Even after 25 years, U.S. herbicide Agent Orange takes a heavy toll on Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY -- It's time for the afternoon meal at the "peace village" ward in Ho Chi Minh City's Tu Du Hospital, and staff members wheel carts of milk and porridge into the rooms where 58 children -- ranging from newborns to teenagers -- are staying.

The children suffer a range of birth defects: Some have unformed limbs, others are mentally handicapped. Two infants have grotesquely enlarged heads.

The staff at the hospital are reluctant to say what these patients have in common, but Vietnamese scientists and government officials believe the children -- along with perhaps hundreds of thousands of other Vietnamese -- are victims of the massive amounts of Agent Orange herbicide that U.S. forces dumped on South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.