Agent Orange was a toxic herbicide used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam war from 1961 to 1971. The U.S. operation codenamed “Operation Ranch Hand” sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and several other toxic herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. These deadly herbicides destroyed and infected more than 4.5 million acres of Vietnamese land, forests, water sources, and food crops, which were the main source of food for combatants and millions of Vietnamese. Over 400,000 people died as a result of exposure to these toxic chemicals and starvation. In addition, half a million children have been born with serious congenital disabilities, and over two million people are suffering from cancer and other illness caused by Agent Orange.
Agent Orange and its harmful effects
During Operation Ranch Hand, U.S. military used Agent Orange, which was available in slightly different mixtures, sometimes referred to as Agent Orange I, Agent Orange II, Agent Orange III and “Super Orange.” The Agent Orange was manufactured with harmful ingredients, which caused plants to lose their leaves. The Dioxin in Agent Orange lasts many years in the environment and food chain. And it accumulates in fatty tissues in the bodies of animals, birds and fishes that humans eat. It can cause severe skin disease known as chloracne. Additionally, dioxin is linked to immune system dysfunction, never disorder, and heart diseases. 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.
In addition to Agent Orange, the U.S. military also used other harmful herbicides named Agent Green, Agent Pink, Agent Purple Agent Blue and Agent White. All of them had long-lasting effects on the environment.
Effects of Agent Orange on U.S. veteran’s health
The Agent Orange also effected the returning U.S military servicemen and their families. Several diseases were reported, including rashes congenital disabilities in children, cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, leukoma and other psychological symptoms. Chemical companies that manufactured these herbicides paid $240 million in compensation to the veterans and their families. In 2004, Vietnam filed a lawsuit against these chemical companies, but their case was dismissed after a year. In 2008 the U.S. supreme court also rejected their final appeal causing outrage among Vietnamese victims. The U.S. government refused to compensate Vietnamese victims of chemical warfare.
People are still suffering from the effects of Agent Orange even after 50 years of the Vietnam war. Here below are some of the photos of the victims of Agent Orange.
What makes them think it’s agent orange? Almost everyone is born with a genetic defect.
In 5 million children, one child had a genetic defect for every 18 that were born. It doesn’t sound like natural defects to me.
The natural rate of birth defects is one in 33. In Vietnam, 1 in 18 birth defects are not caused by agent orange, correct?
Agent Orange has the most significant health effects on future generations through birth defects. According to studies and anecdotal evidence, Agent Orange contamination extends to the second and third generations (Palmer, 2005; Vo, 2015). A common birth defect observed in war veteran offspring is spina bifida, which affects the spine of developing fetuses and infants. Spina bifida can cause nerve damage, paralysis, and psychological disabilities in children (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2013; US Department of Veterans Affairs, 2020).
Direct exposure to Agent Orange (dioxin) has been linked to adverse health outcomes. In addition, these effects on human health are observed long after these toxic chemicals are deposited in Vietnamese soils. Indirect exposure to human bodies occurs through several pathways, such as through ecosystems and food chains, as well as effects that endure for generations to come.
The children above seem to have severe disabilities due to degenerative diseases which altered their body structures at birth, and most of them were born after being exposed to dioxin (Agent Orange) as children of the first or second generation. As someone who works with disabled people in Australia, I can confirm the severity of the birth defects of these children is just off the charts and cannot be considered “normal” by any standard.
When making such careless comments, please be considerate. A member of my family also got exposed to dioxin residue when working in those areas for some construction projects, and his second child was born with intellectual disabilities while his first child was not. Since there aren’t a lot of coherrent and comprehensive data on the long-term health effects of Dioxin, it might be annecdoctal that these two things occurred on the same day; however, the fact remains that the US Army did this to our people, and for that, you shouldn’t bother defending them.
Agent Orange was exposed to 2.6 million American veterans. The US must also have hundreds of thousands of babies born with birth defects.
Maybe. However, given that the US has a history of gaslighting its own veterans and citizens, I wouldn’t be surprised if birth defects are much lower than what is officially reported. Remember that the level of exposure was also different. People in the affected areas used the water and agricultural products farmed on the toxic soils, so the genetic defects would be much worse, leading to the god damn clip that we all saw. Anyhow, its ridiculous to be pro-US on this issue. Vietnam was a genocide-level war crime, and if I were in their shoes I would try all the high-ranking military personnel and imprison them for life, but we know how that turned out, don’t we?
Does asking how they know all these defects are from Agent Orange count as pro-US?
It is quite funny when people defend this by saying that the North Vietnamese did evil things. OK, so? It’s okay for the US to deform children for generations because the other side is evil, right? To cause famine and drive population away from areas controlled by VC, the US used it on South Vietnamese farmers.
This horrendous problem resulted from an impurity during the manufacture of Agent Orange. The problem was dioxin, an impurity. The base products were 245T and 24D herbicides Dioxin was a trace component. But consider the long-term effects. I visited the War atrocities museum in HCM city and had to leave after 40 minutes when I saw the man cages and booby traps.
No other country was able to get away with crimes against humanity like the US did.
Americans would say they deserved it because they are socialist and socialism is from the devil.
Probably most Americans don’t know Vietnam is socialist or run by a communist government. We only learn about Vietnam during the war.
i remember seeing some documentary about the long lasting after effects from agent orange, it’s truly devastating stuff..