Research Article Agent Orange Footprint Still Visible in Rural

Copyright © 2014 Jan Banout et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Levels of polychlorinated dioxins/furans (PCDD/PCDF) in selected environmental samples (soils, sediments, fish, and farm animals) were analyzed from the area of PhongMy commune (ThuaThien-Hue province, Vietnam).This area was affected byAgent Orange spraying during the Vietnamwar (1968–1971).Whereas PCDD/PCDF content in soil and sediment samples is relatively low and ranges between 0.05 and 5.1 pgWHO-TEQ/g for soils and between 0.7 and 6.4 pgWHO-TEQ/g for sediments, the PCDD/PCDF content in poultry muscle and liver in most cases exceeded the maximum permissible limit of dioxin content per unit fat mass. In some cases of soil and sediments samples, 2,3,7,8-TCDD represented more than 90 % of the total PCDD/PCDF, which indicates Agent Orange as the main source. 1