Dr. Le Ke Son, director of the Office of the National Steering Committee 33 in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, stands before containment tanks used to stop the migration of dioxin.
How environmental concerns impact people's lives and health are an important part of the Ford Foundation's work around the world. In Vietnam this has meant investing in humanitarian efforts that address the environmental and health legacy of Agent Orange/dioxin. Since 2000, we have funded work that addresses the after-effects of dioxin, and, in 2006, established the Ford Foundation Special Initiative on Agent Orange/Dioxin. The initiative supports efforts to:
- Develop and provide treatment and counseling for disabled Vietnamese
- Reduce danger to at-risk communities and enhance livelihoods
- Contain environmental dioxin at prioritized "hot spots"
- Promote dialogue between the United States and Vietnam and in U.S. public education about the legacy
History
From 1961 to 1971, U.S. forces sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on forests and crops in southern and central Vietnam. The immediate effect was to defoliate and destroy vegetation over wide areas. The delayed effect came from dioxins in Agent Orange, which are highly toxic to humans. More than 35 years later, dioxin continues to pose significant health and safety issues. It is associated with disease and disability of people who were in the sprayed areas and their descendants and of people who now live near the former U.S. air bases where the planes carrying the spray were based. For decades dioxin remained an unresolved issue between the United States and Vietnam. The United States sought to avoid what appeared to be an open-ended liability; the Vietnamese were concerned that pushing too hard might jeopardize their export-led growth strategy and entry into the World Trade Organization. Today, the environmental and health legacy of Agent Orange/dioxin is still a problem in Vietnam, and it also continues to be an issue of great concern for U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War.
Promising Developments
Mme. Ton Nu Thi Ninh, co-chair of the US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin and vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Vietnam, greets Col. Tran Ngoc Tam, head of the Department of Environment of the Ministry of Defense.
Initiatives and efforts from diverse constituencies on both sides have fostered a new environment of cooperation between the United States and Vietnam on this issue. In 2006, President Bush and President Nguyen Minh Triet issued a joint statement that, for the first time, acknowledged dioxin contamination as a war legacy that would benefit from joint action. They agreed to collaborate and clean up dioxin hot spots at former U.S. military air bases and to increase humanitarian assistance to Vietnamese with disabilities.
The American embassy in Hanoi secured $400,000 in State Department and Environmental Protection Agency funding for technical studies, which are leading to the containment of dioxin at the Danang airport, one of the dioxin hot spots. And in May 2007, in an unprecedented action, Congress appropriated $3 million for environmental remediation of dioxin hot spots and for health needs in surrounding communities.
The Special Initiative
In 2006, the Ford Foundation established a two-year special initiative to foster and maintain a productive dialogue on the dioxin issue between the United States and Vietnam to find durable solutions and diversify funding for the solutions. To realize this opportunity, donors, nongovernmental organizations and government agencies will need to pool resources, experience and expertise. The goal of this coalition will increase pilot treatment and counseling programs for disabled Vietnamese, reduce the danger to at-risk communities and enhance livelihoods, clean up environmental dioxin at prioritized hot spots and build acknowledgment and understanding of the Agent Orange/dioxin legacy through public education in the United States.
Opportunity for Collective Response
Cooperation and concerted efforts that fully address the environmental and health legacy of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam require action now.
Boys who have been affected by their parents' exposure to Agent Orange play at Tu Du Hospital's Peace Village, a rehabilitation center for disabled children.
The foundation is supporting a variety of organizations such as the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin, which brings together prominent persons from both countries who are seeking to increase awareness and resources around a humanitarian agenda.
UNICEF/Vietnam is launching a major program for children with disabilities. Other Ford grantees are running treatment and counseling centers; reducing the danger to at-risk communities through dioxin containment and public health measures; and conducting related studies. The tasks ahead are substantial. They will require further resources and sustained effort by these organizations and others.
For more information about the Special Initiative on Agent Orange/Dioxin, please contact:
Charles R. Bailey
Director
Ford-AOInitiative@fordfound.org
(+1) 212-573-4626
Learn more about our Vietnam Office.