Vietnam urges U.S. aid for Agent Orange victims
HANOI - Vietnam called on the United
States on Thursday to help victims of the dioxin-containing Agent
Orange defoliant used during the Vietnam War after a study
found more was used than previously thought.
Vietnam estimates more than one million of its people have been
exposed to Agent Orange, used from 1962 to 1971 to strip trees
and plants and deny communist fighters forest cover and food.
It says the product caused tens of thousands of birth defects and
other diseases.
"In our opinion the most urgent task now is to bring in aid, in
parallel to the ongoing research, to help Agent Orange victims
overcome the consequences," Vietnamese Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh told Reuters.
"The U.S. has a moral responsibility for this."
The study by researchers at Columbia University in New York
who reanalysed military records said the amount of Agent
Orange used was underestimated by seven million litres.
It said the estimates of how much chemical U.S. forces sprayed
were greater by about 10 percent than previous estimates.
Washington provides no compensation to Vietnam victims of
Agent Orange and says the communist country dropped claims
for war reparations when ties were normalised in 1995.
The war ended in 1975.
Last year the United States and Vietnam agreed to investigate
the effects of the chemical. Exposure to it has been linked to a
higher risk of leukaemia and other types of cancer.
No evidence
A U.S. embassy spokesman in Hanoi, asked to respond to the
study, noted that Washington funds "multi-million dollar health
programmes" which from the 1990s have targeted a number of
diseases and conditions "including some the Vietnamese attribute
without medical evidence to Agent Orange".
Agent Orange was also sprayed in Cambodia and Laos. The
chemical got its name because of the coloured stripes on the
containers.
The use of the herbicide was stopped in 1971 after it was
discovered to contain dioxin.
An Agent Orange expert in Vietnam said he did not believe the
latest assessments were significant.
"I don't think it changes the dynamics of the relationship between
the U.S. and Vietnam," said Craig Leisher, who worked for four
years with the U.N. Development Programme as an
environmental adviser on cleaning up Agent Orange.
"The sticking point is over humanitarian assistance, and the U.S.
says 'no'."
By Christina Toh-Pantin - Reuters - April 17, 2003.
Use of Agent Orange in Vietnam underestimated
NEW YORK - The U.S. military sprayed more Agent Orange and other dioxin-containing herbicides during the Vietnam War than previously thought, scientists say.
Researchers at Columbia University in New York re- examined military records using more complete data. They found the amount of Agent Orange was underestimated by seven million litres and almost twice as much of the carcinogen dioxin was released.
U.S. forces sprayed the herbicides to defoliate large areas of forest. From 1961 to 1971, the researchers determined 1.84 million gallons, or 10 per cent, more herbicides were sprayed than earlier estimated.
Agent Orange got its name because of the coloured stripes on the containers. Use of the herbicide was stopped in 1971 after it was discovered to contain dioxin.
The toxins persist in soil and water in parts of the southern half of Vietnam. Tree cover has regrown in many places but the chemicals have made their way into the tissues of fish and fowl eaten by local residents.
"Cancer, miscarriages and birth defects in the sprayed areas are always higher than in the areas not sprayed," said Tran Manh Hung of the special committee on Agent Orange in Vietnam's Ministry of Health. "It might take another 50 years before those rates become equal."
The study by Jeanne Mager Stellman of Columbia and her colleagues provides detailed computerized maps of the spraying. The researchers relied on an electronic record compiled by the U.S. military on the flight paths, herbicides and volumes sprayed.
The team also stumbled on archived daily logs made by pilots after missions, which allowed them to piece together details of the missions' targets.
"Areas sprayed during the early years and in the various test sites around the world may be of particular interest for follow-up ecological and epidemiological studies," the researchers wrote in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
Some scientists agreed the new study could aid assessments of wartime herbicide exposure for Vietnam veterans. Others noted from a health perspective, it is important to distinguish between the amount sprayed and the amount that actually gets into humans.
Last year, U.S. and Vietnam agreed to investigate the effects of Agent Orange and conducted their first joint conference on exposure.
CBC News (.ca) - April 17, 2003.
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