Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam begins

The United States began a landmark project Thursday to clean up a dangerous chemical left from the defoliant Agent Orange — 50 years after American planes first sprayed it on Vietnam’s jungles to destroy enemy cover.

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Aug. 9, 2013

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear, second right, and Vietnam's Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, second left, attend a ceremony marking the start of a project to clean up dioxin left over from the Vietnam War, at a former U.S. military base in Danang, Vietnam. The United States and Vietnam on Thursday launched a four-year joint effort to clean up dioxin leftover from Agent Orange that was mixed, stored and loaded onto planes at the former U.S. military base, which is now part of Danang’s airport. Dioxin can linger in soils and at the bottom of lakes and rivers for generations, entering the food supply through the fat of fish and other animals.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 9, 2013

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear delivers a speech during the ceremony marking the start of a project to clean up dioxin left over from the Vietnam War.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 9, 2013

Vietnamese delegates attend the ceremony in Danang.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 9, 2013

Vietnamese delegates in a bus tour a field contaminated with dioxin near Danang airport.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 9, 2013

A warning sign stands in a field contaminated with dioxin near Danang airport. The site is closed to the public; part of it consists of a dry field where U.S. troops once stored and mixed the defoliant before it was loaded onto planes.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 9, 2013

U.S. constructors' representatives, diplomats and reporters tour a dioxin-contaminated field at Danang airport, a former US airbase. The area is ringed by tall grass, and a faint chemical scent could be smelled Thursday.

Hoang Dinh Nam / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 9, 2013

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director for Vietnam Francis Donovan talks with the media in front of the dioxin-contaminated Ho Sen, otherwise known as Lotus Lake, during a groundbreaking ceremony of the joint U.S.-Vietnam Dioxin Cleaning Project located next to Danang airport.

/ Reuters

Aug. 9, 2013

An excavator is seen at the ground-breaking ceremony of the joint U.S.-Vietnam Dioxin Cleaning Project at an airport, which was a former U.S. airbase, in Vietnam's central Danang city. The U.S. military dumped some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on about a quarter of former South Vietnam between 1962 and 1971.

/ Reuters

Aug. 8, 2012

Chu Thanh Nhan, 12, sits in an empty classroom at a rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam. The children were born with physical and mental disabilities that the center's director says were caused by their parents' exposure to the chemical dioxin in the defoliant Agent Orange.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Le Trung Hong Phuc, 9, plays with colored blocks at the rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Dang Cong Chinh, center, plays with other children at a rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Tran Le Thong, right, is pushed in his wheelchair by a friend at the rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Children dance at the rehabilitation center in Danang.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Chu Thanh Nhan,12, watches other children dance at the rehabilitation center.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Ho Thi Lang, foreground, helps prepare lunch for other children at a rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Vo Y, background, rests with other children during nap time at a rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Nguyen Thi Lieu, foreground, and her friend Vo Hong Phuc Le drink together after a nap at the rehabilitation center.

Maika Elan / AP

Aug. 8, 2012

Le Van Tam, 14, is picked up by his father at a rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam.

Maika Elan / AP

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