U.S. starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-vietnam-usa-agentorange-idUSBRE87803K20120809

The U.S. military sprayed up to 12 million gallons of the defoliant onto Vietnam's jungles over a 10-year period during the Vietnam War, and the question of compensation for the subsequent health problems is a major post-war issue.

Respiratory cancer and birth defects amongst both Vietnamese and U.S. veterans have been linked to exposure to Agent Orange.

The U.S. government is providing $41 million to the project which will reduce the contamination level in 73,000 cubic meters of soil by late 2016, the ruling Vietnam Communist Party's mouthpiece Nhan Dan daily said.

The United States and Vietnam were looking at a second cleanup site, Bien Hoa, in the southern province of Dong Nai, said Shear.