The visit to Vietnam by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week should be an opportunity to renew and expand the U.S. government’s response to address the AO/dioxin issue, an American official said last week. Addressing a press briefing in Washington July 15, David Devlin-Foltz from the Aspen Institute expressed the hope that the U.S. diplomats will discuss the AO issue in private meetings with Vietnamese leaders. Secretary Hillary can encourage more funding from the U.S. government and enterprises to dioxin-related activities, the official believed. David said Clinton had been briefed on an action plan for the period of 2010-2019 released by the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group to mobilize $300 million for the cleanup of dioxin-contaminated areas in Vietnam and for care and assistance services to local AO/dioxin victims. It’s time to settle the issue in depth and do something useful for Vietnamese AO/dioxin victims, David said. A hearing at the U.S. House of Representatives on July 15, the third of its kind and the first having seen the participation of a Vietnamese AO/dioxin victim, provided the U.S. parliamentarians with more scientific evidences on the issue. The hearing showed a softer attitude of the U.S. side toward the AO/dioxin issue in Vietnam which has been a challenge to the bilateral relations for the last years. Speaking at the hearing, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Palmer said to the AO issue, Vietnam and the U.S. have moved gradually from dialogue to practice, specially the programs to improve the environment and people’s health. Washington Administration approved $6 million in total for programs to assist AO/dioxin victims and mitigate impacts of the toxic chemicals in Vietnam between 2007 and 2009. An estimated 4.8 million Vietnamese people are exposed to the deadly toxic chemical and more than three million of them are facing health problems resulted from the exposure.
