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20h ago

Agent Orange Cleanup Resumes in Vietnam Amid Uncertain U.S. Aid Future

Efforts to remediate dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa airbase restart, but funding cuts and staff reductions jeopardize long-term progress.

FILE- Armored personnel carriers with tank support move through dense underbrush with a payload of South Vietnamese infantrymen and U.S. cavalrymen during patrol through jungle 40 miles northeast of Saigon on June 5, 1969. (AP Photo/Rick Merron, File)
FILE- Maps of the area contaminated with dioxin around Danang airport are displayed during 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 Thursday Aug. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Maika Elan, File)
FILE -A woman walks next to a highly contaminated pond around the grounds of the Danang airbase in Danang, Vietnam, May 21, 2007. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)
FILE- Infantryman points out a suspicious shadow in a tree to his machine gunner as they move on patrol near the Cambodian Border west of Pleiku in Vietnam on Nov. 26, 1966. Troops of the 25th Infantry Division (1st Battn. 14th Inf.) inches through the thick jungle from their base camp after being held up three days by snipers. AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)

Overview

  • The U.S. and Vietnam have restarted a 10-year project to clear 500,000 cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil at Bien Hoa airbase after a brief suspension in March 2025.
  • Decades after the Vietnam War, millions in Vietnam still suffer health issues linked to Agent Orange, with 58 of the country's 63 provinces affected by dioxin hotspots.
  • A $110 million cleanup at Da Nang airbase was completed in 2018, but significant contamination remains, highlighting the scale of the challenge.
  • Recent U.S. foreign aid cuts and staff withdrawals under the Trump administration cast doubt on the sustainability of ongoing remediation and disability assistance programs.
  • Scientific consensus on the intergenerational health impacts of Agent Orange exposure remains incomplete, complicating efforts to address accountability and victim support.