The Vietnamese Red Cross has set up a special fund to help hundreds of thousands of people suffering the effects of the defoliant, Agent Orange, which was used by American forces during the Vietnam War.

The organization says that more than twenty years after the end of the war, the chemical is now claiming a third generation of victims, with children still being born with birth defects.

Between 1961 and 1971, the Americans sprayed more than forty-four million litres of Agent Orange in Vietnam -- to deprive the communist forces of jungle cover.

In April, the Vietnamese government launched a nation-wide investigation into the effects of Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals used by the Americans.