Alleged victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam are set to receive a controversial “detoxification” treatment developed by the Church of Scientology.
Scientologists use the “Hubbard Method” – which involves saunas and vitamins – to try to cure drug addiction and alcoholism. The church set up a centre in New York after the 9/11 attacks offering a similar service for first responders who may have been exposed to toxins.
Many researchers have criticised the method as pseudoscientific and useless.
A hospital official and state-controlled media said 24 people were at a Hanoi hospital on Thursday waiting for the programme. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The US military dumped some 75 million litres of Agent Orange and other herbicides on about a quarter of former South Vietnam between 1962 and 1971, decimating about 2 million hectares of forest – roughly the size of Massachusetts.
Dioxins in it have since been linked to birth defects, though the United States maintains there is no evidence of any link between Agent Orange and health problems among Vietnamese.