During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides over parts of southern Vietnam and along the borders of neighboring Laos and Cambodia. The herbicides were contaminated with dioxin, a deadly compound that remains toxic for decades and causes birth defects, cancer and other illnesses. To this day, dioxin continues to poison the land and the people. The U.S. has never accepted responsibility for these victims, and it’s unclear when this chain of misery will end.
Nguyen Thi Ly, 11, skips rope in her village south of Da
Nang, Vietnam. Her grandfather served in the North Vietnamese Army during the
Vietnam War, and she is a third generation victim of dioxin exposure, the
result of Agent Orange and other herbicides sprayed by the U.S. military during
the conflict more than 40 years ago. Like her mother, she suffers from severe
facial deformities and chronic bone pain, but is otherwise a normal little girl
with hopes and dreams for the future. Skipping rope is her favorite activity.
The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses
related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe
birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean
up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major
U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin
is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided
any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 28,
2012.
A girl colors a page at a center for children affected by
dioxin exposure in Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da Nang Association for Victims of
Agent Orange/Dioxin says that 5,000 people - including more than 1,400 children
- around the city suffer from mental and physical disabilities from dioxin
exposure, a legacy the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam
War more than 40 years ago. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin
around former American bases, but has yet to offer significant aid for victims.
May 28, 2012.
A girl who cannot hear or speak poses for a photograph at
a center for children who have been affected by dioxin exposure in the village
of Hoa Nhon, near Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent
Orange/Dioxin says that more than 1,400 children around the city suffer from
mental and physical disabilities because of dioxin exposure, a legacy of the
U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War
more than 40 years ago. About 60 children attend the Hoa Nhon center each day.
Many of them have mental disabilities or they cannot hear or speak. Children
are taught to read and write, sew clothes, make handicrafts and help their
families raise crops and livestock. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3
million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including
at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the
war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the
Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the
U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health
problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the
country's Agent Orange victims. May 29, 2012.
Tran Duc Nghia, 39, watches from a wheelchair as his
mother talks about his condition at the family's home in Da Nang, Vietnam.
Nghia and his sister are second generation Agent Orange victims, the result of
the U.S. military use of the herbicide during the Vietnam War more than 40
years ago. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin around former
American bases in Vietnam, but has yet to offer significant aid for victims.
The family gets no government support, and 75-year-old Hoang Thi Te worries who
will take care of her children when she is gone. She wishes the U.S. military
would have made a weapon that would have killed her children right away,
instead of leaving to suffer decades later.
Kristen Vetter, a nurse and daughter of a U.S. war
veteran, conducts physical therapy with La Thanh Toan, 21, in Da Nang, Vietnam.
Toan and his brother Nghia, 18, are third generation Agent Orange victims, the
result of the U.S. military's use of the herbicide more than 40 years ago. The
brothers were born healthy, but began to suffer from muscular dystrophy and
other problems as they grew older. Now they are confined at home as their
bodies and lives waste away. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin at
former American bases but has yet to offer significant aid for victims. Jan. 5,
2013.
A boy hugs a girl at a center for children who have been
affected by dioxin exposure in the village of Hoa Nhon, near Da Nang, Vietnam.
The Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that more than
1,400 children around the city suffer from mental and physical disabilities
because of dioxin exposure, a legacy of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange
and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. About 60
children attend the Hoa Nhon center each day. Many have mental disabilities,
while others cannot hear and speak. It usually takes a year before a new child
will make friends and start interacting with others, says Phan Thanh Tien, the
association's president. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million
Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least
150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The
U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang
airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S.
government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems
in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's
Agent Orange victims. May 29, 2012.
Two children take a bow after performing a short dance at
a center for children affected by dioxin exposure in Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da
Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that more than 1,400
children around the city suffer from mental and physical disabilities because
of dioxin exposure, a legacy of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and
other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. About 200
children attend three centers operated by the group, which aims to teach the
children how to read and write, sew clothes, make handicrafts and eventually
integrate into society. But most of them never will because of their disabilities,
says Phanh Thanh Tien, the association's president. The Vietnam Red Cross
estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin
exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects
since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up
dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S.
base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is
to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any
money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 28, 2012.
A boy holds a page that he has colored at a center for
children who have been affected by dioxin exposure in Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da
Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that more than 1,400
children around the city suffer mental and physical disabilities because of
dioxin, a legacy of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other
herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. About 200 children
attend three centers operated by the group. Because of their disabilities, it usually
takes two to three years for the children to interact with others and to learn
simple tasks, says Phan Than Tien, the association's president. The Vietnam Red
Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to
dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth
defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up
dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S.
base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is
to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any
money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 28, 2012.
Nguyen Thi Dung, 45, grins for a photograph near her
drink stand in Da Nang, Vietnam. Dung's father was a soldier for the South
Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War and died at 62 from complications
related to Agent Orange exposure. She and an older brother were born with hip
dysplasia that doctors say is linked to their father's exposure, and she
suffers from neurological damage that causes one side of her mouth to droop and
for her eyes and mouth to twitch uncontrollably. "My son's condition is
even worse," she says. "There are three generations in my family like
this, and the doctors say that for all three generations, our condition is because
of Agent Orange." The family survives partially on about $25 that each
gets monthly from the Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, an
aid group. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer
from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people
born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is
paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which
served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still
denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and
has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange
victims. May 30, 2012.
Mai Thi Mang, 21, a second generation victim of Agent
Orange, sits with her mother and brother in their house south of Da Nang,
Vietnam. Mang's father served as a bomb disposal soldier from 1975 to 1990 and
worked in many areas that had been sprayed with herbicides during the war. Mang
is mentally disabled because of her father's exposure, and her 19-year-old
brother suffers from disorders that have left him unable to talk or even sit up
on his own.
Dang Chi Tam, 42, a second generation victim of Agent
Orange, sits with her brother Dang Chi Trung, 43, in their home in Da Nang,
Vietnam. Their parents, now deceased, were long-time members of the Communist
Party, and served in the wars against the French and Americans. Trung is the
sole caregiver for his sister, who is mentally disabled and unable to speak or
care for herself. "Even personal hygiene she doesn't know how to do,"
he says. "Even to go to the toilet, she doesn't know how to do." They
survive on about $60 a month that is provided by the Vietnamese government.
"It is very difficult for us to live," he says. "Because I have
to care for her, I cannot go out for very long. It is very difficult for me to
get a job." The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese
suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000
people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S.
government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport,
which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government
still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam
and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent
Orange victims. May 29, 2012.
A girl born without legs and with a malformed right arm
lives on the children's ward known as the Peace Village at Tu Du Hospital in Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam. According to doctors, about 500 of the more than 60,000
children born at the hospital each year have birth defects and deformities,
many of which are believed to have been caused by dioxin left over from the
U.S. military's use of Agent Orange herbicide during the Vietnam War more than
40 years ago. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin around former
American bases, but has yet to offer significant aid for victims. May 1, 2013.
A boy with eczema so severe that he looks like a burn
victim is pictured in the children's ward known as the Peace Village at Tu Du
Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. About 500 of the 60,000 children born
each year at the maternity hospital, Vietnam's largest, are born with
deformities because of Agent Orange, according to doctors. This boy is in so
much pain because of his condition that he frequently bangs his head against
the walls of the hospital and must wear a padded helmet so that he does not hurt
himself. May 1, 2013.
Tran Duc Nghia 39, watches as his mother talks about his
condition at their home in Da Nang, Vietnam. 75-year-old Hoang Thi Te worries
who will take care of her children when she is gone. She wishes the U.S.
military would have made a weapon that would have killed her children right
away, instead of leaving to suffer decades later.
A child born without eyes, a third-generation victim of
the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War more than 40
years ago .
Le Thi Thu, 42, and her daughter, Nguyen Thi Ly, 11, live
in a village south of Da Nang, Vietnam. They are second and third generation
victims of dioxin exposure, the result of the U.S. military's use of Agent
Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. | MCT
By
Drew Brown - McClatchy Foreign Staff
In many ways, Nguyen Thi Ly is just like any other 12-year-old girl. She
has a lovely smile and is quick to laugh. She wants to be a teacher when she
grows up. She enjoys skipping rope when she plays.
But Ly is also very different from other children. Her head is severely
misshapen. Her eyes are unnaturally far apart and permanently askew. She’s been
hospitalized with numerous ailments since her birth.
Her mother, 43-year-old Le Thi Thu, has similar deformities and health
disorders. Neither of them has ever set foot on a battlefield, but they’re both
casualties of war.
Le and her daughter are second- and third-generation victims of dioxin
exposure, the result of the U.S. military’s use of Agent Orange during the
Vietnam War, when the U.S. Air Force sprayed more than 20 million gallons of
Agent Orange and other herbicides over parts of southern Vietnam and along the
borders of neighboring Laos and Cambodia. The herbicides were contaminated with
dioxin, a deadly compound that remains toxic for decades and causes birth
defects, cancer and other illnesses.
To this day, dioxin continues to poison the land and the people. The United
States has never accepted responsibility for these victims – it denies that
Agent Orange is responsible for diseases among Vietnamese that are accepted as
Agent Orange-caused among American veterans – and it’s unclear when this chain
of misery will end.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama will meet with Vietnamese President
Truong Tan Sang at the White House, only the third meeting between chief
executives of the two countries since Vietnam and the United States established
diplomatic relations in 1995.
The two countries share many contemporary concerns. The White House says
Obama plans to discuss cooperation on regional issues and trade, plus other
U.S. priorities such as climate change and human rights. The two countries
share a strong common interest in countering China, which has become
increasingly assertive over potentially oil-rich areas of the South China Sea.
Many Vietnamese say it’s time for the United States to do more to address
the issue of Agent Orange and its victims, so that the last tragic chapter of
the Vietnam War finally can be closed.
Le Thi Thu’s father served in the North Vietnamese army and was wounded in
Quang Tri province, one of the most heavily sprayed areas of the country.
“Before he went to war, my father had two children: my older brother and
sister,” said Le, who was born in 1970. “They were normal. But after he came
back, he had me.”
“I could see the differences in myself and others right away,” she
recalled. “When I was a small child, I felt pain inside my body all the time.
My parents took me to the hospital, and the doctors determined that I had been
affected by Agent Orange.”
When her daughter Ly was born, “we knew right away” Agent Orange was to
blame, Le said.
The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that Agent Orange has affected 3 million
people spanning three generations, including at least 150,000 children born
with severe birth defects since the war ended in 1975.
“During the war, we were hostile, but after the war ended, we normalized
our relations and are now building a strategic partnership between Vietnam and
the United States,” said retired Col. Thai Thanh Hung, the chairman of the
16,500-member Da Nang Veterans Association. “We no longer have hatred towards
the Americans and the U.S. government, but we want this one lingering and
remaining issue to be addressed, which is that the United States help solve the
Agent Orange and dioxin problem. That’s why we’re keeping an eye on this issue,
to see if the United States is really interested in healing the wounds or not.”
The most significant event to date occurred last August – 37 years after
the war ended – when U.S. contractors began a project to remove dioxin from 47
acres of contaminated soil at the Da Nang International Airport, which was one
of the largest U.S. bases during the war.
The $84 million effort, which is expected to take until the end of 2016 to
complete, has been hailed as an important milestone in U.S.-Vietnamese
relations. The airport is one of the most heavily contaminated areas in the
world, with dioxin levels measuring more than 365 times the acceptable limits
set by the United States and other industrialized countries.
Observers say that while the project represents a long overdue first step,
more work needs to be done. More than two dozen other known or potential dioxin
“hot spots” have been identified at former U.S. bases. Also left unresolved is
the thorny issue of how best to help Vietnamese who’ve been sickened and
disabled because of Agent Orange and dioxin exposure.
U.S. aid for these people so far has amounted to a pittance. According to
the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, only $11 million of the $61.4 million that Congress
has allocated since 2007 – a year after then-President George W. Bush pledged
to help clean up contaminated areas – has been earmarked for public health
programs in Vietnam.
U.S. officials caution that the money is to help people with disabilities
“regardless of cause,” and isn’t specifically for Agent Orange victims. This
semantic sleight of hand outrages many American veterans of the war, who say
the United States has a moral obligation to help Vietnamese victims of Agent
Orange, just as sick and dying U.S. veterans have received government help for
the last two decades.
“There’s a hypocrisy there,” says Chuck Searcy, who served in Vietnam as an
intelligence analyst during the war and has lived in Hanoi since 1998, heading
up a project to clear battlefields of unexploded ordnance, which also continues
to kill and maim Vietnamese. “It’s a glaring disconnect, and it’s embarrassing
because the whole world can see it.”
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says that all 2.8 million Americans
who served “boots on the ground” in Vietnam from 1962 to 1975 were exposed to
Agent Orange and other herbicides, which were in use from 1961 to 1971. They
qualify for compensation if they become sick from any of 15 illnesses presumed
to have been caused by their exposure. The VA also recognizes another 18 birth
defects in the children of female veterans.
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In 2011, the last year for which data was published, the VA paid nearly $18
billion in disability benefits to 1.2 million Vietnam-era veterans, including
303,000 who received compensation for diabetes mellitus, the most common of the
15 diseases associated with herbicide exposure.
U.S. officials have long held, however, that there’s no proof that Agent
Orange is to blame for the same diseases and birth defects in Vietnam.
“Few independent studies have been conducted in Vietnam to assess possible
health effects on the local population,” said Chris Hodges, a spokesman for the
U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. “The lack of validated data and scientific review makes
it difficult to estimate accurately the number of actual or potentially
affected people or the extent of related health effects.”
In many ways, the fight for recognition of Vietnam’s Agent Orange victims
mirrors the 20-year struggle that U.S. veterans endured before Congress granted
them compensation in 1991.
Hoping to emulate a case that resulted in a 1984 settlement requiring Dow
Chemical, the Monsanto Corp. and other Agent Orange manufacturers to pay $197
million in damages to sick U.S. veterans, a group of Vietnamese victims sued in
2004, only to have the same federal judge dismiss their case a year later,
saying the companies were immune because they were following government orders.
The Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2009.
As occurred with U.S. veterans, momentum in Congress appears to be shifting
favorably toward the Vietnamese. In 2011, lawmakers directed the U.S. Agency
for International Development to develop a plan for assisting Vietnam with
Agent Orange programs in the coming years. The agency hasn’t yet released its
proposals.
For its part, Vietnam has put into motion a set of steps that it says will
“fundamentally solve” its problems with Agent Orange by 2020. The document,
signed in June 2012 by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, outlines preferential
treatment for all ailing veterans who fought against the Americans, monthly
stipends and health coverage for families with disabled members and special
care for pregnant women from contaminated areas.
The Aspen Institute, a Washington-based research center, has called on the
United States to spend $450 million over 10 years to clean up Vietnam’s dioxin
hot spots, restored damaged ecosystems and expand health care for people with
disabilities.
It’s unclear how much Congress is willing to do. Rep. Barbara Lee,
D-Calif., introduced a bill last month that would commit the United States to
cleaning up all remaining sites and would provide assistance to help Vietnam
give better health care and other resources to Agent Orange victims. An
identical bill introduced two years ago failed to make it out of committee.
Searcy, the former intelligence analyst who lives in Hanoi, points out that
after nearly 40 years, Vietnam’s expectations of the United States remain
modest.
“The Vietnamese have never demanded that the U.S. do for the Vietnamese
what they’ve done for U.S. veterans,” he said. “But the Vietnamese have left
the door open to do what’s fair.”
“I think it’s possible to bring some closure to this within the next
decade,” he added.
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