In Vietnam, Agent Orange still makes its deadly presence felt

There’s an air of torment about Cong Nguyen. The 16-year-old is among four siblings, two of whom suffer the same regular attacks of heat that mean they can never stray far from a water tank. To make matters worse, he has never been able to grow teeth or a full crop of hair; instead, clusters of wispy, thin strands sit above sunken eyes.  “Some kids avoid me and laugh at me,” he says from the home he shares with his brothers and parents in Bien Hoa, just outside Ho Chi Minh City.

His mother thinks she knows the cause of his problems. As a teenager in the mid-1970s she would collect wood in a field with her father in southern Vietnam. The two would spend all day among the foliage, cutting down small trees, scavenging in thickets for branches that they would then carry back to their village in the evening.

Continue Learning:  http://www.ucanews.com/news/in-vietnam-agent-orange-still-makes-its-deadly-presence-felt/70511

Vietnam Agent Orange

Vietnamese men near old U.S. base highly exposed to dioxins

"Our findings suggested that people living close to the former U.S. air bases might have been exposed to both Agent Orange and other sources of dioxin-like compounds"” the scientists wrote.

Scientists fortify legal basis for US claim by AO victims

A national symposium was held yesterday to shore up legal grounds to demand the US government and chemical companies take responsibility for the consequences of the Agent Orange/dioxin sprayed across Viet Nam during the American War.

High dioxin levels in Dong Nai lakes

The report said the most toxic dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), was found in samples of soil and sediment taken near lakes to the north and east of the airbase.

The contamination is believed to be caused by toxic chemicals used during the American War 1959-1975.

According to experts, the level of dioxins at the airbase is higher than at airports in Da Nang and Phu Cat, two others dioxin contaminated hotspots.

 

The Really Forgotten of The Vietnam War

I wrote about Lesli and her battle with the government in 2012. At that time I pointed to legislation that should have covered her and the life-threatening illnesses she contracted after exposure to Agent Orange. Memo 53 was added to the Federal Employment Compensation Act (FECA) on December 13, and 1967 passed by Congress to deal with those who became disabled or were killed while entertaining the troops. Which each application for coverage she was denied. The addition clearly states… The Armed Forces Professional Entertainment Program Overseas would cover entertainers as "employees" for the purposes of the FECA and, while on tour with the Armed Forces Professional Entertainment Program Overseas, would be entitled to benefits under the Act in the event of death or disability”

Lesli’s denials fly in the face of everything decent about America. Today the medical bills have put her and her husband in debt and the stress of facing the unknown is having a paralyzing effect.

Continue Learning:  http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/03/04/the-really-forgotten-of-the-vietnam-war/