Landmark U.S. clean up of Vietnam Agent Orange announced: Chemical linked to cancer and birth defects
- First official clean up step comes four decades after end of conflict
- Millions of gallons of chemical dumped over course of decade to destroy enemy cover
- Comes as Vietnam and the U.S. forge closer ties to boost trade and counter China's rising influence
By Daily Mail Reporter | 9 August 2012
The United States has begun a landmark project to clean up a dangerous chemical left from the defoliant Agent Orange - 50 years after it was first sprayed by American planes on Vietnam's jungles to destroy enemy cover.
Work will now begin to remove Dioxin, which has been linked to cancer, birth defects and other disabilities, from the site of a former U.S. air base in Danang in central Vietnam.
The US sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange over the course of a decade.
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