An international conference on the effects of the chemical defoliant known as Agent Orange is getting under way Sunday in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

The three-day meeting, bringing together U.S. and Vietnamese public-health officials and international experts, is the result of an agreement reached last year between Washington and Hanoi to cooperate on Agent Orange research.

It is aimed at finding out about health hazards that are still posed by the defoliant, which was used extensively in the Vietnam War more than a quarter of a century ago.

The United States sprayed millions of liters of Agent Orange in Vietnam during the 1960s and early 1970s as part of a campaign to deny enemy soldiers jungle cover. The practice was halted when it was discovered the defoliant contained a toxic substance, a form of dioxin that caused cancer in laboratory rats.

Vietnam blames Agent Orange for tens of thousands of birth defects, and estimates that more than a million people were exposed to the chemical. U.S. scientists who have conducted field tests have said there continue to be high levels of dioxin in certain areas of Vietnam.

Many American veterans of the Vietnam War also have been pressing the U.S. government for compensation for their ailments, which they say are due to exposure to Agent Orange.

The U.S. government contends scientific evidence about the long-term effects of Agent Orange is still inconclusive, and says it hopes the conference will help achieve a better understanding of the effects of herbicides used in the war.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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