001_Village of Phuang Anh, Province of Cam Lo, Vietnam: Honge, 30 years old, is cared for by her 66-year-old mother Tuy. Honge cannot walk and suffers from the birth of violent nervous spasms.

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Agent Orange: the war that never ended

Erberto Zani | Viet Nam

Organization: Freelance

50 years have passed since the end of the American War in Vietnam (1965-1975) but the consequences of Agent Orange can still be felt today: in the areas most affected by the "defoliant rains", also the third and fourth generations were born with genetic mutations and terrible disabling diseases. “The war that never ended” is the title of my long-term documentary project. I travelled in several remote places in Central Vietnam, the most polluted area by chemical agents, realizing portraits set of the victims inside their houses. Dioxin is enter the bloodstream after being eaten or touched, build up in the food chain and can cause reproductive problems, cancer, hormonal interference, immune system damage, and developmental issues, linked to diabetes, muscular dysfunction, hormone disruption and heart disease. Developing fetuses are particularly sensitive to dioxin, which is also linked to miscarriages, spina bifida and other problems with fetal brain and nervous system development. The government of Vietnam says that 4 million were exposed to the chemicals, 3 millions of whom now suffer from health consequences.

Erberto is an Italian photographer and journalist actually based between Italy and Switzerland. He is a freelance since 2008, after having collaborated for several years with the newspaper Gazzetta di Parma and has been editor in chief of some local magazines like Inedito Koppel (2005-2015, for the company Koppel A.W.), Arim Salute (2008-2011, for the medical organization Arim) and Amurt Newsletter (2008-2019, for the humanitarian organization Amurt Italy). He has produced reports from many difficult areas of the world documenting, among other topics, the earthquake in Haiti, the water crisis in the Sahel, the refugee camps in Lebanon, Greece and Uganda, the religious pilgrimage of Kumbh Mela in India, the civil war in Ethiopia, the disappeared in Ecuador. It is carrying out some long-term projects on the illegal extraction of minerals in the world, the mercury poisoning in Indonesia and the crimes related to the use of acid. His photos and articles have been published in numerous magazines including CNN, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, Financial Times, L’Espresso, The Times, The Economist, as well as catalogues and photographic books.

www.erbertozani.com

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