Vietnam still hit by Agent Orange

VIETNAM War-era defoliant Agent Orange continues to contaminate livestock and fish eaten by Vietnamese decades after it was used, a study released yesterday showed.

A 2002 study in Bien Hoa city, about 20 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, showed residents and food had high levels of dioxin, the August issue of The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine said.

The report said about 95% of blood samples taken from 43 people in Bien Hoa “were found to have elevated TCDD levels,” referring to the most toxic of the dioxins.