VGP - The United Nations (UN) on Monday announced a US $5 million project to clean up wartime contamination in Việt Nam from Agent Orange (AO) sprayed by the US military.
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The project by the UN development agency will focus on contamination at the airport in Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, which was the worst-affected site.
Experts have also identified two other former US air bases, at Đà Nẵng and Phú Cát, as key "hotspots" of dioxin contamination. Dioxin was a component of AO and other herbicides stored at the bases.
According to the UNDP, the concentration of dioxin in the three main hotspots is much higher than nationally and internationally agreed standards. Without action, the hotspots will continue to contaminate the wider environment and pose a serious health risk to people living and working nearby.
Since 2007, the US Congress has funded US $9 million aid to help the clean-up in Việt Nam. At Việt Nam’s request, the US is focusing its help on the Đà Nẵng site, where operations are expected to begin next year.
Earlier, a joint US-Vietnamese panel on June 16 held press conferences in Hà Nội and Washington D.C. to propose a US $300 million plan of action in the period of 2010-2019 to deal with health and environmental legacy from the US’s use of dioxin in Việt Nam./.
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