The Official Voice of Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. ®
An organization chartered by the U.S. Congress
August 2002
CONFERENCE NEWSVVA To Cosponsor Ground-breaking
Yale Vietnam Conference 2002VVA STAFF REPORT VVA, in association with the Yale School of Nursing, will sponsor the Yale Vietnam Conference 2002, September 13-15. The conference will be a historic gathering of American and Vietnamese scientists, veterans, health care professionals, and students to discuss the continuing ecological and health effects of the American war in Vietnam.
"The focus of most of the conference will be on Agent Orange, but we also will be looking at the entire range of toxic legacies of the Vietnam War," said Linda Schwartz, chair of VVA’s Health Care Task Force and the conference’s project director. "That includes birth defects in children caused by Agent Orange and other chemicals; the long-term health consequences of chronic stress among veterans; and the problems of cancer, HIV, hepatitis C, and autoimmune diseases associated with exposures encountered in Vietnam."
In addition, conferees will learn about joint U.S.-Vietnam research projects on Agent Orange, including previous work and future activities. There also will be sessions on the link between environmental damage and human health.
Among the speakers taking part in the conference are Theo Colborn, chief scientist of the World Wildlife Fund and author of Our Stolen Future; Dr. Kenneth Olden, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science; Dr. Wayne Dwernychuk of Hatfield Consultants, which has been doing environmental and health research in Vietnam since the early 1990s; and Prof. Vo Quy, director of the University of Hanoi’s Center of Natural Resources and Environment.
In addition to Schwartz, VVA’s contingent at the conference will include National President Thomas H. Corey, Agent Orange/Dioxin Committee Chair Paul Sutton, and Women Veterans Committee Chair Marsha Four.
"Although peace has come to Vietnam, the taint of battle remains," Schwartz said. "Environmental and health problems of mutual concern provide the impetus for a merging of talents and resources from two former adversaries. We look at this conference as a way for individuals and organizations from the United States and Vietnam to exchange knowledge, to discuss concerns, and to plan mutual efforts to address the unresolved questions that linger from a war now 27 years in the past."
The deadline for conference registration is September 2. To register, call 203-785-5414, or log on to www.nursing.yale.edu/news/vwsymposium.html
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