Agent Orange - Dioxin War Legacy

[Guest guest]

Taken from the Occ-Env-Med Chatboard. Wonder what the long term effects will be from the micoherbicides we are using in Columbia and Afganastan in the "War on Drugs" will be?...Which, in some cases, are the same toxins produced within a damp, poorly ventilated, indoor environment. (fungal toxins)

PS. I am back from my vacation. Did you all miss me?

Sharon

FEATURE - Vietnam, US Set New Tone on Dioxin War LegacyThis article had no content I felt right about dropping, so QUITEcontrary to my usual policy, the whole text is posted here. I believethat occasional fair-use rules have to protect their copyright and ourdissemination.- Ghttp://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/38329/story.htmVIETNAM: October 3, 2006BIEN HOA, Vietnam - Doctors warn people living near the Bien Hoamilitary airport not to drink the water, eat the fish or grow fruitand vegetables because of wartime dioxin poisoning.Brain-damaged babies and children with shortened limbs and otherphysical deformities are still being brought to hospitals forspecialised care, four decades after the United States sprayed Vietnamwith the highly toxic defoliant.In recent months, Vietnam and the United States have started toovercome years of frustration in both governments about how to dealwith environmental and health effects of the poison code-named "agentorange".Americans and Vietnamese say they are perhaps just months fromplanning environmental clean-up and containment of dioxin, beginningat the former US air base in the central city of Danang."Assisting Vietnam with this issue will help clear the conscience ofthe US government," said Le Ke Son, director of "The Committee 33"working on impacts of an estimated 70 million litres of toxicchemicals used from 1961 to 1971 by the US military and the SouthVietnam government it supported.The war ended on April 30, 1975 when communist North Vietnam tookSaigon, re-named it Ho Chi Minh City, and unified the Southeast Asiancountry.Hanoi and Washington restored diplomatic ties in 1995 and they are nowcementing a friendship founded on growing trade and business ties asVietnam introduces market reforms.But the consequences of the toxic war remain a painful sore in therelationship that both governments and non-governmental organisationsdearly wish to repair."There has been a lot of work on the issue," said Marine, USambassador to Hanoi. "The question is very complex. What you do is inpart driven by how you intend to use the site, the land, the cost forthe clean-up."HOT SPOTSScientists identify coastal Danang, Vietnam's fourth largest city withabout 1 million people, the south-central town of Phu Cat in Binh Dinhprovince and Bien Hoa in the southern province of Dong Nai as "hotspots", wartime bases where the chemicals were stored and spilled.Bien Hoa is a bustling city of 500,000 people about 40 km (25 miles)north of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam's industrial heart.It is a typical Vietnamese city, teeming with motorbikes, constructionsites and Internet cafes alongside displays of communist hammer andsickle symbols and party slogans.But its military airport and surrounding lakes, ponds and land aretoxic. The Vietnam military plans to clean up the site.A study by Vietnamese and Canadian scientists of Hatfieldenvironmental consultants in West Vancouver, British Columbia,measured dioxin levels in the soil that are hundreds of times higherthan is acceptable in other countries."My dream is to conclude work on these hot spots in the next fiveyears," said Son, a scientist at the Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment who serves on a joint Vietnam-US panel of technicalexperts who met for the first time in June.Washington has ruled out paying compensation but is willing to sharetechnical advice with Vietnamese counterparts.The non-governmental Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation providesexpertise and the Ford Foundation, a US philanthropic group, has madegrants for environmental and health research."Part of the reason we are making these grants is so that they candevelop a more accurate view of the nature of the threat," says , Ford Foundation representative in Vietnam.BUSH VISITThe subject could come up when US President W. Bush visits inNovember for the Asia-Pacific Economic ation (APEC) forumsummit.But the issue is also legally sensitive because a Vietnamese victimsgroup is suing 37 American chemical companies in a US federal court.The class action lawsuit was thrown out in March 2005 and the group isappealing the ruling.Americans, Australians, New Zealanders and South Koreans who served inthe war were also exposed to dioxin. They have all had some success inobtaining services and care for themselves.It is only with increasing economic prosperity that poor,under-developed Vietnam has sought to improve assistance to Vietnamesevictims and to try to find out how many there are.Children of people exposed to dioxin during the war have also beensickened or deformed, but researchers say no one can yet accuratelyquantify the total number of victims. The National Academy of Sciencesin the United States found that up to 4.8 million people "would havebeen present" during spraying.In another recent development, the United Nations has become involvedfor the first time.The United Nations Development Programme in Hanoi proposes theestablishment of a transparently governed trust fund whereinternational donors, companies and governments could put money fordioxin-related environmental and health work."The stars really are aligned. I think we are getting there," saysKoos Neefjes, senior advisor at UNDP in Vietnam.DOCTORS AND VICTIMSThe doctors who work daily with the victims or live with environmentaland health impacts welcome the progress being made towards reducingcontamination and eventually ridding the country of dioxin."I don't hold any grudges or anger and I am of a view of letting thepast go and if we can do something now then we should do what we canto help," said Nguyen Thi Phuong Tan, head of the "Peace Village" forthe disabled in Ho Chi Minh City, one of 12 nationwide.Every day, Tan and her staff of doctors and nurses provide care to 339patients from infancy to 25 years old. They include children withenlarged heads or shortened limbs and one with skin covering the facewhere there should be eyes.Some of the patients lie in a vegetative state in cots, others areteenagers reading and writing and wrestling playfully with studentswho come to visit the hospital.The doctor's "let bygones be bygones" attitude is typical ofVietnamese, who are known for being pragmatic.Even in Bien Hoa, where toxicity levels are highest and healthauthorities say there are 465 people with dioxin-related disabilitiesor illnesses such as cancer, a doctor speaks in a matter-of-fact wayabout the calamity."We have a few solutions, including warning residents against usingthe water from ponds and lakes near the airport," said Tu ThanhChuong, director of Dong Nai province health department. "We toldpeople not to eat fish from this area and we banned the production offruit and vegetables in the contaminated land." (Additional reportingby Nguyen Nhat Lam and Nguyen Van Vinh)Story by Grant McCool