An international conference exploring the aftermath of the Vietnam war on the nation's people and ecosystems and on the veterans who once fought there will be held on campus Friday-Sunday, Sept. 13-15.
Titled "Yale Vietnam Conference 2002: The Ecological and Health Effects of the Vietnam War," the event is being presented by the Schools of Nursing and Forestry & Environmental Studies in association with the Vietnam Veterans of America.
The event will bring together leading figures from the research community and from governmental and non-governmental organizations from the United States, Vietnam, Canada and Europe.
The conference seeks to "put a human face" on the discussion of the consequences of the war by:
* assessing the chemical, biological and physical agents used in military operations during the conflict from an environmental health perspective;
* identifying the human health effects of exposure to Agent Orange/Dioxin and other substances, as well as the stressors of living in a war zone; and
* examining both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic conditions related to the war, including maternal health, birth rates and birth defects; child growth and development; diseases of the immune, hepatic, neurological and metabolic systems; and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Although peace has come to Vietnam, the taint of battle remains," says Linda Schwartz, research scientist at the School of Nursing and chair of the Health Committee of the Vietnam Veterans of America. Schwartz has a long history of involvement in veteran affairs. Retired from the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps and a veteran of the Vietnam war, she is an advocate and activist who has devoted her nursing practice to healing the wounds of war and improving the lives of America's 26 million veterans.
"Many of my friends who served in the Vietnam war are dying," she says. "These are veterans who don't yet have an answer. The Yale Vietnam Conference will provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge and for the planning of mutual efforts to address the unresolved questions which linger from a war now three decades in the past."
According to Arthur Galston, the Eaton Professor Emeritus at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, an estimated 20 million gallons of Agent Orange were used in Vietnam to clear dense vegetation to better track North Vietnamese troops, as well as destroy their crops.
"The use of Agent Orange as a defoliant and herbicide in Vietnam was the largest chemical warfare operation in history, producing considerable ecological as well as public health damage," says Galston, who will speak at the Yale event. "This conference will chronicle and highlight this damage in the hope that this action might contribute toward ultimate remediation of the damage."
"Yale Vietnam Conference 2002" is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science.
Registration for the conference is $200 (there is a discount for students); the deadline is Monday, Sept. 2. For a complete schedule, or to register online, visit the website at www.nursing.yale.edu/news/vwsymposium.html. After Sept. 2, registrations are $250 and can only be made by contacting Linda Schwartz at linda.schwartz@yale.edu.
In conjunction with the conference, the Yale Council on Southeast Asian Studies is presenting a "Viet Nam Film Series" Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 12-15.
The series, which is free and open to the public, will feature new films from the Vietnamese Diaspora on Sept. 12; new films about the Vietnam War on Sept. 13, new American films about Vietnam on Sept. 14, and new and classic films from Vietnam on Sept. 15. Screenings will begin at 8 p.m. each evening in the Luce Hall auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Ave. A complete schedule is available at www.yale.edu/seas/VietnamFilmSeries.html.
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