[lillyhorton]

The US will never take responsibility for the bad things they have done to humanity. Never. US government is above the law. They do what they want.How does that song go about a guy who got caught getting it on on the bathroom floor? "WASN'T ME". Change the lyrics except for Clinton and you have our national anthum. Wasn't me!

[Mays2011]

Haha! very true and sad, they talk about corruption in other countries but always find a way to cover their own, what a shame.

[taxed01]

Hey lilly - they kicked us out, we didn't kick them out. Have you heard anything about them paying our soldiers for damages? Have you????