US starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam
Reuters | 09 August, 2012 08:39
Image by: AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam
Suspected Agent Orange victim Nguyen Thi Hong Van, 11, and her mother Nguyen Thi Luu, 38 are pictured at their home near Danang city's airport on August 8, 2012.
The United States and Vietnam on Thursday began cleaning up the toxic chemical defoliant Agent Orange on part of Danang International Airport, marking the first time Washington has been involved in cleaning up Agent Orange in Vietnam.
The U.S. military sprayed up to 12 million gallons of the defoliant onto Vietnam's jungles over a 10-year period during the Vietnam War, and the question of compensation for the subsequent health problems is a major post-war issue.
Respiratory cancer and birth defects amongst both Vietnamese and U.S. veterans have been linked to exposure to Agent Orange.
"We are both moving earth and taking the first steps to bury the legacies of our past," U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear said at a ceremony at Danang airport on Thursday.
"I look forward to even more successes to follow."..
