Cam Nhung Duong, 4HU

Agent Orange used in Vietnam War

Agent Orange is the code name of a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. army in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. From 1961 to 1971, Agent Orange was the most widely used of the so-called Rainbow Herbicides employed in the herbicidal warfare program. The production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink and Green) involved dioxin as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for millions of people who have been exposed, including Vietnamese people as well as USA, Australia, Korea, Canada and New Zealand soldiers. Back to 1961, American involvement in the turmoil Southeast Asia had been secondary, mainly involve the reluctant flow of money and arms to the fragile Diem regime in South Vietnam [1]. This was not what conservatives in the capital want. They wanted to control and take over the empty place left by Frances withdrawal from the region. And John F. Kennedy, the new American president whos young and Irish-Catholic, was worried that Republicans would protest if he didnt hold the South from Communist guerrillas. Therefore, he began to do so and tried to expand U.S. military operation in South Vietnam. The problem that U.S. army encounter was the Viet Cong (VC or Charlie). This was a political organisation and army in South Vietnam that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War. It had both guerrilla and regular army units. To USA, countering the Viet Cong means destroying their way of survival: food and forest since Viet Cong usually hides in the lush jungle. In 1961, accepting a joint recommendation from the State and Defence departments, President Kennedy signed two orders allowing Agent Orange to be used in Vietnam. Spraying would intensify in three distinct plant communities: the dense broadleaf vegetation that blankets the Vietnam outback and turns roads and supply routes into ambush zones; the mangroves that line swamps and provide habitat for the catfish and shrimp that are staples of the Vietnamese diet, and the fields of foodstuffsrice, manioc, and sweet potatoes [1]. Agent Orange was first developed at the University of Chicago during World War II. Professor E.J. Kraus identified a way to kill broadleaf vegetation by injecting them with hormones which cause the plants to sudden, rapid growth, just like cancer cells in human body [2]. During the Vietnam War, the United States military sprayed nearly 20 million gallons of herbicide on approximately 3.6 million acres of Vietnamese land. Various herbicide formulations were used, but most were mixtures of the phenoxy herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) [3]. The most widely used mixture contained equal parts of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Because this herbicide was shipped in drums with orange stripes, it was called Agent Orange [3]. Dioxin was used in the production of Agent Orange as a contaminant. It is the nastiest, most toxic man-made organic chemical. Spraying began in 1962 under the code name Operation Ranch Hand. January 13, three Air Force C-123s, a type of assault transport plane, lift off from Tan Son Nhat airfield in South Vietnam, each loaded down with more than a thousand gallons of Agent Orange. Each plane could destroy 350 acres of forest per run and a spray run took less than 4 minutes. That meant one run equalled 1,000 acres of jungle destroyed. Between 1961 and 1967, the U.S. Air Force sprayed 20 million U.S. gallons

Cam Nhung Duong, 4HU (75,700,000 L) of concentrated herbicides over 6 million acres (24,000 km2) of crops and trees, affecting an estimated 13% of South Vietnam's land. In 1965, 42% of all herbicide was sprayed over food crops [4]. The American soldiers who directly spray the Agent Orange didnt know whats inside. They only knew that it was the order from the government. They were not told about the toxicity of what is contained in the drums. After finish their job, some of the soldiers even use the empty drum as a bath. They felt sick and had problems afterwards as they were exposed by Agent Orange. As for Vietnamese soldiers and citizens, they ate contaminated food, drank contaminated water and bathed at contaminated stream. They encountered lots of health problem and these problems are inherited by over and over generations. Dioxin in Agent Orange has such a bad effect on human body. Dioxin provokes cancers, foetal malformations, skin diseases... It also affects the immune system, the reproductive system and the nervous system. Diseases include: Birth defects. Fetal death. Impaired neurological development and subsequent cognitive deficits.

Male reproductive toxicity: Reduced sperm count. Testicular atrophy. Abnormal testis structure. Reduced size of genital organs. Feminized hormonal responses Feminized behavioral responses

Female reproductive toxicity: Decreases fertility. Inability to maintain pregnancy. Ovarian dysfunction. Endometriosis.

Other effects: Organ toxicity (liver spleen, thymus, skin). Diabetes. Weight loss. Wasting syndrome. Altered glucose and fat metabolism. [5]

Cam Nhung Duong, 4HU Agent Orange is not only physical, but also mental harmful to infected victims. Sequela left by Agent Orange is huge and lots of people still suffering from the chemicals that the USA had been using. On January 31, 2004, a victim's rights group, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, against 37 U.S. companies for liability in causing personal injury, by developing and producing the chemical. Dow Chemical and Monsanto were the two largest producers of Agent Orange for the U.S. military and were named in the suit along with the dozens of other companies (Diamond Shamrock, Uniroyal, Thompson Chemicals, Hercules, etc.) [6]. The USA government has rejected their responsibility with Agent Orange Victims in Vietnam and they dont want to pay any money. The judge concluded that Agent Orange was not considered a poison under international lawsuit at that time, that the USA was not prohibited to use it as a herbicide, and that the chemical companies were not liable for the method of its use by the government. This is unacceptable with the Vietnamese, especially with the victims. Agent Orange Victims and Vietnamese people will not end this just like that until USA government and the chemical companies admit their fault and pay the damages to what we have to suffer for over 30 years after the war ended.

[1]

Ben Quick (March/April 2008). Agent Orange: A Chapter from History That Just Wont End. Orion magazine. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2862/ [2] Agent Orange. TRAVEL & HISTORY. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from http://www.u-shistory.com/pages/h1860.html [3] Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPh. A cancer journal for clinicians. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/content/full/53/4/245 [4] Vietnam War. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War#During_John_F._Kennedy.27s_administration.2C_1961.E2.80.931963 [5] History. Vietnamese Agent Orange. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from http://www.gsmp.org/agentorange/history.html [6] Agent Orange. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

Cam Nhung Duong, 4HU

Film of US Soldiers spraying Agent Orange defoliant onto a riverbank without protective equipment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUZA0GAMmfI

Nn nhn cht c mu da cam: hu qu cho n ngy hm nay v tng lai

http://myheartmoscow.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/nan-nhan-chat-doc-mau-da-cam-hau-qua-cho-denngay-hom-nay-va-tuong-lai/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BA%A5t_%C4%91%E1%BB%99c_da_cam http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%E1%BB%A5_ki%E1%BB%87n_h%E1%BA%ADu_qu%E1%BA%A3_ch%E1% BA%A5t_%C4%91%E1%BB%99c_m%C3%A0u_da_cam_trong_Chi%E1%BA%BFn_tranh_Vi%E1%BB%87t_ Nam

Agent Orange - Vietnam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxb7CY13uc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ranch_Hand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_U.S._involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War http://www.vvaw.org/about/warhistory.php Vietnam Veterans Against the War http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/Thomas.Pilsch/Vietnam.html#Ranch Vietnam war resource http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/asia/vietnam/agent_orange_deformites.htm http://www.bookrags.com/research/agent-orange-woi/ http://www.scienceclarified.com/A-Al/Agent-Orange.html http://www.landscaper.net/agent.htm http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/vietnam/agent-orange.htm