Trinh Tran Nam Dat spends his daily life on a bamboo mat in the middle of his home.

His father, Trinh Nam Khoa stays by him all day and night, not thinking of leaving him for a while for tens of years now. He himself is not well enough to work.

Dat’s grandfather was a former soldier. He died of cancer in 1998. His parents had no idea of Agent Orange until Dat was diagnosed cerebral palsy.

The faith of the children in AO victim families has been decided 56 years ago. However, until now there has not been any specific policy designated for the third generation victims.

Between 1961-1971, US troops sprayed some 80 million liters of defoliants over southern Vietnam, 44 million liters of which were Agent Orange. The later contained a total of nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin, the most poisonous toxin people have ever known. As many as 4.8 million Vietnamese people are exposed to AO/dioxin, of whom over 3 million are victims and hundreds of thousands of children are in the third and fourth generations. The agony lasts from generations to generations, bringing along the silent pain.

The move of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs is imperative to pay tribute to generations of people who devoted themselves for the independence of the nation.

VNA