The seminar. Photo: vtv.vn
(VOVworld) – A seminar opened on Tuesday in Hanoi to assess Agent Orange/dioxin’s impacts on the environment, ecology, and human health, as well as to suggest solutions to address those consequences. Delegates agreed on the importance of the joint-effort of the government, different sectors, social organizations, and people from all walks of life to make full use of international cooperation in R&D activities in related fields, support AO/dioxin victims, and decontaminate the environment.
Statistics from the Viet Nam Association of Victims of AO/Dioxin indicate that during the 1961-1971 period, US troops sprayed 80 million litres of toxic chemicals on one-fourth of the area of southern Vietnam. 60% of the defoliant was the substance known as Agent Orange which contained a toxin called dioxin. More than 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to dioxin and 3 million are still experiencing health problems today, including the children of the second and third generations.