Evaggelos Vallianatos
Adjunct professor of environmental analysis, Pitzer College

Vietnam in the Aftermath of a Chemical Holocaust
Posted: 04/03/2013 5:54 pm

The Geneva Agreement of 1954 ended the French colonial rule of Vietnam. However, the Eisenhower administration subverted the idea of a united and independent Vietnam. It funded a puppet government in Saigon to resist Hanoi, thus precipitating a twenty-year American War in Indochina.

In 1961, president John Kennedy approved the use of herbicides to defoliate the dense jungles of Vietnam. This decision turned a bitterly fought war into an illegal, immoral, and humiliating contest for the United States and an ecological catastrophe for Vietnam.

Child victims of Agent Orange are taught vocational skills at Friendship Village. Photo: AFP

In a special school, about 11 kilometres southwest of Hanoi, more than 100 students learn to read, write and count, and also pick up vocational skills such as embroidery, sewing and making decorative plastic flowers.

News Desk

Viet Nam News

Publication Date : 15-02-2013

The Vietnam war ended nearly 40 years ago, but its effect does not. Many soldiers, with great efforts and sacrifice, are joining hands to help national construction and ease the pain of loss.

For many soldiers, it is good luck to return home safely from the battlefields. But for some, such luck turns into great pain upon seeing their children born with birth defects as they have to bear the impact of dioxin, the toxic chemical in Agent Orange, herbicides sprayed by the US during the war.

Posted: 30 Jan 2013 12:00 AM PST

Hatfield is providing support to the Government of Vietnam to develop a plan to remediate extensive dioxin contamination at the Bien Hoa airbase in Viet Nam. The plan will review existing knowledge describing the extent and nature of dioxin contamination throughout the airbase, data gaps if any, and recommended remedial options. Hatfield is providing a senior advisor who will work collaboratively with Vietnamese authorities and other international scientists to develop the plan that will result in either the remediation or removal of contaminated soil and sediment from the base.

Global Times | 2012-9-9 20:50:03
By Wayne Dwernychuk

For over three decades, the US has claimed that no proof exists that the use of Agent Orange by their military during the Vietnam War is the cause of significant health complications in Vietnamese citizens who may have been exposed to the herbicide.

Last Updated: Saturday, August 18, 2012 04:50:00

Binh Dinh Province’s Phu Cat Military Airport was removed from the list of dioxin/Agent Orange hotspots in Vietnam on Saturday.

More than 7,000 cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil found at the central airport with concentrations higher than 1,000 parts per trillion have been safely contained in a landfill. The dioxin was contained in a defoliant sprayed by the US Army during the Vietnam War.

Will Robinson

Sunday 12 August 2012

Forty years after war ended, Washington begins decontamination of worst-affected areas in Vietnam

Tran Thi Hoan, 26, studied medicine only to be told that she couldn’t become a doctor because of a war fought 20 years before she was born. The ostensible reason was that she had no legs or left hand, but the main reason, and the cause of so much misery blighting the lives of millions of other Vietnamese, is the 20 million gallons of Agent Orange sprayed in her country by US forces in the Sixties.

Last update 04/07/2012 12:03:42 PM (GMT+7)

US project to clean up dioxin contamination in Danang
VietNamNet Bridge – Two US companies have won two contracts as part of the Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination at Danang Airport project, which is a joint venture between the US and Vietnamese Government.

International Olympic Committee
Château de Vidy, route de Vidy 9, 1007 Lausanne
Organizing Committee of the Olympic Summergames and the Paralympics 2012
Unit 2A, St. Pancras International, Pancras Road, London NW1 2QP
Ex-Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi
UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace
CH-3312 Fraubrunnen

Zurich, April 11, 2012

Open Letter
regarding Dow Chemical at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London

Lawyers back Vietnamese AO victims
Updated : Fri, June 29, 2012,4:34 PM (GMT+0700)

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) has called on the Human Rights Council to protect the right to life of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, at the current 20th session of this UN organisation.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh, President of the Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) which represents more than 3 million Vietnamese AO victims, was present at the event.