Time quoted Thomas Boivin, president of the Vancouver-based Hatfield Consultants, an environmental firm that has been measuring Agent Orange contamination in Vietnam since 1994, as saying that “there is still risk to people living in those areas” though three decades have passed by since the war ended.

The article said the US Congress has allocated a total of US$6 million since 2007 to help address the Agent Orange issue in Vietnam. However, “the money is primarily going to study the issue and hire consultants rather than implementing measures to prevent new generations from being exposed.”

Of the amount, up to US$1.7 million has recently been allocated to conduct an environmental assessment of the abandoned Danang air base where the US military staged its operations during the war, said US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak, adding that this is a necessary step toward cleanup.

Charities in Danang have voiced concern about how the US money is being spent when it comes to providing care to the disabled in the region. A portion of the US$6 million allocated by the Congress was awarded to humanitarian groups working with disabled residents around Danang, yet “it is difficult to find evidence of the money at work.”

Save the Children was given US$400,000 to help people with disabilities find employment. But the sole case the organization cited for a reporter was their work finding a job for a college graduate with a hair lip, according to the Time feature. Another organization - the American Rehabilitation Centre - has virtually no medical equipment. Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Hanoi is spending half a million US dollars for a health and remediation adviser.

“The US$ one million [being spent by the Americans] is not for care but mainly for conferences and training,” said Nguyen Thi Hien, director of the Danang Association of Victims of Agent Orange. "This money should go to caring for the victims," she added.

Some point out that the US spends only a fraction on Agent Orange cleanup compared to the US$50 million it spends every year on searching for the remains of American soldiers missing in action.

Hatfield's studies indicate that even though 10 percent of southern Vietnam was sprayed with dioxin during the war, only a handful of hot spots - all former US military installations where the herbicide was mixed and stored - pose a danger to humans.

“If those were [contaminated areas] in Canada or in the US, they would require immediate cleanup,” Hatfield President Boivin was quoted as saying.

The magazine said critics believe that the US is playing “a grim waiting game”: waiting for people to die in order to avoid potentially costly lawsuits.