U.S., Hanoi don't finalize dioxin plan, to talk more
HANOI - U.S. and Vietnamese
scientists failed Friday to finalize a strategy
on the toxic Vietnam War defoliant Agent
Orange, which Hanoi blames for thousands
of birth defects and other diseases, but
said talks would continue.
The two sides met in Hanoi following a
landmark conference on Agent Orange this
week with different ideas about how to move ahead on the
issue.
Scientists from the U.S. National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency had insisted their talks with Vietnamese
counterparts should be confined to charting future research
priorities.
But Vietnam had said there should also be a plan agreed upon
for U.S. humanitarian assistance to victims of Agent Orange.
After six hours of talks Friday, one of the U.S. team,
Christopher Portier of the NIEHS, said he would have more
discussions with the Vietnamese side Saturday before leaving
Hanoi. He declined to give details about the talks.
Asked if he was hopeful for an agreement, he told Reuters:
"Hope's a good word. There are no major stumbling blocks, it's
minor word crafting."
U.S. officials said even if an agreement was not reached in
face-to-face talks in Hanoi, they would continue
long-distance.
The head of the U.S. team, Anne Sassaman of NIEHS said:
"We're making progress; we just haven't finished."
U.S. forces dumped millions of gallons of Agent Orange on
Vietnam during the war that ended in 1975 in order to deny
communist soldiers jungle cover. Spraying was halted in 1971
after it was found it contained the most dangerous form of
dioxin, TCDD, and caused cancer in rats.
"Tens of thousand of birth defects"
Vietnam estimates more than a million of its people were
exposed to the defoliant, which it blames for tens of
thousands of birth defects and other diseases.
While Washington provides assistance to U.S. veterans for a
range of diseases "associated" with Agent Orange, its
government scientists say proving it causes such diseases
would take many more years of research.
Thanks to an initiative by the Vietnam Veterans of America,
government scientists from both Vietnam and the United
States and world experts gathered in Hanoi earlier this week
to examine what was already known about the Agent Orange
and dioxin and to consider what more research needs to be
done.
While Vietnam nowadays avoids demanding "compensation"
from the United States over Agent Orange, both Hanoi and
U.S. veterans exposed to Agent Orange hope further
scientific study will strengthen their case in the future.
Hanoi said Thursday the United States has a moral and
spiritual responsibility to Vietnamese victims and should help
them in tandem with future research.
Wednesday, Vietnam's Vice Minister of Science, Technology
and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen told the closing session of
the conference the United States had waged a "chemical war"
against Vietnam with Agent Orange.
He said future U.S. cooperation should include establishing a
network of communal medical centers, providing drugs to
counter the effects of dioxin, rehabilitation of those with birth
defects and improved infrastructure in sprayed areas.
By David Brunnstrom - Reuters - March 08, 2002.
|