US finally begins massive clean up of toxic Agent Orange... 50 years after it laid waste to jungles of Vietnam

• First official clean up step comes four decades after end of conflict
• Millions of gallons of chemical dumped over course of decade to destroy enemy cover
• Comes as Vietnam and the U.S. forge closer ties to boost trade and counter China's rising influence

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 11:11 GMT, 9 August 2012 | UPDATED: 12:51 GMT, 9 August 2012

The United States has begun a landmark project to clean up a dangerous chemical left from the defoliant Agent Orange - 50 years after it was first sprayed by American planes on Vietnam's jungles to destroy enemy cover.

Work will now begin to remove Dioxin, which has been linked to cancer, birth defects and other disabilities, from the site of a former U.S. air base in Danang in central Vietnam.

The US sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange over the course of a decade.

The landmark effort has been heralded as a long-overdue step toward removing a thorn in relations between the former enemies.

It comes nearly four decades after the Vietnam War ended.

The $43 million joint project with Vietnam is expected to be completed in four years on the 47-acre contaminated site, located near Danang's commercial airport and an active Vietnamese military base

A groundbreaking ceremony took place near the area where a rusty barbed wire fence marks the site's boundary.

US Ambassador David Shear said: 'We are both moving earth and taking the first steps to bury the legacies of our past.'

Washington has been slow to respond.

FULL STORY & PICS: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185917/Landmark-US-clean-V...