The trial dioxin detoxification using microbial technology at A Sho airfield in the central province of Thừa Thiên-Huế, has generated optimistic outcomes. — Photo VACNE

HÀ NỘI — The trial dioxin detoxification using microbial technology at A Sho airfield in the central province of Thừa Thiên-Huế, has generated optimistic outcomes.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment held a workshop in Hà Nội on August 4 to report on the outcomes of the test detoxification, which was carried out by the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s biology company BJC and the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment.

The area considered to be the most contaminated in Viet Nam by the lethal dioxin used by the US during the Viet Nam War was treated for three months with anaerobic technology and then with aerobic treatment.

The dioxin concentration in the contaminated land declined from 161.65pg-TEQ per gram to 104.93pg-TEQ per gram, according to scientists from the BJC, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, and the Korea Institute of Toxicology.

Based on the test results, participants at the workshop asked authorised agencies of Việt Nam and the RoK to complete the necessary procedures to publicise official research findings and facilitate international cooperation in environmental protection and socio-economic development.

The US army sprayed some 80 million litres of toxic chemicals from 1961 to 1971, 61 percent of which was Agent Orange containing 366 kilograms of dioxin, over nearly one quarter of the total area of South Việt Nam.

Some 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange/dioxin, and about 3 million suffered effects. Tens of thousands died, while millions developed cancer and other incurable diseases as a result. Many of their offspring suffered from birth deformities. — VNS