(VOVworld) – An international workshop on the impact of Agent Orange/ dioxin used by US troops during the war in Vietnam opened in Hanoi on Monday to mark the 55^th anniversary of the AO catastrophe in Vietnam.

International workshop on impact of AO/ dioxin opens (Photo: VOV)

The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, and domestic and foreign scientists. The workshop assessed the AO/ dioxin impacts on the environment, ecology, and human health. The participants called for greater efforts to examine and overcome its consequences and stressed the need to seek technological solutions to deal with dioxin contminated areas. Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh, President of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange, said: “The Vietnamese and US governments have worked out plans to detoxify the environment, firstly at Da Nang airport. After Da Nang, we’ll move onto Bien Hoa airport. The Vietnamese government also supervises other contaminated areas. With the cooperation between Vietnam and the US, I believe that hot spots will soon be detoxified and the impacts on local people will be reduced”.