Agent Orange Continues to Poison New Generations in Vietnam
Deformed fetuses at Ho Chi Minh City's Tu Du Hospital, where doctors blame the high incidence of deformities on the use of Agent Orange during the war
Deformed fetuses at Ho Chi Minh City's Tu Du Hospital, where doctors blame the high incidence of deformities on the use of Agent Orange during the war
STR New / Reuters
This lonely section of the abandoned Danang airbase was once crawling with U.S. airmen and machines. It was here where giant orange drums were stored and the herbicides they contained were mixed and loaded onto waiting planes. Whatever sloshed out soaked into the soil and eventually seeped into the water supply. Thirty years later, the rare visitor to the former U.S. airbase is provided with rubber boots and protective clothing. Residue from Agent Orange, which was sprayed to deny enemy troops jungle cover, remains so toxic that this patch of land is considered one of the most contaminated pieces of real estate in the country. A recent study indicates that even three decades after the war ended, the cancer-causing dioxins are at levels 300 to 400 times higher than what is deemed to be safe.
After years of meetings, signings and photo ops, the U.S. held another ceremony in Vietnam on Wednesday to sign yet another memorandum of understanding as part of the continuing effort to manage Agent Orange's dark legacy. Yet there are grumblings that little — if anything — has actually been done to clean up the most contaminated sites. Congress has allocated a total of $6 million to help address Agent Orange issues in Vietnam since 2007, but not only does the amount not begin to scratch the surface of the problem or get rid of the tons of toxic soil around the nation, there are questions about how the money is being spent. Several parties have noted with growing frustration that what money there is is primarily going to study the issue and hire consultants rather implementing measures to prevent new generations from being exposed.
"There is still risk to people living in those areas," says Thomas Boivin, president of the Vancouver-based Hatfield Consultants, an environmental firm that has been identifying and measuring Agent Orange contamination in Vietnam since 1994. The good news is that Hatfield's studies indicate that even though ten percent of southern Vietnam was sprayed with dioxins, only a handful of hotspots — all former U.S. military installations where the herbicide was mixed and stored — pose a danger to humans. The bad news? "If those were in Canada or in the U.S., they would require immediate clean up," Boivin says.
Responding to complaints that America is dragging its feet, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak said the $1.7 million most recently allocated to conduct an environmental assessment of the Danang airbase is being done to comply with both U.S. and Vietnamese law, and is a necessary step toward clean up. "We're investigating many promising techniques," Michalak said following Wednesday's signing ceremony in Hanoi. Careful study is required if the job is to be done right, he said. "We know there is dioxin in the soil," he added. "But what method do we use to remove it? Where do we tell the diggers to dig? It's just another step on the road."
But critics believe the U.S. is playing a grim waiting game: Waiting for people to die in order to avoid potentially costly lawsuits. For a country currently engaged in two wars, accepting comprehensive responsibility for wartime damages could set an expensive precedent. "They know what the problem is and where it is," says Chuck Searcy, country representative of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. "Why do they now need an environmental impact assessment? They are studying this to death."
Scientists have been raising the alarm about dioxins since the 1960s. After TCDD, the dioxin in Agent Orange, was found to cause cancer and birth defects, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency slapped an emergency ban on the herbicide in 1979. Dow and Monsanto, the chemical's largest manufacturers, eventually shelled out millions in damages to U.S. troops exposed to it while it was being used as a wartime defoliant from 1961 to 1971. The U.S. government still spends billions every year on disability payments to those who served in Vietnam — including their children, many of whom are suffering from dioxin-associated cancers and birth defects. In October, the Department of Veterans Affairs added leukemia, Parkinson's and a rare heart disease to the list of health problems associated with Agent Orange. Yet U.S. official policy maintains there is no conclusive evidence that the defoliant caused any health problems among the millions of exposed Vietnamese or their children.
Meanwhile, private foundations and individuals have taken the lead. Early efforts to identify and measure dioxin levels at Agent Orange hotspots were undertaken by the U.S.-based Ford Foundation in the 1990s. Later, with technical assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ford 'capped' the most contaminated section of what is now the Da Nang International Airport, installing a filtration system to stop dioxins flowing into the city's water supply and building a wall to keep people from entering the area. At another abandoned U.S. airbase in the Aluoi Valley, a Vietnamese botanist raised $25,000 in donations to plant cactus-like bushes and thorn trees around contaminated areas to prevent villagers from entering to fish there. (Dioxins quickly accumulate in animal fat.) Though these are not long-term solutions, Hatfield found that after the simple barriers went up, dioxin levels in the blood and breast milk of nearby residents dropped dramatically.
Charities in Danang have also voiced concerns about how U.S. money is being spent when it comes to providing care to the disabled in the region. A portion of the $6 million allocated by Congress was awarded to humanitarian groups working with disabled residents around Danang. But it is difficult to find evidence of the money at work. Save the Children was given $400,000 to help people with disabilities find employment. The sole case the organization shared with a reporter was their work finding a job for a college graduate with a hair lip. Another chunk went to equip and refurbish a wing at Binh Dan hospital in Danang, which sits largely empty. Because the American Rehabilitation Center has virtually no medical equipment, it has a difficult time attracting patients. Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in Hanoi is spending $500,000 for a health and remediation advisor.
Groups caring for children born with horrific deformities from Agent Orange — such as malformed limbs and no eyes — are wondering why they haven't seen any of that money. Bedridden and unable to feed themselves, many patients need round-the-clock care. As they age, and parents die, who is going to look after them? asks Nguyen Thi Hien, director of the Danang Association of Victims of Agent Orange. She says donations to her group, which cares for 300 children, are down 50% because there is a belief that local charities are flush with cash since the U.S.'s latest allocation. "The one million [being spent by the Americans] is not for care, but mainly for conferences and training," said Hien. "This money should go to caring for the victims."
But determining who should benefit is a nightmare. Tests to establish dioxin levels in individuals run as high as $1,000 per person — a pricetag Vietnam says it can't afford. U.S. negotiators and scientists are frustrated that Vietnam seems to blame all the population's birth defects on the defoliants. Diplomats broke off talks several years ago complaining that Vietnam was unwilling to use accepted scientific methods because it may not support claims of widespread exposure and health damages. They have also complained that Vietnam itself could certainly do more to help its own. No one is stopping the Vietnamese from erecting fences around contaminated spots, points out one U.S. diplomat, suggesting the Vietnamese are simply milking the issue for more aid and sympathy.
Still, the Vietnamese people (and the government to a much quieter extent) think it's the U.S. that should be doing more — much more. Some point out that the U.S. spends only a fraction on Agent Orange cleanup compared to the $50 million it spends every year on searching for the remains of American soldiers missing in action. Thao Griffiths, Country Director of the Vietnam Veterans of America, which works on lingering war issues, does not want to compare the budgets of the two efforts. But the legacy of each is equally painful. "The issue of MIAs for Americans holds the same importance that Agent Orange does for the Vietnamese," she says. And until the issue is resolved the legacy of the war will continue to haunt both sides.
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