The People’s Committee in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on November 19 issued a document officially rejecting rumors of Vietnamese farm produce being contaminated with dioxin on some Taiwanese media channels.
According to Taiwanese Trade Union’s Branch in Lam Dong, some Taiwanese newspapers and websites have recently published information that Vietnamese tea and coffee contained dioxin from the war and warned Taiwanese against using these products.
The wrong information has badly affected Vietnamese enterprises, especially Oolong tea exporters who are mainly located in Lam Dong. The province has over 20 businesses making Oolong export tea including 15 Taiwan invested companies.
Authorized agencies have examined and affirmed that Lam Dong tea is neither located in dioxin polluted soil nor contaminated with the toxic substance.
According to the document, the province has two small areas where the US military used to spread the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. One is located in Gia Bac Commune, Gia Linh District neighboring Binh Thuan Province, the other is positioned in Cat Tien District neighboring Binh Phuoc Province.
The two forest areas are hundreds of kilometers far from tea, coffee and vegetable plantations without agricultural production.
For the last 30 years, businesses in Lam Dong have exported tea, coffee, vegetables, flower and other farm produce to several countries in the world. Tea products have entered strict markets such as Japan, Singapore, the US and EU.
On the same day, the Vietnam Tea Association sent a dispatch proposing Taiwanese Tea Association Chairman to publish a disclaimer of the rumor.
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Vietnamese tea not grown in dioxin polluted soil, official
