Thirty years after the war in Vietnam the use of Agent Orange, one of America's most notorious actions, remains in some opinions a lasting war crime. During the Vietnam War, the US sprayed over 80 million liters of poisonous chemicals intended to destroy crops and jungle that provided cover for the Viet Cong. While many Agents were used, Agent Orange was used the most with over 45 million liters sprayed over a tenth of the land mass of Vietnam. Of all the agents, "Agent Orange" was the most volatile towards humans because it was laced with dioxins. Dioxins have been scientifically linked to causing cancers, and experts believe anyone eating or drinking in contaminated areas would've been exposed to high doses. In the areas heavily sprayed during the war, large numbers of children are being born with defects, both mentally and physically. Vietnamese doctors are convinced Agent Orange is to blame. Studies on the effects of Agent Orange dioxins in children found eight times as many were born with hernias, and three times as many with mental disabilities. A conclusive study performed by Canadian scientists during the 1990's found dangerously high levels of dioxin in soil, pond water, and animal tissue samples. They also concluded that the levels of dioxin had traveled up the food chain to humans. The concentrations of Dioxins in the tested areas were 13 times higher than average soil samples, and in human fat tissue, 20 times as high. In 2001, scientists found an Agent Orange "hotspot" amongst the people living a large village named Binh-Hoa, near the city of Ho Chi Minh. The inhabitants had 200 times the background amount of dioxin in their bloodstreams. Although tests have proven that agent orange is responsible for abnormally high instances of genetic defects in areas that were sprayed the companies that manufactured the agent admit no wrong doing. However, despite this claim to innocence, in 1984, the same companies paid $180m to United States veterans following a lawsuit.In 2004, Vietnamese campaigners took legal action suing the producers of Agent Orange in the US. However, last month the case was dismissed by an American Federal District Judge on the grounds that use of the agent did not violate any international law at the time. Also in 2004, a joint US-Vietnamese investigation of the long-term genetic impact of Agent Orange was cancelled. While the US has provided funding for clearing mines that it dropped on Vietnam during the war. It has not taken any humanitarian action to aid the huge number of people in Vietnam affected by Agent Orange.