Today Vietnam begins the process of dioxin detoxification for 24 people who were confirmed to be infected with Agent Orange/Dioxin following a test by Hatfield. They are among 62 locals living around Da Nang Airport who are infected with the chemical.

The treatment process, scientifically known as the Hubbard method, is generally described as the physical process of perspiration, digestion and urinary excretion, according to Ph.D. and major general Hoang Manh An, director of the 103 Hospital.

With the method, the victims are prescribed high content vitamins and take strenuous exercise for half an hour to excrete sweat. They will then enter a sauna to perspire profusely and dioxin will excrete out of the body through the process.

They are scheduled to undergo the decontamination for a month at the Army Medical Hospital 103.

Previously 300 patients infected with different toxic chemicals with 22 of them contaminated with dioxin were detoxified through the method and they have initially produced positive signs of better health. However, scientific tests with exact indexes for a comprehensive assessment report are still needed, said An, the director.

The positive signs from the previous 300 patients include good eating and sleeping patterns, improvements in their health condition and the disappearance of chronic symptoms, said Tran Xuan Thu – deputy chairman of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.

The Hubbard method of detoxification was also successfully applied to victims infected with radioactivity following the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine in 1986, said An.

It is expected that the 103 Hospital will be able to produce a comprehensive assessment report for dioxin detoxification following the first month-long course with the 24 victims. The method may be applied to mass treatment once definitive outcomes are determined.

Reassurance

Tran Thi Tuyet Hanh, a key researcher of the program for risks reduction of human exposure to dioxin through food under the Vietnam Public Health Association, advised people to keep their composure about the risks of exposure to dioxin.

People who don’t live near the chemical hotspots may also have dioxin content in their blood samples, however it will only be harmful and potentially affect one’s health if the content is 10ppt (parts per trillion) or over.

A recent survey of 32 people in Hanoi showed their average blood dioxin content at 2.2ppt. However, the average rate of 40 people living near Bien Hoa Airport in Dong Nai Province is 28ppt, said Hanh.

Though the infection of dioxin is related to different symptoms and diseases such as cancer, congenital malformation and diabetes, not all dioxin-infected people bear such diseases, according to Hanh.

A high rate of exposure to dioxin is counted as one of many other factors leading to cancer, but it’s not a decisive factor in causing cancer.

90 percent of the volume of dioxin in the body of those infected with dioxin is the result of eating dioxin-infected food such as fish, shrimp and lotus from infected ponds and lakes. Those who have lived in hotspots but have not eaten infected food produce much lower rates of dioxin infection, said Hanh.

When facing a similar source of dioxin exposure, overweight people have a larger amount of dioxin accumulated in their bodies than thinner individuals.

No effective method for quick detoxification of dioxin in human body has ever been recorded.

Victims who are severely infected with dioxin are usually prescribed with Olestra or Colestimide, but these treatments have not been applied in Vietnam yet.

Now, a laboratory of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment in Hanoi can analyze the content of dioxin in samples of soil and mud and air; while another lab in Ho Chi Minh City can measure the content of dioxin in human blood and milk at a cost of VND8 million (US$383) per sample. It costs $1,000 - $1,500 per sample for a test in the US, Canada or Germany.