PANO – The Phu Yen Provincial Association of Victims for Agent Orange/Dioxin and the Red Cross, on August 10th, presented 63 gifts worth VND 500,000 to local AO victims and received donations of more than VND 500 million from 13 businesses, offices and sponsors.

The event was a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the AO disaster.

Between 1965 and 1970, the US military sprayed around 330,000 gallons of herbicides and defoliants, including 233 gallons of “Agent Orange”/dioxin, 62,000 gallons of “agent green” substance, 29,000 gallons of “agent white” substance and 13,000 gallon of other toxic chemicals, over an area of 1,500 sq.km in the central Province of Phu Yen.

As a result up to 9,000 local people were exposed to AO/dioxin toxicity and now their children are suffering critical health problems.

Translated by Van Hieu