4 decades on, Agent Orange still ravages Vietnamese
VOV.VN - During the Vietnam War, the US Air Force sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides over parts of southern Vietnam and along the borders of neighbouring Laos and Cambodia.
 |
The herbicides were contaminated with dioxin, a deadly compound that remains toxic for decades and causes birth defects, cancer and other illnesses. To this day, dioxin continues to poison the land and the people.
The US has never accepted responsibility for these victims, and it’s unclear when this chain of misery will end.
To commemorate the 55th anniversary of the first time the deadly toxin was first sprayed in Vietnam, August 10, 1961, the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) has launched a photograph exhibition at the Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi.
Through the more than 400 items and photos on display, the exhibition hopes to provide guests retrospective and continuing insight into the atrocious devastation the US Air Force inflicted upon the Vietnamese people.
An estimated 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical, said Major General Le Hien Van, deputy director of the General Department of Politics (GDP) of the Vietnam People Army in reference to the event.
While tens of thousands have died as a result, said Major General Van, millions more of their descendants are still living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.
It is my hope that through this exhibition, said the Major General, many will find it in their hearts to reach out and help support AO victims in their everyday struggles coping with the horrific inhumanity caused by Agent Orange.
