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US starts landmark Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam

   
  

Added At:  2012-08-09 12:48 PM

   Last Updated At: 2012-08-09 12:48 PM

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CORRECTS NUMBER OF DUOC'S FAMILY MEMBERS - In this photo taken Aug. 7, 2012, Vo Duoc sits inside his family's home in Danang, Vietnam. Duoc said he and 11 other members of his family were exposed to dioxin while ingesting contaminated water, fish and vegetables near a former U.S. military base, now Danang airport. On Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012 the U.S. for the first time will begin cleaning up leftover dioxin that was stored at the former military base.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DANANG: Fifty years after American planes first sprayed Vietnam's thick jungles with Agent Orange to destroy enemy cover, the United States began for the first time cleaning up dioxin left from the chemical defoliant.


A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday at a former U.S. air base in Danang.


Dioxin, a chemical linked to cancer, birth defects and other disabilities, has seeped into Vietnam's soils and watersheds, creating a war legacy that remains a thorny issue between the former foes nearly four decades after the Vietnam War ended.


Washington has been slow to respond. Since 2007 it has given about $60 million for environmental restoration and social services in Vietnam, but this is its first direct involvement in dioxin cleanup.

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