Agent Orange seen a threat to US-Vietnam harmony 

MARIE FRAIL / Reuters 14nov00

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - Bill Clinton becomes the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since the height of the Vietnam War this week and many hope he can help lay to rest the legacy of a conflict that poisoned relations for decades.

But if there is an issue that could threaten the harmony, it is the question of Agent Orange, a defoliant used by U.S. forces and blamed by Hanoi for causing huge numbers of birth defects and illnesses.

In the run-up to Clinton's historic November 16-19 visit, pressure has grown for Washington to provide compensation to the victims of the chemical and to help clean up contaminated areas.

Five-year-old Nguyen Thi Phuong Khanh spends most of her day lying in a cot at Tu Du Maternity Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, capital of U.S. -backed South Vietnam during the war.

Moving around is difficult because she has an enlarged head -- a defect her doctors believe is a direct result of Agent Orange contamination.

Khanh is one of 40 children at Tu Du suffering from a wide array of disabilities -- both physical and neurological -- which Vietnam says were caused by the spraying of 72 million litres of the defoliant during the war.

KNOWN CARCINOGEN

The defoliant - which contains dioxin, a known carcinogen -- was used to deny communist guerrillas jungle cover, but experts in Vietnam say it still affects more than one million people and has caused cancer, nervous disorders, and birth defects in up to 150,000 people.

Vietnam says children like Khanh -- many with deformed or missing limbs -- are victims America should be helping.

While U.S. veterans have received compensation for certain illnesses linked to Agent Orange and Washington has proposed research with Vietnam on the issue, the United States has made clear it does not intend to get directly involved in a clean-up.

The United States argues that the link between Agent Orange and the defects Vietnam claims are a result remains to be proven.

Doctors in Tu Du disagree. They say studies show that birth defects in areas sprayed with Agent Orange are double those in non-sprayed areas, and that in 23 provinces in southern Vietnam, three-quarters of children born with birth defects come from heavily sprayed areas.

Doctor Pham Viet Thanh, vice-director of Tu Du hospital, believes it is time for Washington to face up to its responsibilities. He wants the United States to send experts and set up laboratories to assess dioxin levels in the environment and people.

"The U.S. government should have a more specific policy to help Agent Orange victims, such as providing medicines, healthcare, medical facilities," Thanh said.

SUPPORT FROM U.S. VETERANS

Tom Joyce, a U.S. war veteran who served in areas sprayed with Agent Orange at the height of the war, developed a degenerative disease in the 1970s he says was caused by Agent Orange. His son was born with spina bifida, a birth defect often linked to Agent Orange.

He came to Vietnam to collect data on contamination which he will present to the U.S. Congress. During his visit, he met child victims of Agent Orange and Vietnamese veterans who served in sprayed areas.

"We have a common goal, we're all suffering from the same thing," he said. "The war is over, what we're concerned about now is the effect of Agent Orange on us, mainly on the next generations, especially what's going to happen to the third, fourth generation down the road."

Joyce said Vietnam should receive aid from foreign businesses and governments alike to help deal with the consequences of contamination. He wants to build a hospital along Highway Nine, scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the war and heavy Agent Orange spraying, and establish a research centre.

"MORAL DUTY"

In recent weeks, Hanoi has intensified calls for the United States to deal with consequences of the war, especially Agent Orange, saying Washington has a moral duty to help rehabilitate areas that remain contaminated.

These include an area near the former U.S. airbase of Bien Hoa, scene of a big wartime Agent Orange spill.

Leading U.S. Agent Orange researcher Arnold Schecter, a professor at the University of Texas, told Reuters earlier this year that blood samples he took last year near the base showed 19 out of 20 villagers had elevated levels of dioxin.

Le Cao Dai, executive director of the Vietnam Red Cross Agent Orange Victims Fund and the country's expert on the defoliant, recently urged Clinton to recognise one million Vietnamese as victims of the defoliant and provide financial assistance for clean-up operations.