A few months ago, we wrote an article on what Agent Orange is and an overview of the health effects of Agent Orange on the people of Vietnam and their children. In the article, we sited a very important document, a Congressional report on Agent Orange in Vietnam. The official name of the report is “Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange and US – Vietnam Relations” and it is written by Michael Martin for the Congressional Research Service in May 2009. The report provides a straight-forward and data-supported view of the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam and is a must read for anyone looking closely at the topic.
Many of you have been asking and searching for the report. We have uploaded it here for your convenience.
Download: United States Congressional Report on Agent Orange in Vietnam 
Good report, but it failed to mention one aspect that overshadows the entire issue. The Government of Vietnam is torn between actually settling the claims and its continued usage of the issue as a political propaganda wedge to serve as a brake on accelerating bilateral relations with the United States. There is undoubtedly human and environmental damage caused by the use of defoliants in Vietnam; however, the GVN has tended to pin every malformity and disease on that cause, typically without much in the way of scientific evidence. AO has become the catch all explanation for everything health issue. They have done this because it serves a political purpose for the Party and the State. At some point…at least in order to truly close this chapter..they will have to admit these fabrications so that the real problems can be addressed on a bilateral basis. Moreover, they will ultimately have to admit that they could have been taking steps to correct their own post-1980 contributions to environmental poisoning, which has led to a great deal of health problems in recent years. I'm not sure they are quite ready to do this. Once they are, I think we will all be amazed at what we can do for the true victims.
This is a good article and worth the study. Love the spray map. I will foreward to others. As for settling claims … doubt it will happen, Too much politics. We can't even get WA State to recongnize the old S VN flag as a Freedon and Heritiage Flag because The Boeing Co might loose an Airoplane Deal with HanNoi.