A greater emphasis has been placed on environmental cleanup. government has, to date, spent $400 million to address the environmental and health effects of Agent Orange. and Vietnam can move forward with closer cooperation, and even closure, on the Agent Orange legacy.” The U.S. Through its Vietnam initiative, Wells-Dang said, USIP aims to “contribute to a new dialogue on how the U.S. manufacturers have been held accountable in court for the harmful effects of Agent Orange. government has been reluctant to take formal responsibility for the use of Agent Orange, and its assistance does not reach all Vietnamese who were directly affected by the herbicide. First, U.S.-funded programs are currently limited to only eight of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and are more focused on capacity building than providing direct assistance. Reconciliation on the issue of Agent Orange exposure has been hindered by three challenges, according to Dũng.

“The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that three million Vietnamese have been affected by dioxin, including at least 150,000 children born after the war with serious birth defects,” said Wells-Dang, referring to the toxic chemical in Agent Orange. The goal was to deny Vietcong fighters and North Vietnamese troops forest cover and food supplies. The United States sprayed 19.5 million gallons of Agent Orange over the course of the Vietnam War. Andrew Wells-Dang, a senior expert on Vietnam who leads the Vietnam War Legacies and Reconciliation Initiative at USIP, moderated the discussion. He was joined in the discussion by Charles Bailey, the Ford Foundation representative in Hanoi from 1997 to 2007 and co-author (with Lê Kể Sơn) of From Enemies to Partners: Vietnam, the U.S., and Agent Orange, and Susan Berresford, a former president of the Ford Foundation and former convenor of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin. “If the United States wants a strong strategic partnership with Vietnam, it is important that the United States shows a strong commitment to addressing war legacies in an earnest manner,” he added.ĭũng participated in a USIP virtual panel discussion. Addressing the lingering effects of Agent Orange is an important aspect of this strengthened bilateral relationship as it facilitates “trust building and healing” between the United States and Vietnam, said Phan Xuân Dũng, a research officer at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. In recent decades, a new chapter in the U.S.-Vietnamese relationship has been marked by a focus on strategic cooperation, security and trade. Signing of the Memorandum of Intent for New Partnership on Disabilities Assistance Bien Hoa City, April 20, 2019. military over parts of southern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia - an area about the size of Massachusetts - that continues to this day to impact the health of local populations. Nearly half a century since the end of the Vietnam War, there remains an urgent need for the United States and Vietnam to address the harmful legacy of Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed by the U.S.

Npr echoes of vietnam agent orange