U.S. Makes Effort to Heal AO Wounds in Vietnam: American Govt Aide

The U.S. is gradually increasing its funding to victims of Agent Orange (AO) which is left since the Vietnam War, and both American and Vietnamese governments now willingly speak about AO, according to an aide from the U.S. government. “We are not aware of any widely accepted scientific study that conclusively establishes a connection between dioxin and these types of physical or psychological disabilities,” said Tim Rieser, a longtime foreign policy aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who has led the charge to appropriate money for AO. But “the United States is essentially acknowledging by our actions that there is likely a causal effect, and Senator Leahy believes we have a responsibility to help address it,” he said. The U.S. congress approved to allocate $7 million this year to health and disability programs in Vietnam, much of it targeting presumed AO victims. The U.S. has financed Vietnam more than $80 million to carry out a dioxin cleanup project at Danang airport which was formerly used as military base of American troops, marking Washington’s first aid on solving war aftermaths in the former foe. In December 2013, U.S. State Secretary John Kerry said that the U.S. government would fund Vietnam $18 million for developing navigation security in the Southeast Asian country. Many activists contend the U.S. is shirking true responsibility. “The U.S. government is never going to step up on Agent Orange,” said Suel Jones of Veterans for Peace. Jones fought in Vietnam as a Marine, then returned to work with war victims. “It opens them up to a moral responsibility. Say what we want to say, but we sprayed poison on this damned country,” Jones said. U.S. forces sprayed 21 million gallons of defoliants on southern Vietnam from 1961 to 1971, including 12 million gallons of AO, to deny its enemies cover and kill food crops. Though service members and the public were told the chemicals were harmless to humans, AO was contaminated with dioxin, a highly toxic chemical. Through direct contact, or from eating food raised or grown in contaminated areas, thousands of Americans and millions of Vietnamese were exposed to dioxin. There is no treatment for it. As a result of a 1991 law, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides benefits to service members who came in contact with AO and now suffer from cancer, diabetes or other ailments. Vietnamese do not get the same compensation. Vietnamese victims sued the chemical companies that manufactured the herbicides, but the case was dismissed in U.S. courts. Another suit is pending in France. Scientific proof of physical impairments linked to the American spraying — which could lead to legal liability — would be difficult and expensive to come by in a developing nation where other environmental factors could contribute to dioxin poisoning. Doctors here do not tend to diagnose specific birth defects such as spina bifida or cerebral palsy, often just assuming disabled children in certain areas are AO victims. Vietnamese advocacy groups estimate that four million people suffer from health problems related to AO. Some other groups, meanwhile, said that the actual number exceeds 4.8 million. (www.santafenewmexican.com April 10)