VIETNAM: Efforts to contain Agent Orange "hot spots" continue, as locals say deformity is direct consequence

Record ID: 578267

  • Title: VIETNAM: Efforts to contain Agent Orange "hot spots" continue, as locals say deformity is direct consequence
  • Date: 26th September 2009
  • Summary: HANOI, VIETNAM (RECENT) (REUTERS) MR LAI VAN HIEN, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF OFFICE 33, MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Vietnamese) DR. LAI MINH HIEN, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF OFFICE 33, MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT, SAYING: "The level of dioxin contamination is going down gradually, but it has left serious and long-term consequences for human health and the environment. Apparently, at the military airbases where Agent Orange had been stored, dioxin still exists in very high concentrations." CENTRAL CITY OF DANANG, VIETNAM (RECENT) (REUTERS) FORMER MILITARY AIR BASE OF DANANG, A "HOT SPOT" OF DIOXIN DRAINAGE SYSTEM AT AGENT ORANGE AFFECTED AREA BUILT TO FILTER THE WATER AT DANANG AIRBASE VARIOUS OF A LOTUS POND NEAR DANANG AIRBASE'S "HOT SPOT" WHERE LOCAL RESIDENTS FISHING AND USING WATER FOR THEIR DAILY LIFE / A MAN FISHING / PEOPLE PULLING WATER FROM THE POND HANOI, VIETNAM (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Vietnamese) DR. LAI MINH HIEN, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF OFFICE 33, MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT, SAYING: "In the first phase, we have to isolate the affected area and closely monitor it. We also carry out a pilot programme for remediation technologies, either bio-remediation or chemical remediation or physical remediation technology, so that we can find and apply the most appropriate technological method." CENTRAL CITY OF DANANG, VIETNAM (RECENT) (REUTERS) BILLBOARD READING IN ENGLISH "PROJECT FOR INTERIM CONTAINMENT OF DIOXIN CONTAMINATION IN DANANG AIR BASE" BIOREMEDIATION PILOT TESTING PROGRAM AT DANANG AIRPORT DRAINAGE SYSTEM AT AGENT ORANGE AFFECTED AREA BUILT TO FILTER THE WATER BEFORE POURING INTO THE POND NEARBY HANOI, VIETNAM (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE FOURTH MEETING OF JOINT ADVISORY COMMISSION IN HANOI DR. KEVIN TEICHMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. KEVIN TEICHMAN, U.S REPRESENTATIVE, SAYING: "It's a very difficult no matter to disabilities in any country from different causes, as there are so many causes for potential disabilities. Our concern at this point is to help those populations that are in the "hot spot" communities to learn what we can do there to give information out to prevent future disabilities if at all possible, and then extend those lessons elsewhere within the country." HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE PEACE VILLAGE 2 IN HO CHI MINH CITY WHERE AGENT ORANGE AFFECTED CHILDREN ARE BEING TAKEN CARE OF
  • Embargoed: 11th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,History
  • Reuters ID: LVAECG49LZUWVTTFBF68MOUJO4GL
  • Story Text: The United States and Vietnam work together to remove and limit the impact of dioxin, or Agent Orange, a legacy of the Vietnam war that still affects those living in the worst-affected areas.
    A Luoi, one of the poorest districts in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, is still dealing with the consequences of the Vietnam war, even though it ended more than thirty years ago.
    One of the places in the district, "Hamburger Hill," was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting that occurred during the Vietnam war.
    Agent Orange was stored at A Sho airport and A Luoi valley, and heavily sprayed to clear the supply route of Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam.
    For Vietnamese people, including this ethnic minority of Pa Ko family, the "ghost of war" is still there - the legacy of Agent Orange.
    They believe that most of the disabled children born with deformities have been affected by Agent Orange.
    Fifty-three year-old Kan Lay, a Pa Ko ethnic minority, is living with her 21 year-old son, Ke Van Bac. Her husband died in 1994 after suffering from cancer. Her son became disabled at the age of five.
    "He is laying like this all the time as it is very difficult for him to move. Everyday, I wash for him and it's impossible to carry him on my back, I have to carry him in my arms to the toilet," she said.
    U.S. airplanes dumped about 18 million gallons (70 millions litres) of defoliant on Vietnamese forest during the Vietnam War, between 1961 and 1971 to destroy Vietnamese sources of food and cover.
    Studies have shown the compound of dioxin, a component of Agent Orange herbicides sprayed during the war, is still present in so-called "hot spots" at levels hundreds of times higher than would be accepted elsewhere.
    "The level of dioxin contamination is going down gradually, but it has left serious and long-term consequences for human health and the environment. Apparently, at the military airbases where Agent Orange had been stored, dioxin still exists in very high concentrations," Doctor Lai Minh Hien, General Director of Office 33, an arm of the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment which works with the United States in solving the Agent Orange issue.
    Efforts by the Vietnam and U.S. governments and non-governmental organisations have made progress in recent months toward cleaning up dioxin from an area of a former U.S. military airbase in the central city of Danang.
    U.S. forces stored Agent Orange in other airbases where it was loaded onto airplanes for defoliation missions through South Vietnam during the war.
    Today, residents who are living near bases like Bien Hoa or Phu Cat, face dioxin-related risks. At Danang airbase, dioxin levels are still 300-400 times higher than internationally accepted levels.
    "In the first phase, we have to isolate the affected area and closely monitor it. We also carry out a pilot programme for remediation technologies, either bio-remediation or chemical remediation or physical remediation technology, so that we can find and apply the most appropriate technological method," Dr Hien added.
    In nearly two years, Vietnamese military technicians capped an area of Danang former military airport with concrete to stop dioxin or Agent Orange contaminating a lake. The measure is temporary, but was described as important progress toward cleaning up the site. They have also nearly completed the bioremediation pilot test program which was carried out by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.
    All these measures are aimed at containing the dioxin and finding ways to remove it from the soil.
    During the fourth annual meeting recently in Hanoi, Vietnam urged the U.S. to provide speed funding for Agent Orange victims while continuing efforts to clean-up the "hot spot" areas.
    The United States has maintained there is no scientifically proven link between the wartime spraying and the claims of dioxin poisoning by more than 3 million people in Vietnam.
    "It's a very difficult no matter to disabilities in any country from different causes, as there are so many causes for potential disabilities. Our concern at this point is to help those populations that are in the 'hot spot' communities to learn what we can do there to give information out to prevent future disabilities if at all possible, and then extend those lessons elsewhere within the country, " KevIn Teichman, a Joint Action Committee co-chairman said.
    Besides the environmental task force, the two sides also created a health task force as a joint effort to help disabled Vietnamese whose health problems might be linked to Agent Orange or dioxin.
    In the past decades, many non-profit groups and international donors have contributed funds as well, and more will be needed.
    A three-room classroom, a kitchen, bathroom and playground have been built by a group of ten American veterans, who fought in A Luoi in the war. They spent two weeks working with local people to help expand a kindergarten of A Ngo commune, which is home to about 200 ethnic minority children, including disabled children.
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