U.S. Aids Disabled In Agent Orange Hotspot

(AP)  The United States and Vietnam launched three new programs Wednesday to help provide job training and health care to disabled people in Danang, where American troops stored and mixed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

The U.S. has provided $1 million to support a network of local health centers, provide surgery and physical therapy to children, and help disabled people find work.

The U.S. sprayed more than 20 million gallons of highly toxic Agent Orange and other herbicides across Vietnam during the war to strip Vietnamese guerrillas of ground cover and kill their crops.

Dioxin, a highly toxic element of Agent Orange, remains in soil and sediment for years and poses a serious health threat to anyone who touches it.

The U.S. Agency for International Development will provide the funding for the new projects to three nonprofit groups: Save the Children, the East Meets West Foundation and Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped.

The money is part of $3 million set aside by the U.S. Congress last year to help address the health and environmental effects of dioxin.

The remainder of the money is being used to help contain and eliminate dioxin at the former U.S. Air Force base in Danang, where U.S. troops stored and mixed Agent Orange before loading it onto planes.

The old base is one of several so-called Agent Orange "hotspots" in Vietnam.

Vietnam believes as many as 4 million people have suffered serious health problems associated with Agent Orange. The U.S. says the actual number is probably far lower and that further scientific study is needed to understand the link between Agent Orange and health problems.

Last year, after years of disagreement on the issue, the United States and Vietnam began working together to address it.

[tervet-2009]

This news is news to me. My wife and me are subject to Agent Orange Diabetes. We have not been able to get any US Govt support for our AOD. I spent 10 years in VN and was sprayed by a plane twice within 30 mins. My wife was about 100 meters from me and was also sprayed. We were in the middle of a rice paddy not in any jungle. At the time I did not think twice about the herbica that was sprayed on us.

In 1986 we were both found to be diabetics within 3 monthes of same time. No family historys of diabetics. We were sprayed in March 1968.

[mrsark01]

I agree we should do something about our Veterans that we mained and killed or died early from that ***. Use that money to fund our veterans hospitals and give them money to treat the men and women that was exposed to it
I know for a fact for over 30 years the US Government denied that our military was ever exposed to it and now they want to help the Vietnamese. Not only did they kill our soldiers so did the Agent Orange. Get real America
I had and Uncle that died young to young from exposure to agent orange in vietnam and up until his death they denied it was the problem.

[timothyone-2009]

ONE MILLION ???? Did I read that right???

One BILLION would have been an insult considering the large numbers of people disabled and sickened by our poisons, but ONE MILLION is a slap in the damned face! It''s like an insurance company offering $2 for a wrongful death case. Sadly these poor Vietnamese victims are in no position to do more than accept these peanuts and pretend to be grateful. And some idiots here actually believe the world hates us for our FREEDOMS!! LOL!! They hate us because we destroy other human beings, their children, and their futures so some of us can live in extreme luxury.