US, Vietnam Hold Agent Orange Meeting

US, Vietnam Hold Agent Orange Meeting
September 08, 2008
Associated Press

HANOI -- U.S. and Vietnamese experts and officials opened a weeklong meeting Monday in Hanoi on US aid to remediate the effects of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant the United States sprayed during the Vietnam War.

U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak welcomed the fact that the Vietnamese had "begun to focus on facts and answers rather than blame," and hailed their "desire to find mutually acceptable solutions."

Vietnam has long claimed that millions of its citizens suffer cancer, birth defects and other health problems resulting from exposure to Agent Orange, which contained high levels of the toxic chemical dioxin. The United States sprayed millions of gallons of the defoliant from airplanes to clear away jungles used as camouflage by communist troops during the Vietnam War.

The United States said it is impossible to link dioxin from Agent Orange to any specific cases of illness, and American scientists generally consider Vietnamese estimates of the number of victims exaggerated.

Nguyen Minh Y, head of international relations at the Vietnamese Association of Victims of Agent Orange, said he hoped the meeting could "work out a way to help the victims forget about the pain" but called US aid so far "a drop in the bucket."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/us-vietnam-hold-agent-orange-meeting-.html?col=1186032310810



uhc comment: 35 years from now, the current crop of veterans will be fighting depleted uranium claims the same way with the same people. And you'll most likely get the same results.