The U.S. government should be responsible for Vietnamese people who have suffered from serious consequences caused by Agent Orange/dioxin residue left in the Vietnam War, said an American scientist. U.S.’s government and chemical companies need to compensate the victims for severe impacts which is said to link with disability and many kinds of birth defects, said Susan M. Schnall, a coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC). Susan made the statement in Hanoi on June 5 during a visit given by a delegation from the American Public Health Association (APHA) to the Southeast Asian country for checking consequences among the country’s sufferers. She was among U.S. scientists including medical and chemical researchers, public health experts supporting the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2011 (HR 2634) which built with some U.S. house’s representatives calling for health care and social services for exposed Vietnamese people and remediation of those areas in south and central Vietnam that remain contaminated by dioxin. During their stay in Vietnam, the scientists will meet with representatives from the Ministry of Health and Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) branches in Danang, Thua Thien-Hue and Ho Chi Minh City. About 4.8 million people in Vietnam are reportedly exposed to AO and about three million currently suffer from AO-related diseases. In 1961-1971, the U.S. army sprayed about 80 million liters of defoliants including the highly toxic Agent Orange over 10% of total areas in southern Vietnam. The action has left serious consequences on people, environment and social issues in the country. AO issues remain part of fields challenging both Vietnam and the U.S. due to historically and politically related connections posed from the Vietnam War, the so-called anti-U.S. war by Vietnamese communists in its politic propaganda. Despite hundreds of millions of dollar funded to Vietnamese AO victims, the U.S. government is said to make slow response to the generation-long issues while Vietnam has been in campaigns for official recompense from the U.S. and chemical companies providing dioxin during the war. (An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security June 7 p14)
