Remediation
Though having long equivocated on Agent Orange’s environmental and human health impacts, the U.S. is now cooperating with Vietnam on Dioxin remediation efforts.
Read more to learn about past, present, and future remediation efforts—implementing mitigation measures to support large-scale hotspot cleanup and both public health and social measures to deliver services and provide financial assistance—to contain the long-term impacts of Agent Orange-Dioxin on land and people.
Mitigation Measures
In a joint statement the U.S. and Vietnam agreed to “further joint efforts to address the environmental contamination near former Dioxin storage sites would make a valuable contribution to the continued development of their bilateral relationship.” The statement publicly acknowledged for the first time that Dioxin contamination was a bilateral issue of concern.
Public Health and Social Measures
The U.S. began providing support to Vietnam for people with disabilities in 1989 as part of the Leahy War Victims Fund. But this early support was limited to victims of unexploded ordnance (UXO). In 2006, a breakthrough finally arrived with President George W. Bush’s visit to Vietnam.