VZCZCXRO5647
RR RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHPB
DE RUEHHI #1020/01 2710903
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 280902Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0208
INFO ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0051
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 001020 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/EP, EAP/RSP, EAP/PD, OES/PCI 
USAID FOR ANE, G/ENV 
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (SHUBERT AND VAN HOUTEN) 
BANGKOK PASS TO RDMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SENV TBIO KPAO VM
SUBJECT: FOURTH ANNUAL JAC: STRONG PROGRESS ON THE ENVIRONMENT, LESS 
SUCCESS ON HEALTH 
 
REF: A. 08 HANOI 1088 B. 07 HANOI 1476 
 
1.(SBU) Summary.  The Fourth Annual Meeting of the United 
States-Vietnam Joint Advisory Committee on Agent Orange/dioxin 
(JAC) reviewed an active year of cooperation on environmental 
remediation and disabilities projects.  The agreed-upon JAC minutes 
highlighted that Agent Orange-related dioxin contamination was 
limited to a few former U.S. airbases, noted the effectiveness of 
exposure reduction measures at the Danang airport, while 
environmental presentations reviewed positive preliminary results 
from the Danang bioremediation pilot test.  Several speakers noted 
the need for greater action to determine the scope of and respond 
to dioxin contamination at the Bien Hoa airbase.  The JAC made less 
headway on health issues as the Government of Vietnam (GVN) 
delegation lacked participation from key health players and 
continued to focus on non-science based claims linking dioxin 
exposure to a wide variety of disabilities.  Yet, we also made some 
progress there, winning a GVN commitment to look at public health 
responses to disabilities and securing a promise from the Ford 
Foundation to fund these efforts.  The JAC received extensive, and 
fairly positive, coverage locally and internationally, with 
Vietnamese media highlighting the Ambassador's opening address 
detailing our fruitful engagement since the last JAC.  End Summary. 
 
Broad Participation 
--------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The fourth annual JAC attracted nearly 30 participants from 
the USG and GVN, including prominent scientific experts from EPA 
and the CDC.  While the Vietnamese delegation contained strong 
participation on environmental issues from the Ministry of Defense 
(MOD) and from Office 33, the coordinating body for GVN Agent 
Orange/dioxin policy, key Vietnamese players on health issues, 
notably, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Labor, 
Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), failed to attend.  USAID 
detailed its environmental response plans at the Danang airport and 
its implementing partners reviewed their ongoing disability support 
efforts.  Environmental contractors to the Ford Foundation and 
Office 33, including Canada's Hatfield Consultants and U.S.-owned 
Dynamic Solutions International, detailed recent sampling and 
analysis at dioxin "hotspots" at former U.S. airbases.  Several 
other donors involved directly in Agent Orange/dioxin work or on 
related disabilities projects, including the Ford Foundation, UNDP, 
Irish Aid and UNICEF, joined the JAC meeting. [Comment: This broad 
non-governmental participation had some downsides, however, as 
certain entities continued to focus on provision of services to 
Agent Orange "victims" and complained to the press about perceived 
funding delays.  End Comment] 
 
JAC Minutes Reflect Limited 
Environmental Contamination 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) The JAC minutes signed by the two countries reflect their 
consensus that there is no evidence of continuing dioxin 
contamination in areas subjected to aerial spraying during the war 
and that dioxin contamination appears limited to a few airports 
where the U.S. military stored, loaded and transferred Agent Orange 
and other defoliants at that time.  Additionally, the minutes note 
that the primary source of human exposure to dioxin at Danang was 
through consumption of fish obtained by local residents from 
airport lakes.  Both sides agreed that efforts to limit dioxin 
exposures at Da Nang airbase by preventing fishing in onsite lakes 
had resulted in substantially lower dioxin levels in blood in 
persons living around the airport. 
 
Hatfield and MOD Sampling Provide 
Further Evidence of Limited Contamination 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Hatfield Consultants, which has been working on Agent 
Orange/dioxin issues in Vietnam since 1994, provided details on 
recent dioxin sampling and analysis that it carried out for the GVN 
with Ford Foundation Funding.  Hatfield's most recent studies found 
that dioxin contamination at the Danang airport is almost 
exclusively limited to the previously identified areas at the 
northern end of the airbase.  Recent testing in areas at the 
southern end of the airbase, associated with the 1971 Department of 
Defense Pacer Ivy operation, found only one sample with elevated 
 
HANOI 00001020  002 OF 003 
 
 
dioxin levels [Note: Pacer Ivy packaged and prepared for removal of 
all residual Agent Orange from Danang. End Note].  Similarly, 
Hatfield sampling and analysis at Phu Cat airbase indicated only a 
few samples at levels of dioxin contamination above internationally 
accepted amounts.  Additionally, Hatfield reported that the 
majority of contamination at the Danang airbase was found at depths 
of less than 30 centimeters, implying that the total volume of soil 
to be remediated (and the related cost) may be lower than initially 
estimated.  [Note: MOD believes that additional sampling may show 
contamination at deeper levels. End Note].  In other good news, 
preliminary testing by MOD did not find dioxin contamination at 
three other airbases (Tuy Hoa, Phan Rang, and Nha Trang) and 
limited contamination at Ton San Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City. The only 
news of concern came from Hatfield and MOD reports noting that 
dioxin contamination in and around the military airbase at Bien Hoa 
might be more widespread than previously detected. 
 
Limited Exposures 
----------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Hatfield JAC presentation also highlighted limited 
human exposures resulting from dioxin contamination in Danang. 
With dioxin contamination at Danang largely limited to the northern 
end of the airbase and the primary human exposure pathway through 
consumption of contaminated fish and ducks caught by locals in the 
lakes on the airport grounds, Hatfield told the JAC that a total of 
50 people likely were exposed to dioxin contamination [Note: the 
GVN has asked Hatfield to revisit this conclusion as it finalizes 
its report.  End Note].  Successful preventive measures already had 
reduced those exposures and Hatfield noted that the construction of 
a fence to prevent locals from fishing and harvesting aquatic 
plants already had dramatically lowered dioxin levels in blood 
samples near the airport. 
 
Preliminary Success for Bioremediation Pilot Test 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Scientists from EPA and the Vietnam Academy of Science and 
Technology (VAST) presented preliminary results from the ongoing 
bioremediation pilot test at Danang, which seemed to show that 
microorganisms have been degrading dioxin [Note: MOD, which has 
permitted the test at the military controlled airport, remains more 
skeptical about bioremediation's potential.  End Note].  If later 
results are consistent with this finding, bioremediation may form a 
cost-efficient remediation solution that can be modified in the 
future to address Vietnam's growing level of contamination from 
industrial pollutants. 
 
Vietnam National Action Plan 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Office 33 Director General Dr. Lai Minh Hien presented a 
summary of the draft National Action Plan for Overcoming the 
Consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam (NAP) and asked that 
JAC participants provide input.  Per Dr. Hien, the NAP has 
developed a schedule through 2020 to reach three primary goals: 
completing an assessment of environmental and health consequences 
of Agent Orange/dioxin; developing a system to remediate 
contaminated areas, recover ecosystems subject to spraying during 
the war and provide medical care to "victims" of Agent Orange; and 
raising awareness and mobilizing resources.  UNDP, which supported 
the GVN drafting efforts, noted that the NAP contained many 
principles (particularly in the environmental area) already agreed 
to by parties focusing on the issue.  UNICEF praised the effort but 
suggested that efforts should focus on boosting support for all the 
disabled instead of looking first at identifying "victims" based on 
a self-assessment of exposure. 
 
U.S. Details Concrete Projects 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) As highlighted by Ambassador Michalak during his opening 
remarks, the USG briefed JAC participants on the initiation of 
several U.S.-funded activities over the past year.  USAID and its 
implementing partners detailed disabilities support programs in the 
Danang area.  Using money from the FY07 USD 3 million 
appropriation, USAID has already provided USD 1 million for these 
projects, obligated an additional USD 1 million from recent FY 09 
funding, and committed another USD 1 million during FY 10, subject 
 
HANOI 00001020  003 OF 003 
 
 
to the availability of funds.   USAID also advised that it will 
soon announce the results of the procurement process for services 
to conduct a joint environmental impact assessment with the GVN for 
dioxin containment at Danang Airport and for developing engineering 
designs, specifications and plans for construction of a secure 
landfill and associated dioxin removal containment activities. This 
contract will utilize the balance of FY 07 funding and will provide 
the basis for expending FY 09 funding for environmental 
remediation. 
 
Lagging Health Progress 
----------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The JAC health discussions reflected the continuing divide 
in approaches between the two governments.  Despite repeated 
reminders to our GVN interlocutors before the JAC, neither MOH (an 
official member of the 6 person GVN delegation) nor MOLISA sent 
representatives to the meeting.  Vietnamese presenters continued to 
focus on the sufferings of Agent Orange "victims" without providing 
any support linking those sufferings to dioxin exposure. 
Vietnamese participants in the JAC Health Task Force, held 
concurrently with the overall JAC session, took a softer stance, 
but asked the USG to focus USAID projects only on assistance to 
Agent Orange "victims."  Failure by the GVN to move off of its 
"victims"-first agenda makes it unlikely that we will be able to 
agree to a long-term strategy for dioxin responses, as proposed by 
Vice-Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Xuan 
Cuong in his opening remarks, in the near future.  Yet, at the same 
time, we did make some inroads.  The Health Task Force established 
that while humanitarian-based medical and clinical services form a 
necessary foundation to cooperative work in health, long-term 
solutions must focus on building Vietnamese institutional capacity 
to address all disabilities and birth defects regardless of cause, 
using a modern, public health framework.  The agreed upon minutes 
reflect the need for effective surveillance, prevention and 
exposure reduction programs to reduce the overall disabilities 
burden in Vietnam, while the Ford Foundation subsequently agreed to 
help fund work by the Health Task Force to put those programs into 
practice near the hotspots. 
 
Positive Media Reports 
---------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) This year's JAC received wide coverage locally and in the 
international media.  Press reports on the JAC, which focused on 
cooperation and U.S. engagement, contrasted with the earlier 
reporting surrounding Vietnam's first "Agent Orange Day," held on 
August 10.  While Vice Minister Cuong's opening speech criticized 
the perceived slow pace of disbursing U.S. assistance and the need 
to focus on "victims," most Vietnamese newspaper coverage devoted 
more space to Ambassador Michalak's recitation of concrete U.S. 
actions.  The final joint press conference also led to positive 
reporting in 50 news articles, on line reports, blogs, and TV 
broadcasts, including several constructive comments from the 
Vietnamese JAC co-chair, Dr. Le Ke Son.  We expect to continue the 
run of good press when USAID announces the remediation preparation 
contractor later this month.  Over the past few months, several 
international journalists have contacted the Embassy seeking 
information for more in-depth and, we hope, objective pieces on 
Agent Orange/dioxin, and we will provide the good environmental 
news from the JAC to these reporters. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) JAC presentations indicated that dioxin contamination may 
be limited to a few locations at a few airbases, that exposures to 
such contamination may be fairly limited and that reasonably 
affordable prevention and remediation activities may remove ongoing 
contamination risks.  Taken together, this information will allow 
us to start to calculate the universe of all potential 
dioxin-related remediation in Vietnam and, eventually, the total 
financial resources necessary (and what proportion of that the 
United States may cover) to address the environmental impacts of 
war-related dioxin contamination.  Vietnamese lack of substantive 
engagement on health issues is discouraging and a reminder that the 
GVN is unlikely to wind down its 40 year Agent Orange propaganda 
campaign. 
Michalak