Retiree Assistance Office - RAO BULLETIN, 1 December 2010:
“The United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) has told the Da Nang People's Committee that
it plans to spend US$34 million to rid the city's airport of Agent Orange. The
two-year project is intended to ensure that plants can again grow in contaminated
earth. Former military airports in
central Binh Dinh Province's Phu Cat District and southern Dong Nai Province's
Bien Hoa District will be next on the list for detoxification, says USAID.
During the past three years, with funding provided by various American
non-governmental organizations, the agency has approved spending of US$21
million to deal with dioxin contamination in the country, according to Da Nang
City's Department of Foreign Affairs. The $21 million total includes $16
million to be spent on dioxin clean-up of the area and $2 million to be spent
on assessing environmental impacts as well as exploring technical solutions to
the problem. The remaining $3 million have been earmarked to help improve the
lives of the city's Agent Orange victims and disadvantaged people.” |
| Phu Cat Air Base |
 |
| Bien Hoa Air Base |
 |
| Da Nang Air Base, 1965 |
“Dioxin-contaminated earth will
be scooped up and burned in tubes at temperatures of more than 350 Celsius
degrees, according to the agency. From 72 to 80 million liters or defoliants
were sprayed over Vietnamese forests during the war, including the highly toxic
Agent Orange, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Da Nang, Bien Hoa and Phu Cat airports are home to some of the highest dioxin
concentrations in the contamination of the environment. Today, dioxin levels at
the airport are up to 400 times higher than internationally accepted levels.
The affected zone has been sealed off from the public.”
Oh, what a treat! Hundreds of
millions of dollars as restitution for the Enemy.
I guess we don't have to take
care of our own soldiers, who wrote a blank check to the
Government, up to and including their lives. And some people actually wonder out loud why our Country is going to Hell in a hand basket!
Government, up to and including their lives. And some people actually wonder out loud why our Country is going to Hell in a hand basket!
!!! Author’s caveat: What follows may be upsetting to those brave souls who fought this War in Viet Nam and, now, fight to attain recognition and benefits they earned from the U.S. Government. !!!
*author’s note: I hi-lighted a few paragraphs
to point out our Nation’s stance on Agent Orange, a known carcinogenic. If our
Government were to admit the catastrophic outcome of spraying that chemical on
the Viet Namese people and on their own Soldiers, they would, indeed, be liable
for a lot more than they currently accept. This is an obvious attempt to
down-play the role of Agent Orange in the health of all affected.
Vietnam
Agent Orange Cleanup Started By U.S.
By
MIKE IVES 08/08/12
06:04 AM ET
 |
In
this photo taken Aug. 7, 2012, Vo Hong Vu
tries to draw some animals at a
rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam.
(AP Photo/Maika Elan)
|
DANANG, Vietnam — Vo Duoc fights back tears while sharing
the news that broke his heart: A few days ago he received test results
confirming he and 11 family members have elevated levels of dioxin lingering in
their blood. The
family lives in a two-story house near a former U.S. military base in Danang
where the defoliant Agent Orange was stored during the Vietnam War, which ended
nearly four decades ago. Duoc, 58, sells steel for a living and has diabetes,
while his wife battles breast cancer and their daughter has remained childless
after suffering repeated miscarriages. For years, Duoc thought the ailments
were unrelated, but after seeing the blood tests he now suspects his family
unwittingly ingested dioxin from Agent Orange-contaminated fish, vegetables and
well water.
Dioxin,
a persistent chemical linked to cancer, birth defects and other disabilities,
has seeped into Vietnam's soils and watersheds, creating a lasting war legacy
that remains a thorny issue between the former foes. Washington has been slow
to respond, but on Thursday the U.S. for the first time will begin cleaning up
dioxin from Agent Orange that was stored at the former military base, now part
of Danang's airport.
"It's
better late than never that the U.S. government is cleaning up the environment
for our children," Duoc said in Danang, surrounded by family members
sitting on plastic stools. "They have to do as much as possible and as
quickly as possible."
The
$43 million project begins as Vietnam and the U.S. forge closer ties to boost
trade and counter China's rising influence in the disputed South China Sea.
Although the countries' economic and military ties are blossoming,
progress on addressing the dioxin legacy has been slow. Washington still
disputes a claim by Hanoi that between 3 million to 4 million Vietnamese were
affected by toxic chemicals sprayed by U.S. planes during the war to eliminate
jungle cover for guerrilla fighters, arguing that the actual number is far
lower and other environmental factors are to blame for the health issues. That
position irks Vietnamese, who say the United States maintains a double standard
in acknowledging the consequences of Agent Orange. The
U.S. has given billions of dollars in disability payments to American
servicemen who developed illnesses associated with dioxin after exposure to the
defoliant during the Vietnam War.
In
2004, a group of Vietnamese citizens filed suit in a U.S. court against
companies that produced the chemical, but the case was dismissed and the
Supreme Court declined to take it up.
Until a few years ago, Washington took a defensive position
whenever Agent Orange was raised because no one had determined how much dioxin
remained in Vietnam's soil and watersheds, and the U.S. worried about potential
liabilities, said Susan Hammond, director of the War Legacies Project, a U.S.
nonprofit organization that mainly focuses on the Agent Orange legacy from the
Vietnam War.
"There
was a lot of the blame game going on, and it led nowhere," Hammond said by
telephone from Vermont. "But now at least progress is being made."
Over
the past five years, Congress has appropriated about $49 million for
environmental remediation and about $11 million to help people living with
disabilities in Vietnam regardless of cause. Experts have identified three
former U.S. air bases – in Danang in central Vietnam and the southern locations
of Bien Hoa and Phu Cat – as hotspots where Agent Orange was mixed, stored and
loaded onto planes.
The
U.S. military dumped some 20 million gallons (75 million liters) of Agent
Orange and other herbicides on about a quarter of former South Vietnam between
1962 and 1971.
The
defoliant decimated about 5 million acres (2 million hectares) of forest –
roughly the size of Massachusetts – and another 500,000 acres (202,000
hectares) of crops.
The
war ended on April 30, 1975, when northern Communist forces seized control of
Saigon, the U.S.-backed former capital of South Vietnam. The country was then
reunified under a one-party Communist government. Following years of poverty
and isolation, Vietnam shook hands with the U.S. in 1995 and normalized
diplomatic relations.
Since
then, the relationship has flourished and the two countries have become
important trading partners. Military ties have also strengthened, with Vietnam
looking to the U.S. amid rising tensions with China in the disputed South China
Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves and is crossed by
vital shipping lanes. Although
Washington remains a vocal critic of Vietnam's human rights record, it also
views the country as a key ally in its push to re-engage militarily in the
Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. says maintaining peace and freedom of navigation
in the sea is in its national interest.
The Agent Orange issue has continued to blight the U.S.-Vietnam
relationship because dioxin can linger in soils and at the bottom of lakes and
rivers for generations, entering the food supply through the fat of fish and
other animals.
Vietnam's
Ministry of Defense and the U.S. now plan to excavate 73,000 cubic meters (2.5
million cubic feet) of soil from the airport and heat it to a high temperature
in storage tanks until the dioxin is removed. The project is expected to be
completed in four years.
Walter
Isaacson, CEO of the Washington-based Aspen Institute, said Thursday's start
"marks the coming together of our two countries to achieve a practical
solution to dioxin contamination."
His
organization coordinates the U.S-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin,
which connects prominent American and Vietnamese scientists, health experts and
former officials.
The
group in May said that $450 million is needed to clean up dioxin hot spots,
provide services to people with disabilities, and repair damaged landscapes
across Vietnam over the next five years.
The U.S. is rolling out a $9 million project to address
disabilities in Vietnam through 2015, but it continues to dispute Vietnam's
claim that dioxin has caused health problems there. It remains unclear whether
the U.S. will clean up all of Vietnam's dioxin, and how much it will allocate
in the long term for people who claim to be Agent Orange victims.
A
national action plan that Vietnam's government released in June lays out goals
for dealing with Agent Orange, but does not give a price tag. Every
penny counts for Nguyen Thi Hien, who directs three rehabilitation and
vocational training centers for 150 children and young adults with disabilities
in Danang on a budget of roughly 100 million dong ($5,000) per month. The
children, busy drawing and making plastic flowers that are sold to raise funds,
suffer from a range of physical and mental ailments that Hien says are linked
to dioxin.
Vo
Duoc, the steel salesman, will travel to the capital, Hanoi, next month to
receive treatment for his diabetes. But he says he's more concerned about what
will happen to his six grandchildren, who haven't yet been tested for dioxin.
"They
had nothing to do with the war," Duoc said. "But I live in fear that
they'll test positive like me."
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/vietnam-agent-organe-clea_n_1755611.html
