Dr. Huong believes dioxin is now in the food chain in that area, an inextricable part of all the water and meat and vegetables the inhabitants there consume. For the Vietnamese, the land is theirs for life, with all the dangers that continued exposure may bring to them. Neonatology, the area Dr. Huong knows best, contains 150 beds reserved for difficult and premature births. During 1987, the hospital supervised the delivery of seventeen thousand babies of which 30 percent were either difficult or premature. In areas north of the 17th parallel, she said, the incidence of such problems is much less significant.
Birth defects are common.
Another with a dismaying cleft palate lay nearby. Abandoned by their mother when she realized what she had delivered, Viet-Duc had since remained at the hospital. On 22 May 1986, Viet fell prey to acute anencephalopathy and by October of that year had lost cerebral cortex and reaction functions. He suffered from constant respiratory and urinary infections. Since Viet had no sensations when eating, his food often diverted into his trachea.