World News
Group assesses Agent Orange's impact 35 years after Vietnam War's end
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A group of 10 interreligious figures who visited Vietnam in late spring said the toxic, corrosive effects of Agent Orange still jeopardize the Vietnamese people 35 years after the war's end. Traveling as the Agent Orange in Vietnam Information Initiative, the group said money is still needed to clean up "hot spots" in Vietnam where dioxin, the key ingredient in Agent Orange, persists in concentrations hundreds of times what is thought to be the safe maximum. In Da Nang, site of a U.S. airbase during the war, "the stench (from Agent Orange) was burning to our nostrils," said the Rev. Carroll Baltimore, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention. "We had to purchase throwaway shoes to protect us from being contaminated," he added, calling the situation "overwhelming." Loretto Sister Maureen Fiedler, during an Aug. 26 conference call with reporters, recalled having seen dozens of children whose disabilities were thought to be caused by Agent Orange, as dioxin is believed to affect the genes of those who have ingested it. "Dozens and dozens of them (children with disabilities). They were severely disabled. While no one can specifically connect Agent Orange with a specific disability, there is a correlation," said Sister Fiedler, host of the syndicated "Interfaith Voices" radio show. Agent Orange was used by U.S. forces in Vietnam between 1965 and 1970. A chemical defoliant, it was sprayed from planes to eliminate ground cover for North Vietnamese soldiers and to reduce reliance on subsistence crops.
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