Vietnamese experts have called for protecting women in
dioxin-contaminated areas as a new study showed local women are still
suffering high rates of miscarriages and stillbirths.
“Our study shows the connection between recent pregnancy
abnormalities and exposure to the wartime toxin,” Dr Tran Duc Phan of
the Hanoi Medicine University said at a conference Tuesday where the
Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment and Science and
Technology released their latest study on the effects of dioxin on the
people and environment.
Phan was a member of the study that investigated 1,500 women in Da
Nang city’s Thanh Khe District, 1,551 in Bien Hoa city of the southern
province of Dong Nai, and 6,600 in Phu Cat District in the central
province of Binh Dinh.
The miscarriage rate in Thanh Khe was 3.8 percent, in Bien Hoa 6.6
percent and Phu Cat 4.5 percent. Their rates of stillbirths were 1.6
percent, 2.4 percent, and 0.5 percent.
He said, as cited by Tuoi Tre, that the study team has urged
authorities in the three areas to provide proper medical protection for
people.
“We have suggested that all women are given the right dose of folic acid and early pregnancy healthcare.”
Folic acid is a vitamin B synthetically produced to support DNA
synthesis and repair and is especially important in aiding rapid cell
division and growth during pregnancy.
Between 1961 and 1971, the US sprayed 80 million liters of Agent
Orange containing 366 kilograms of dioxin over 76,800 square kilometers
of southern Vietnam to clear the forests used as natural cover by
Vietnamese revolutionary forces.
Between 2.1 and 4.8 million Vietnamese were directly exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides during the war.
Bien Hoa, Da Nang, and Phu Cat have been targets of a national
dioxin clean-up program since the US stored the chemicals there during
the war that ended in April 1975.
Phu Cat was declared clean in August 2012. But the new study suggests it might not be completely safe yet.
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