Vietnam has launched a dioxin detoxification center in the central city of Danang costing VND2.2 billion ($104,000) from U.S.’s Harris Freeman Foundation. The center, the 3rd nationwide, will provide detoxification and rehabilitation services to local people and victims of Agent Orange/dioxin residue left from the Vietnam War. Danang airport, which was used as a military base of the U.S. army during the war, records more than 5,000 AO victims. In Aug 2012, all blood specimens from 62 people in Danang tested in the Danang Dioxin Assessment and Mitigation Project were contaminated with dioxin. An $84-million project on cleaning up dioxin in Danang airport until 2016 is being conducted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This project marks Washington’s first involvement in cleaning up dioxin residue left from the Vietnam War. It is among many AO-related projects funded by the U.S. government since 2000 in an effort to mitigate consequences of the toxic chemical that have lasted to the third generation among Vietnamese victims. Vietnam is estimated to have 4.8 million of people vulnerable to dioxin contamination. (Tien Phong Feb 21 p6, Lao Dong Feb 21 p3, Thanh Nien Feb 21 p3, Chinhphu.vn Feb 20)
