Agent Orange lingering in Vietnam, study finds
Toxic chemicals found in food samples
HANOI - Decades after the wartime
defoliant Agent Orange was sprayed over
Vietnam, toxic chemicals continue to
contaminate Vietnamese people and the food
they eat, according to a new study released
Monday.
The finding, published in the August issue of
the Journal of Occupation and Environmental
Medicine, found that six out of 16 food
samples taken last year from around the
southern city of Bien Hoa, a former U.S. air
base, had levels of dioxin approaching those
found during the Vietnam War.
Dioxin was found in ducks, chickens, a
bottom-dwelling fish and a toad. Samples of
pork and beef showed negligible levels.
"This study is one of many that shows Agent
Orange is not history. Dioxin contamination is
still found in high levels in some Vietnamese,
as high as when spraying was going on," said
lead researcher Dr. Arnold Schecter of the
University of Texas School of Public Health in
Dallas.
Bien Hoa was the site of a 5,000-gallon
underground spill of Agent Orange about
three decades ago.
Earlier studies have shown high dioxin levels
in the bloodstream of residents of Bien Hoa,
located 20 miles northeast of Ho Chi Minh
City, including children born decades after
the spraying and people who recently moved
there.
Though there has never been a direct
scientific connection established between
the herbicide and birth defects, exposure to
Agent Orange has been linked to a variety of
illnesses, including cancer, diabetes and spina
bifida.
Schecter, who worked with a team of
Vietnamese, German and American scientists,
said the study also showed the presence of
other dangerous chemicals, including PCBs, a
dioxin-like substance.
"When we worry about the health effects in
people, we shouldn't ignore the presence of
these other chemicals," he said.
Schecter said he believes measures can be
taken to avoid future contamination,
including urging people to substitute
contaminated foods with other food
sources.
The Associated Press - August 11, 2003.
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