Are Vietnamese food exports contaminated with dioxin from Agent Orange?
In this study the levels of dioxins and dioxinlike compounds, dibenzofurans, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in food exported from Vietnam to the United States. In the past, some Vietnamese fish was found to be contaminated with dioxin, 2,3,7,8-TCDD, or TCDD, from Agent Orange. U.S. commercial catfish farmers recently claimed that exported Vietnamese food, especially catfish, was contaminated with dioxin from Agent Orange and was thus a matter of concern to the U.S. Congress. In 2001, twenty-two exported Vietnamese food samples (mostly fish) were purchased in the United States and Laos to evaluate possible contamination with dioxin from Agent Orange. Dioxin, dibenzofuran, and coplanar PCB congeners were measured by high-resolution gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry by laboratories in Germany and Canada certified for dioxin analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the current study, only low levels of dioxins and dioxinlike compounds were
