U.S., Vietnamese Scientists to Jointly Look at Agent Orange Effects

Statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi:

Scientists representing the U.S. and Vietnamese governments met in Hanoi last week for further discussions on research collaborations on the health and environmental effects of Agent Orange/Dioxin exposures. Two projects were agreed upon:

The first project, a joint Vietnam-United States scientific conference on human health and environmental effects of Agent Orange/Dioxin will be held in March 3-6, 2002 in Vietnam.

The second project, a pilot study on screening for dioxins in soil and sediments, will be organized in detail over the next few months.

Dr. Christopher Portier of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (http://www.niehs.nih.gov), one of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov) , led the U.S. delegation which included scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.epa.gov) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov) . Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, General Director of the National Environmental Agency in Hanoi, led the Vietnamese delegation, which included scientists from the National Centre for Natural Science and Technology.