[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] Agent Orange's toxic legacy lingers on

[Bill Totten]

www.russiatoday.com (November 17 2008)


More than thirty years after it ended, the Vietnam War is still having a
devastating impact on the lives of ordinary people. Up to five million
Vietnamese were exposed to Agent Orange, a deadly herbicide sprayed by
the US Army over wide areas.

The chemical killed tens of thousands but has left a tragic legacy of
birth defects and disabilities in those born long after the war.

Almost eighty million litres of the poisonous herbicide was sprayed by
the US military during the war in Vietnam. The aim was to destroy the
jungle that provided cover for the Vietnamese army.

But the powerful weed killer contained one of the world's most toxic
chemicals - dioxin. Cancer, birth defects, psychiatric disorders and
diabetes are just a few of the diseases caused by it.

Vu Tan Kim was a soldier during the war. He says when the chemical was
sprayed on their base, they didn't know how dangerous it was. Only after
his daughter was born he was told by doctors the dioxin he was exposed
to had affected his genes. His daughter is blind, her arms and legs are
deformed and she is mentally handicapped.

"If I had my leg cut or went blind, that's ok. But here my blood was
poisoned and even though the war ended in Vietnam, every time I come
home I feel very sad when I see my daughter", he says.

He says the one dollar a day he gets from his government is not enough
and that it's the US who should compensate.

However, America's constitution protects those who were responsible at
the time, so the victims took the companies who developed Agent Orange
to court.

But the judge, who had previously awarded millions of dollars to
American veterans who suffered from the poison, threw the case out.

Nguyen Trong Nhan is a leading official of the Vietnam Association for
Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA). He says that, despite having little
faith in America's legal system, the battle continues and they hope to
win their appeal.

Da Nang International Airport is now a gateway for millions of tourists.
What they don't know is that it's also one of Vietnam's three toxic hot
spots. The American military stored unused dioxin at this former airbase.

Lev Fedorov, Doctor of Chemical Science says:

"Local people here are still being chronically poisoned. The dioxin that
was sprayed on the territory doesn't' go anywhere. It's very resistant."

Residents nearby were warned only last year that vegetables grown here
and fish caught in the lake are poisonous.

_____

To learn more, please click
http://www.russiatoday.com/features/news/33361/video . NOTE: The story
contains images which you might find disturbing.

http://www.russiatoday.com/features/news/33361


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