HANOI - Vietnam War-era defoliant Agent Orange continues to contaminate livestock and fish eaten by Vietnamese decades after it was used, a study released on Monday showed.

A 2002 study in Bien Hoa city, about 20 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, showed residents and food had high levels of dioxin, the August issue of The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine said.

U.S. planes spray the defoliant Agent Orange over southern Vietnam in this 1966 photo.

The report said about 95 percent of blood samples taken from 43 people in Bien Hoa "were found to have elevated TCDD levels," referring to the most toxic of the dioxins.

"Although the spraying ended over three decades ago, in certain areas of Vietnam food is clearly a present-day route of intake of dioxin from Agent Orange," the study said.

Tests on 16 food samples of chickens, ducks, pork, beef, fish and a toad from the city's markets, a lake and a nearby air base where Agent Orange had been stored found "markedly elevated" dioxin levels in six samples.

Vietnam estimates more than one million of its people have been exposed to Agent Orange, used from 1962 to 1971 to strip trees and plants and deny communist fighters cover and food.

The dioxin-containing Agent Orange, the spraying of which was stopped in 1971, got its name because of the colored stripes on its containers.

The United States has said more studies are needed on the effects of Agent Orange.

The authors of the study said the presence of other toxic chemicals should be considered when weighing the data.

U.S. embassy officials in Hanoi did not immediately have a comment on the report.

© 2003 Reuters Ltd

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