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US to fund Agent Orange clean-up US cash for Agent Orange study
(about 1 hour later)
The US has agreed for the first time to pay to clean up a site in Vietnam which stored Agent Orange and other chemicals used during the Vietnam war. The US has agreed for the first time to help towards cleaning up a site in Vietnam which stored Agent Orange and other chemicals during the Vietnam war.
The chemicals contained the highly poisonous dioxin, which has been linked to many illnesses. Washington has pledged $400,000 (£205,000) towards a $1m study into the removal of the highly toxic chemical dioxin at a former US base at Da Nang.
But the US continues to dispute the actual spraying of the chemicals was responsible for millions of cases of disability and ill health in Vietnam. The move is an important step forward in a long-standing dispute between the former enemies, correspondents say.
The spraying destroyed vegetation and helped US forces fight in the forest. Vietnam says the chemicals are to blame for millions of cases of ill health.
Dioxin is an ingredient in Agent Orange, a herbicide US forces sprayed to destroy vegetation and help them fight in forest areas during the war.
AGENT ORANGE Herbicide used to clear vegetation, denying enemy forces coverName derives from orange markings on the drums the chemical was shipped inChildren born in areas sprayed have disproportionate rate of mental and physical problems Legacy of Agent OrangeAGENT ORANGE Herbicide used to clear vegetation, denying enemy forces coverName derives from orange markings on the drums the chemical was shipped inChildren born in areas sprayed have disproportionate rate of mental and physical problems Legacy of Agent Orange
Its legacy continues to damage both the environment and relations between the two governments. Its legacy continues to damage both the environment and relations between the two governments, the BBC's Bill Hayton in Hanoi says.
For several years they have been unable to agree how to resolve the issue.For several years they have been unable to agree how to resolve the issue.
But now the US has agreed for the first time to pay to help clean up a site where dioxin was stored at Danang airbase, now the city's international airport, according to the US Ambassador Michael Marine. 'Meaningful action'
"In my view there's been a marked improvement in our ability to work together on this issue, but please don't misunderstand. But now the US has agreed for the first time to contribute to a study to remove the chemical dioxin from the soil at the former base in Da Nang, which is now the city's international airport.
"We're not in total agreement on aspects of this problem - yet. We're working toward that. But what we want to do is have a success in Danang and then move forward from there," he said. The Vietnamese government and the US non-profit Ford Foundation will make up the rest of the funding for the study.
While the United States admits that dioxin is dangerous when it is taken into the body - for example by eating fish which live in contaminated lakes - it disputes the link between the spraying of the chemical from the air and ill health. US Ambassador Michael Marine said the two countries were "not in total agreement" on the issue of Agent Orange, but he said they were working on a resolution.
The Vietnamese - along with many veterans of the fighting in the United States and other countries - insist that there is a connection. That issue will take much longer to resolve. "What we want to do is have a success in Da Nang and then move forward from there," he said.
Le Ke Son, the official in charge of Vietnam's Agent Orange research programme, described the US grant as a "meaningful action", but he admitted: "We still have a long way ahead."
Vietnam - along with many veterans of the fighting in the US and other countries - believes four million cases of ill health and disability are linked to the spraying.
The US admits that dioxin is dangerous when it is taken into the body - for example by eating fish which live in contaminated lakes - but disputes the link between the spraying of the chemical from the air and ill health.