Can you tell us about yourself and the War Legacies Project (WLP)?

The WLP is a four-year-old Vermont-based not-for-profit organization focusing on the long term health and environmental impacts of war. However, I have been working on the impacts of war, especially that of Agent Orange/dioxin, in Vietnam for 14 years.

We provide information to journalists, documentary filmmakers, academics, NGOs and foundations, policy makers, and anyone else interested in the health and environmental impacts of AO/D in Vietnam. I speak at universities, coordinate film screenings and exhibits, conduct media interviews, build and maintain information websites, and soon a monthly newsletter that addresses Agent Orange.

We also work to mitigate the effects of AO. We have provided funding to promote sustainable livelihoods for more than 250 poor families, caring for severely disabled children in Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Dong Nai provinces in collaboration with the Red Cross.

Furthermore, we collaborated with the Office of Genetic Counseling and Disabled Children at the Hue School of Medicine to provide surgeries, with the Quang Ngai Association of Victims of Agent Orange to raise funds for a respite and rehabilitation center, and with Mr. Phung Tuu Boi, director of the Assistance for Natural Conservation and Community Development Center, to carry out tree planting initiatives in dioxin-affected or damaged areas.

What is the WLP’s unique role or perspective?

I respect those who demand accountability from those responsible and carry out scientific research to determine the effects of dioxin on human health. However we focus on what we can do to make the most difference today to help those most in need and to encourage more organizations and individuals to become part of the solution to this humanitarian issue.

Who is Bob Feldman?

Bob, a US Vietnam veteran, died in 2006 from a very aggressive form of lymphoma ruled by the US Veterans Administration as associated to AO exposure in Vietnam.

Just before Bob’s death, his wife Nancy and he decided to donate his VA benefits to help families caring for severely disabled children. Hence the Bob Feldman Fund along with our work with the Vietnam Red Cross Agent Orange Victims Fund began. To date the fund has donated over $80,000.

Is it typical for a US veteran to support Agent Orange victims in Vietnam? And what kind of impact does this have symbolically or otherwise?

Yes in fact US war veterans were among the first to bring assistance and advocate for those affected by AO in Vietnam.

This shows that former enemies can work together to address the long-term consequences of the war they fought and former enemy soldiers are often the first to reach out a hand in peace and reconciliation and to begin the hard work of addressing the impacts of war on civilians.

On a practical level, US veterans’ engagement has helped make it possible for the US government to begin addressing the impacts and allocate funding to USAID.

What motivates your personal commitment to these issues, especially that of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims?

I am inspired by the amazing Vietnamese people with whom I work. Many suffered firsthand from AO, yet spend their lives helping the others.

I first became involved after meeting, and working with, Dr. Le Cao Dai. His strength and dedication, even when in poor health, to helping those affected continues to inspire me. A painting of a mother and her two children walking through a forest being sprayed by AO, by his wife Vu Giang Huong, hangs in my office and keeps me focused and motivated.

Then there are the incredible families I am privileged to meet whenever I am in Vietnam. To witness them caring for their disabled or ill relative with such love and dignity inspires me. I wish there is more I could do.

Last but not least, as the daughter of a Vietnam veteran with Parkinson’s disease, I know firsthand the impact AO has on human health and the whole family. When I see my father I think of all the other Vietnamese or Americans who were affected, but are not as lucky to have access to needed medical care and support services.

How would you describe the progress made thus far?

Though much more needs to be done and the WLP will continue to push for progress on this issue, Vietnam and the US have now found some common ground, at least with regard to the dioxin-contaminated hotspots.

I remember when in the late 90s and early 2000s it was almost impossible to discuss Agent Orange with US embassy officials.

Due to much misinformation, misunderstanding, and miscommunication about AO, the issue was off the table in bilateral discussions between the US and Vietnamese governments.

It was sensitive to talk about it and for many it was too sensitive to work on. While still sensitive, the US and Vietnam are now cooperating on this issue.

Ten years ago you would not have heard from the visiting Secretary of State that the US promises to "increase our cooperation and make even greater progress together” on Agent Orange. The most recent appropriation of $12 million “…to support the remediation of dioxin contamination at Danang airport, which poses extreme risks to human health and welfare, and related health activities” would also not have been possible 10 years ago, or for that matter two years ago.

I credit many Vietnamese colleagues for never giving up on pushing for tabling unresolved AO issues at bilateral meetings with the US government, in spite of many other pressing bilateral issues.

I also credit the Canadian Hatfield Group for its research on residual dioxin contamination in Vietnam. It opened the door for the US EPA to begin a joint project with the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment at the Danang dioxin hotspot and a dialogue on the impact of AO/D on human health.

Much was also made possible by the work of Charles Bailey and the Ford Foundation. Their engagement of more than $11 million was instrumental in moving this issue forward over the past decade. They have shown that AO is an issue we can do something about and opened pathways for US and Vietnamese agencies to work together.

I also have to credit Senator Leahy of Vermont for the Leahy War Victims Fund that provided millions for those affected by unexploded ordnances and for making sure in the past four years that the State Department allocated funds to address the continuing impacts of Agent Orange.

While great strides have been made over the past decade, we are just at the beginning stage. Current programs reach less than 10 percent of those in need. Danang is only one of the hotspots needing mitigation. A multi-year commitment from governments, foundations, organizations, and individuals is needed to reach the other 90 percent.

The WLP is one of the sponsors of the “Make Agent Orange History” website. What’s the website’s main goal?

Anh, a high school student from Hanoi, was studying at the School without Walls in Washington, DC. She started a Facebook page using that name as part of her senior project to raise $1,000 to help Vietnamese affected by Agent Orange.

We put her in touch with Active Voice after she contacted the WLP to donate the funds to help families with disabled children in Thien Phuoc district of Quang Nam through our work with the Vietnam Red Cross.

Active Voice, a San-Francisco based not-for-profit organization I work with as part of a Ford Foundation-funded project to raise AO awareness in the US, developed the Making Agent Orange History video which creatively tells the story of Agent Orange in Vietnam and lets people know how to help. The full website should be up and running by September.

The goal is to promote AO awareness in the US, especially among web-savvy youth who increasingly communicate and learn about social issues online, and to encourage them to get involved.

In a few days THE WLP will also launch (http://www.agentorangerecord.com) for people to get in-depth, factual information about the impacts of Agent Orange/Dioxin on human health and the environment on both sides of the Pacific. It will complement the Make Agent Orange History website.

Is it too early to draw conclusions about reports of disproportionate rates of cancers and birth defects in Falluja, Iraq, following the use of depleted uranium (DU) by US forces in 2004?

I believe we will learn more about DU over the next few years. My hope is that the lessons of how damaging it was to ignore the long term impacts of Agent Orange will be heeded and not repeated with regard to the potential impacts of DU. [I also hope] that the potential environmental and health effects shall be addressed quickly, not only in the Gulf region, but on the children of US soldiers and their allies who have also been exposed to DU.

Are Americans aware of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims?

Most still think about AO in relation to its impacts on American veterans and are not aware of its impact on the Vietnamese. However, an increasing number are learning about Agent Orange.

US publications like Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NPR have written about it. Vietnamese newspapers like Tuoi Tre have played an important role in educating the Vietnamese population and those outside of Vietnam about the ongoing impacts of Agent Orange. As awareness has grown, so has the involvement.

The Ford Foundation-Funded Vietnam Reporting Project (http://vietnamreportingproject.org/), features several American reporters who traveled to Vietnam to research AO stories. This will increase AO coverage in the US.

Thi-Bay Miradoli

Source: tuoitrenews.vn