Nguyen Duc (L), an Agent Orange victim, and Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong at a function last year marking the 20th anniversary of the successful surgery separating Duc and his late brother Viet, another dioxin victim.

A Vietnamese delegation will testify before the US House of Representatives to demand increased assistance for Agent Orange victims.

This will be the second testimony on Agent Orange before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment.

In March 2008, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, vice chairwoman of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), was the only Vietnamese representative to testify before the committee on the long-term consequences of Agent Orange on human health and reproduction.

This time the US congressmen will listen to testimonies from five Vietnamese officials and experts on June 4, Phuong said. The Vietnamese delegation is led by Ngo Quang Xuan, vice chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs.

The testimony aims to help US congressmen better understand the dire impacts of Agent Orange on Vietnamese victims, said Professor Vo Quy, world renowned scientist and delegation member.

Agent Orange, named after the color of the stripe on barrels in which the defoliant sprayed by American forces during the Vietnam War was stored, contains tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (known as TCDD), one of the most poisonous chemicals ever made by man.

Agent Orange has caused reproductive problems, birth defects, cancer and other diseases in affected people on both sides of the war.

Between 1961 and 1971, the US Army sprayed some 80 million liters of the defoliant containing 366 kilograms of the highly toxic dioxin over large areas of southern Vietnam.

By the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese people had been exposed to Agent Orange, causing 400,000 deaths.

Millions more have suffered devastating long-term health effects, including cancer and genetic defects.

Increased assistance

“I hope after the testimony, the US Congress will agree to set aside a budget for supporting Vietnamese (Agent Orange) victims,” Dr. Phuong said.

The US government said on Friday it would double funding for environmental health and remediation in Vietnam with an additional US$3 million. The extra funding, which will come on top of $3 million provided in 2007 for dioxin mitigation and health projects, is intended for environmental remediation of dioxin contamination and related health activities.

But the US should at least add three zeros to that assistance per year, according to Dr. Phuong.

“Vietnamese dioxin victims would need around $30 billion over the next ten years,” she said.

Recently, the International Peoples’ Tribunal of Conscience, which held a hearing on May 15-16 in Paris, ruled that those who manufactured Agent Orange and the government that allowed its use are guilty and liable to pay full compensation to the people and land of Vietnam.

Reported by An Dien