AO victims overcome fate to do business

Diem Trong Thach from the northern province of Bac Ninh is one example. Five out of the seven members of his family are exposed to the toxic chemical, including Thach and his four children. His spouse is suffering from cancer.

Despites these difficulties, Thach and their children devoted themselves to upgrading motorbikes into tri-wheeled bikes for the disabled.

Another AO victim, Nguyen Duc Hoi from the northern province of Ninh Binh, fought in the southeastern battlefield, one of the most affected areas by AO/dioxin.

After Liberation Day in 1975, Hoi worked as a nurse at a tea farm. After retiring from this job, Hoi became a farmer. Through tireless efforts, he now owns a farm with more than 100 pigs, 3,000 chickens, and various fish as well as more than 10,000 square meters of peaches.

His farm earns an annual profit of nearly VND200 million (US$9,000). In 2008, Hoi devoted 700 square meters of land to build a kindergarten in Dong Son commune.

Speaking at an international workshop in Hanoi on August 8-9 to evaluate the impacts of AO/dioxin in Vietnam , Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said the Vietnamese State , Government and people wish that all war victims, especially AO/dioxin victims, receive sufficient support.

Vietnam has conducted multiple activities to assist victims while calling on the international community, countries, organisations and individuals at home and abroad to help overcome the consequences of the toxic chemical sprayed by the US during the war, he added.

US troops sprayed about 80 million liters of toxic chemicals, mainly AO/dioxin, over the south of Vietnam from 1961-1971. Nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to the chemicals and about three million people and their descendants suffer from health problems as a consequence of the exposure today.