Vietnam, US to jointly study Agent Orange

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Vietnam, US to jointly study Agent Orange

HANOI - Former foes Vietnam and the United States will begin joint research

on the use during their war in the 1960s and 1970s of defoliant Agent Orange

and its cancer-causing component dioxin by co-organising a conference.

The Vietnam News daily quoted the U.S. National Institutes of Environment

and Health Science as saying scientists at next month's Hanoi conference

would review research results of dioxin impact on human health and the

environment.

The United States sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other

defoliants on Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 to deny communist fighters jungle

cover. The chemicals were contaminated by TCDD, the most dangerous form of

dioxin, a known carcinogen.

The U.S. body said delegates would discuss measures to reduce the hazards of

dioxin and consider further research at the four-day conference, which would

start on March 3.

Vietnam News quoted the U.S. institutes as saying " the conference will mark

the start of joint research on the impact of defoliant sprayed by the U.S.

Air Force during the war in Vietnam " .

It said the conference would lay a foundation for further cooperation in

this field as well as seeking funding for future projects.

Analysts said the conference was an important step forward in addressing one

of the most enduring and controversial legacies of the Vietnam War, which

ended with communist victory in 1975.

Washington argues there is still no solid scientific proof that Agent Orange

was, as Vietnam and some U.S. veterans insist, responsible for a wide range

of medical problems, including tens of thousands of mental and physical

birth defects.

Vietnam News said two million Vietnamese had been affected by toxic

chemicals, mainly Agent Orange. In the first decade after the war, about

50,000 children were born with deformities or paralysis to parents affected

by toxic chemicals.

Dioxin causes cancer, immune system malfunction and birth defects.

Story Date: 12/2/2002

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14493/story.htm