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Agent Orange is a herbicide, classified as a
defoliant A defoliant is any herbicidal chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause their leaves to fall off. Defoliants are widely used for the selective removal of weeds in managing croplands and lawns. Worldwide use of defoliants, along with the ...
, that was used most notably by the U.S. military during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. Its primary purpose was strategic deforestation, destroying the forest cover and food resources necessary for the implementation and sustainability of the North Vietnamese style of
guerilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...
. The U.S. Agent Orange usage reached an apex during
Operation Ranch Hand Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (Agent Orange) during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, it was part of the over ...
, in which the material (with its extremely toxic impurity, dioxin) was sprayed over 4.5 million acres of land in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. The use of Agent Orange has left tangible, long-term impacts upon the Vietnamese people that live in Vietnam as well as those who fled in the mass exodus from 1978 to the early 1990s. Hindsight corrective studies indicate that previous estimates of Agent Orange exposure were biased by government intervention and under-guessing, such that current estimates for dioxin release are almost double those previously predicted. Census data indicates that the United States military directly sprayed upon millions of Vietnamese during strategic Agent Orange use. The effects of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese range from a variety of health effects, ecological effects, and sociopolitical effects.


Health effects

The most illustrative effects of Agent Orange upon the Vietnamese people are the health effects. Scientific consensus has made it clear that the importance of accuracy in terms of site-specific
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
risk as well as the difficulty in identifying Agent Orange as the cause of that specific cancer risk must be acknowledged. Previous studies on the subject have not been generalizable because though they demonstrate statistically significant increase in cancer risk, the populations have been "Western" veterans or
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
veterans, or the sample sizes were too small to be considered appropriate. The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...
defines the margin of exposure as "the ratio of the no-observed adverse-effect-level to the estimated exposure dose." Independent scientific analyses of the epidemiology of Agent Orange suggest that there is little to no margin of exposure for dioxin or dioxin-like compounds on vertebrates, meaning that even passive contact or genetic lineage has devastating repercussions.


Effects on current Vietnamese citizens

Rigorous studies have consequently been conducted to instead measure the levels of dioxin still present in the blood samples of the citizens of both North and South Vietnam. These studies indicate that though most Agent Orange studies have had myopic analyses of American veterans, Vietnamese citizens have had far greater exposure to breadth and scope of the target. The pervasion of dioxin as described by Schechter et al. (made clear in very high TCDD or
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-''p-''dioxin (TCDD) is a polychlorinated dibenzo''-p-''dioxin (sometimes shortened, though inaccurately, to simply 'dioxin')Tuomisto, Jouko (2019) Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds: toxicity in humans and animals, s ...
levels in human milk, adipose tissue, and blood as measured by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy) in the Vietnamese people living in Vietnam is substantially greater than that of other populations (Schechter et al., 1995). Dioxin levels were corroborated in subsequent studies, most notably those conducted in areas geographically near bombing sites and spray missions during the course of Operation Ranch Hand, approximately between 1962 and 1970. A 2002 sample study of the dioxin levels in the city of
Bien Hoa Bien may refer to: * Bien (newspaper) * Basic Income Earth Network * Bień, Poland {{disambiguation ...
, a populous city in southern Vietnam located in the proximity of an air base used for spray missions, indicated noticeably elevated blood dioxin levels despite a 20-year period of peace, with Agent Orange specifically being found in the blood samples. Emigrants to the city and even children born after the end of the Agent Orange spraying operations had blood samples indicating a presence of dioxin (Schecter et al., 2001).Schecter, Arnold, MD, MPH, Cao Dai Le, MD, Olaf Papke, MS, Joelle Prange, MS, John D. Constable, MD, Muneaki Matsuda, Ph.D., Duc Thao Vu, Ph.D., and Amanda L. Piskac, MPH.
Recent Dioxin Contamination From Agent Orange in Residents of a Southern Vietnamese City
" ''Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine''. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc, May 2001. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
Meta-studies have affirmed the dioxin pathway of genetic inheritance, e.g. a statistically significant correlation between paternal exposure to Agent Orange and
spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, men ...
over three case-control studies from 1966 to 2008 (Ngo et al., 2009). According to the Vietnamese, the US program resulted in 400,000 deaths caused due to a range of cancers and other ailments, and that approximately 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange according to census data.


Effects on Vietnamese refugees

Following the end of the Vietnam War, two million refugees from Vietnam as well as Laos and
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
fled to other countries. By 1992, upwards of 1 million refugees had settled in the United States, 750,000 in other North American and European countries, and many others remained in refugee camps from Thai-Cambodian border to Hong Kong, unable to obtain the visas and immigration documents necessary to permanently immigrate. Scientific reports have concluded that refugees who had reported being exposed to chemical sprays while in South Vietnam continued to experience pain in the eyes and skin as well as gastrointestinal upsets. In one study, ninety-two percent of participants suffered incessant fatigue; others reported abortions and monstrous births. Meta-analyses of the most current studies on the association between Agent Orange and
birth defect A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities ca ...
s have concluded that there is a statistically significant correlation such that having a parent who was exposed to Agent Orange at any point in their life will increase one's likelihood of either possessing or acting as a genetic carrier of birth defects. Vietnamese studies specifically indicated an even greater correlation between parental exposure and birth defects, with scholars concluding that the rate of association varied situationally as degree of exposure and intensity were factors also considered. File:Agent Orange Deformities (3786919757).jpg, Severe arm deformity most likely related to Agent Orange exposure when he was in gestation and his pregnant mother was exposed to the defoliating chemical, dioxin. File:A vietnamese Professor is pictured with a group of handicapped children.jpg, Handicapped children, most of them victims of Agent Orange


Ecological effects

Agent Orange had devastating ecological effects on Vietnam's plant life, which also contributed to the creation of refugees during the war. The ecological effects of agent orange have been reported to continue to affect the daily lives of Vietnamese citizens. A study showed dioxin contamination in soil and sediment samples and hypothesized "that a major route of current and past exposures is from the movement of dioxin from soil into river sediment, then into fish, and from fish consumption into people." Studies in the Aluoi Valley, a village near a now-defunct military base that was operating between 1963 and 1966, confirmed this process of biological magnification, as contaminated soil acted as "reservoirs" of TCDD Agent Orange toxin that would later transfer to fish and ducks and finally to humans, all via consumption. The
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...
concluded that "much of the damage can probably never be repaired."


Deforestation

Official US military records have listed figures including the destruction of 20% of the jungles of South Vietnam and 20-36% (with other figures reporting 20-50%) of the
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...
forests. An overall reduction in biomass, i.e. plant and animal populations, has been noted along with loss of soil nutrients and ecosystem productivity in terms of growth yields. Forests that have been sprayed multiple times (estimates point to about a quantity of land equaling 0.5 million hectares) have extensively exacerbated ecological disadvantages; recovery times are dubious and "the plant and animal communities have been totally disrupted" due to "total annihilation of the vegetative cover".Westing, Arthur H.
Ecological Effects of Military Defoliation on the Forests of South Vietnam
" ''Bioscience''. Oxford University Press, 1 Sept. 1971. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
The long-term effect of this deforestation continues to result in less aged foliage and mangroves being unable to grow from even a single spraying, with many patches of economically unviable grass colloquially referred to as "American grass".Fox, Diane N.
Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Warfare: Agent Orange
", in ''Synthetic Planet: Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Life,'' Monica. Casper, ed. 2003. Routledge Press.
Farm land that was destroyed in the process of militarization and the creation of battlefields produced an agricultural wasteland, forcing Vietnamese farmers to work with contaminated soil for more than 40 years.


Ecological refugees

The use of Agent Orange is considered a "notorious example" of the expropriation of human environment for warfare, forcing many rural Vietnamese to move to cities as ecological refugees to survive because their crops and livelihood had been destroyed. Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington noted that during the Vietnam War the urban population doubled or tripled as people moved from rural areas to escape war. Jim Glassman argued that ecological destruction and crop destruction, including from Agent Orange, produced rural refugees to cities and helped as part of counterinsurgency efforts to control rural areas and isolate the population from the Viet Cong. He further wrote that the millions of war refugees "cannot be seen narrowly as the result of one or another form of warfare".


Socio-political effects

Various socio-political effects of Agent Orange have also been documented. Difficulty in maintaining judicial and civil transparency persists despite decades passing since the use of Agent Orange by the United States military. Corporations indicted by the ethicality of their chemical use have been described as "antagonistic and focused on technological arguments".


Legal responses


Vietnamese victims class action lawsuit

The first legal proceeding on behalf of Vietnamese victims was undertaken in January 2004 in a New York district court. Ultimately the district court held that "herbicide spraying . . . did not constitute a war crime pre-1975" and that international law prevented the companies that produced Agent Orange from being liable. Alternative models for reconciling the harms done by dioxin on the Vietnamese people with
reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation * Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin History *War reparations **World War I reparations, made from G ...
have also been proposed. Some have called for the defoliation and destruction to be deemed an "environmental war crime". Drumbl, Mark A.
Accountability for Property Crimes and Environmental War Crimes: Prosecution, Litigation, and Development
" ''Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons''. Washington & Lee University School of Law, 1 Nov. 2009. Web.
Law reviews have even called for a revision to the litigation process in the US due to the harmful implications regarding justice, reparations, and accountability as a result of the political sway of aggregate private interests. Citizen-to-citizen dialogue for individuals to call for accountability by the United States government was first established in 2006 by the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
. Citizens sought a legal avenue by which private citizens and policy makers could work together to form a coherent plan of action in addressing the legacy of Agent Orange. The US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin, composed of members of the Aspen Institute, Vietnam National University, and Vietnam Veterans Association, is the most notable example of this civic response. Long-term programs and continued check-ups on the state of current plans to address Agent Orange are heavily monitored.


Government responses

Questions of governmental accountability have been raised towards who should be responsible for allowing the use of the chemical dioxin despite knowing the risks. Those who said that the use (at the time of the Vietnam War) of Agent Orange was merely a means of defeating the
Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
did not believe that the defoliant violated the
Geneva Protocol The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in ...
. During the war, resolutions were introduced to the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
charging that the U.S. was violating the 1925
Geneva Protocol The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in ...
, which regulated the use of
chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...
and
biological weapons A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrorism ...
, however the resolutions were defeated. The extensive environmental damage that resulted from usage of the herbicide prompted the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
to pass Resolution 31/72 and ratify the
Environmental Modification Convention The Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques is an international treaty prohibiting the military or other hostile use ...
in 1976. Many states do not regard this as a complete ban on the use of herbicides and defoliants in warfare. There is reason to believe that sociopolitical context constrains the ability of government bodies to reveal the truth regarding food-behavior research as well as the scientific studies crafted by these bodies; governments may have an incentive to disrupt or obstruct investigations into the matter. Additional remediative policies have been proposed by concerned groups of citizens due to a lack of governmental accountability. The US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin of the Aspen Institute established a 10-year Plan of Action on June 16, 2010, to call for governmental participation in addressing herbicide effect in Vietnam. This plan calls for the United States and the Vietnamese government to work with other governments and NGOs to invest 30 million dollars over ten years to clean and purify harmed ecosystems and expand services to families who have been affected medically and physically by Agent Orange.


Scientific objections

The current scientific consensus on the effects of Agent Orange concludes that scientists at the time made erroneous judgments on how devastating the chemical could be. Scientific reviews ''ex post facto'' have indicated that many of these supposedly objective studies that conclude a beneficial use of Agent Orange were based on access to still classified documents and little else. According to Koppes's study, scientists repeatedly minimized the harms of the chemical and ignored empirical evidence.Koppes, Clayton R.
Review: Agent Orange and the Official History of Vietnam
" ''Reviews in American History'' 13.1 (1995): 131-35.''JSTOR''. Web.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agent Orange Environment of Vietnam Aftermath of the Vietnam War Health effects by subject Chemical warfare