(1)

From 1961 to 1971, approximately 19,000,000 gallons of 15 different herbicides were sprayed over the southern region of Vietnam by the United States military.

(2)

The herbicides included 13,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange, 4,500,000 gallons of Agent White, 1,000,000 gallons of Agent Blue, 420,000 gallons of Agent Purple, and relatively smaller quantities of the other herbicides. Many of the herbicides, including Agents Orange, Purple, Green, Pink, Dinoxol, and Trinoxol, contained the toxic contaminant dioxin (TCDD). Agent Blue contained high levels of arsenic. The 15 herbicides, including the contaminant dioxin, are usually collectively referred to as Agent Orange.

(3)

Between 1961 and 1971, nearly 20,000 spraying missions were carried out in an area of about 12,600,000 hectares. This represented about 12 percent of South Vietnam and portions of Laos and Cambodia. These amounts only account for the United States Air Force Operation Ranch Hand spraying and do not include the widespread use of Agent Orange by the Army Chemical Corps, Central Intelligence Agency, and South Vietnamese Government.

(4)

Studies have found that between 2,100,000 and 4,800,000 Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian people and tens of thousands of Americans were exposed to Agent Orange during the spraying operations. Many other Vietnamese people were or continue to be exposed to Agent Orange through contact with the environment and food that was contaminated. Many offspring of those who were exposed have birth defects, developmental disabilities, and other diseases.

(5)

Today, there are still dozens of herbicide hotspots that continue to contaminate the food, soil, sediment, livestock, and wildlife with Agent Orange. Concentrations of TCDD as high as 1,000 mg/kg have been found in soil and sediment samples more than 50 years after Agent Orange was sprayed in Vietnam.

(6)

Since 2007, the United States has provided assistance to Vietnam in remediating Agent Orange contamination at the largest of these hotspots, which are the airbases that handled the spray missions. The contamination at the Da Nang Airport has been fully cleaned up, and the United States has committed funds to contribute to cleaning up the Bien Hoa Airbase, which has the most wide-spread herbicide contamination in Vietnam. There are at least two dozen other smaller hotspots scattered throughout southern and central Vietnam that also must be remediated, since they continue to expose local populations to dioxin and arsenic.

(7)

Agent Orange exposure continues to negatively affect the lives of veterans of the United States Armed Forces, Vietnamese people, Vietnamese Americans, and their children. The lives of many victims are cut short, and others live with disease, disabilities, and pain, which are often untreated or unrecognized.

(8)

The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes 19 illnesses and diseases, including AL amyloidosis, bladder cancer, chronic B- cell leukemia, chloracne, diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure (hypertension), Hodgkin’s disease, hypothyroidism, ischemic heart disease, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease, Parkinsonism, acute and sub-acute peripheral neuropathy, porphyria cutanea tarda, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, and soft-tissue sarcomas associated with the spraying and use of Agent Orange by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam era.

(9)

No similar recognition has been given to affected Vietnamese or Vietnamese Americans.

(10)

The Department of Veterans Affairs provides compensation for many severe birth defects among the children of United States women veterans who served in Vietnam. The list of birth defects covered includes, but is not limited to, achondroplasia, cleft lip, cleft palate, congenital heart disease, congenital talipes equinovarus (clubfoot), esophageal and intestinal atresia, Hallerman-Streiff syndrome, hip dysplasia, Hirschsprung’s disease (congenital megacolon), hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis, hypospadias, imperforate anus, neural tube defects, Poland syndrome, pyloric stenosis, syndactyly (fused digits), tracheoesophageal fistula, undescended testes, and Williams syndrome. Affected children of these women veterans receive medical care and other benefits. However, the care and compensation provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs to the covered children of United States veterans is insufficient to meet their needs related to Agent Orange.

(11)

The only birth defect recognized for the children of male American veterans is spina bifida (but not occulta). However, many children of male Vietnam war veterans have the same range of birth defects and diseases as seen in the children of female Vietnam war veterans. This discrepancy results in most Agent Orange affected children of United States veterans receiving no care or benefits.

(12)

No assistance has been given to the children of male or female Vietnamese or Vietnamese Americans connected with their exposure, or their parents’ or grandparents’ exposure.

(13)

The Institute of Medicine for the past several years has noted that it is considerably more plausible than previously believed that exposure to the herbicides sprayed in Vietnam might have caused paternally mediated transgenerational effects attributable to the TCCD contaminant in Agent Orange. In recent years, scientific studies have identified likely epigenetic links between exposure to toxins and birth defects and developmental disorders in subsequent generations. Some of the children and grandchildren of exposed persons (Americans, Vietnamese, and Vietnamese Americans) who were in southern Vietnam during the Vietnam war era likely suffer from disorders, birth defects, and illnesses related to Agent Orange.

(14)

The assistance that the United States has provided for environmental remediation of contamination at the Da Nang and Bien Hoa airports has, in recent years, included funds for public health and disabilities activities for individuals residing in some affected areas.

(15)

Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed with Agent Orange during the Vietnam war era. At least 527,000 gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed in Laos and significant amounts were also sprayed in Cambodia. Affected Lao and Cambodian people over several generations suffer from medical conditions, birth defects, and disabilities similar to those seen in Vietnam and the United States. The United States has the responsibility to take action to mitigate and provide compensation for those effects. Further action will be needed to ascertain and effectively address this legacy of the Vietnam war.

(1)

medicines and medical equipment;

(2)

custodial care, home care, respite care, and daycare programs;

(3)

training programs for caregivers;

(4)

medical and physical rehabilitation, and counseling services and equipment for illnesses and deformities associated with exposure to Agent Orange; and

(5)

reconstructive surgical programs.

(1)

assistance to institutions in Vietnam that repair and rebuild substandard homes in Vietnam for covered individuals and the families of covered individuals; and

(2)

micro grants and loans to facilitate subsistence payments and poverty reduction for covered individuals and families of covered individuals.

(1) In general

The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, or its successor, in coordination with the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations shall provide assistance to remediate those geographic areas of Vietnam that the Secretary determines contain high levels of Agent Orange.

(2) Priority

In providing assistance under this subsection, the Administrator shall give priority to heavily sprayed areas, including areas that served as military bases where Agent Orange was handled, and areas where heavy spraying, spills, or air crashes resulted in harmful deposits of Agent Orange.

(1)

provide assistance under this section (other than assistance under subsection (d)) through appropriate Vietnamese community and nongovernmental organizations and Vietnamese public agencies;

(2)

provide assistance under this section to affected persons in all areas of Vietnam, including rural, mountainous, and urban areas; and

(3)

seek out and actively encourage other bilateral donors as well as United States and foreign business enterprises in Vietnam to support the goals of this section through development assistance and corporate philanthropy programs.

(1)

is a resident of Vietnam; and

(2)