Participants in the conference discussed plans to expand the airport and improve its environment as well as measures to gather dioxin samples.

Danang airport is one of the seven areas most affected by dioxin in Vietnam.

The project to decontaminate the airport will be conducted in two phases from now until 2013.

Dr Pham Dinh Chien, from the Vietnam Air Force and Air Defence Force, said America’s technology to handle dioxin pollution is one of the world’s most advanced ones.

* New measures needed

Nguyen Thanh Nguyen, deputy chairman of the People's Committee, said the province was helpless in keeping out waste from HCM City and provinces like Tay Ninh and Dong Nai.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment needed to step in to tackle the pollution caused in Long An by waste from elsewhere, he said.

For industrial waste generated within its borders, the province is building a 1,700ha plant in Thu Thua District to process solid industrial wastes.

But there has been widespread opposition to it from both officials and local residents.

"What if the huge plant leaks waste into water bodies," Nguyen Van Chau, a local resident, said.

"It will be an environmental disaster for Long An."