How Does Agent Orange Affect The Vietnam War?

Agent Orange was used during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was, “a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States”

Chemical Warfare was also something that the Americans used that was drastically negative. Many innocent South Vietnam citizens were killed from a chemical called napalm. This jelly like substance stuck to a surface and burned. Much of it was dropped on villages

The first chemical to be discussed is Agent Orange; Agent Orange has been identified as a human carcinogen; this chemical was introduced during the Vietnam War as a defoliant for the thick Vietnamese jungle. Although Agent Orange contained a variety of herbicides, most of the pesticide contained Phenoxyacetic acid – based herbicide 2,4-D and 2,4, 5-T. The most common mixture

During the peak of U.S involvement in the Vietnam War, between 1967 and 1969 the U.S employed a strategy that proved to be a disaster on many different levels. With over 500,000 of their troops serving in Vietnam at the time, the widespread use of herbicides, particularly Agent Orange began being sprayed over the Vietnamese jungle by planes. The aim of this was to eliminate the ‘invisibility' of the Viet Cong and offer a safe path for the American troops to follow. This was a good idea in theory, but what the American strategists didn't think of was the toxicity of the herbicides, and the fact that not only would the Viet Cong be exposed to it, but their troops and innocent South Vietnamese would be also. A widely speculated and argued repercussion of this is that many Vietnam veterans, and Vietnamese villagers began to give birth to babies with birth defects. However, a confirmed result

As the United States became increasingly caught up in Vietnam, it followed the strategy of wearing away at the communist forces, attempting to bury them under a storm of casualties, however, the Viet Cong’s guerilla tactics, such as booby traps and mines, demoralized the USA troops, leading to the use of unconventional weapons like napalm and the Agent Orange. Napalm is a very flammable gel that burns the skin and rapidly deoxygenates available air, causing suffocation. Agent Orange is a herbicide defoliant. A defoliant is a chemical sprayed on plants to cause its leaves to fall off. Agent Orange’s primary objective was to reduce the dense jungle undergrowth to prevent the Communist forces from using it as cover. The secondary objective was to drive civilians into Southern Vietnam controlled areas. About 4.8 million people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in about 400,000 deaths and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

The first chemical to be discussed is Agent Orange; Agent Orange has been identified as a human carcinogen; this chemical was introduced during the Vietnam war as a defoliant for the thick Vietnamese jungle. Although Agent Orange contained a variety of herbicides, most of the pesticide contained Phenoxyacetic acid – based herbicide 2,4-D and 2,4, 5-T. The most common mixture of the Agent Orange used during

“We were told, ‘it’s totally safe and it won’t hurt you at all,” he added. “We were told you can drink it, you can brush your teeth with it, or you can bathe in it. It won’t hurt you. Those were lies.” (“U.S. Soldiers Sprayed Agent Orange across Korea” 1) Agent Orange was an herbicide used by the United States military forces in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to destroy their enemies’ food supply, land, and protection. Twelve million gallons of this toxin were sprayed. (Department of Preventive Medicine 1) It affected the Vietnamese and the American troops who were fighting in the same jungle. Little did the United States military know the effects of this dangerous herbicide. It caused many long-term complications, including health problems

Agent Orange was a herbicide/defoliant used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War as part of the Herbicidal Warfare Program. Agent Orange was given its nickname due the the barrels it was stored in, marked with a single orange stripe, other herbicides used in southeast asia were given similar nicknames such as Agents Blue, Green, Pink and Purple. Despite the large veritable rainbow of different defoliants, Agent Orange was primarily used during Operation: Ranch Hand [HowStuffWorks Science]. During Operation: Ranch Hand, 19 million gallons of Agent Orange and other chemicals were sprayed over 4.5 million acres of land in Vietnam [History.com]. The reasons for the mass distribution of the chemical were to “Deny them food and

The war in Vietnam was, and continues to be, one of the most controversial hot button topics in American history. The military’s use of dangerous pesticides, like Agent Orange, is a major part of this controversy. Agent Orange is a defoliant that was widely used to deforest dense jungle areas to reduce both hiding places and food sources for the Vietnamese. During the war, American B-52 bombers released over nineteen million gallons of Agent Orange over the Vietnamese countryside. After ten years of continuous dumping, 1971 finally marked the end of America’s use of Agent Orange and other herbicides. In 1974, the United States government, headed by Richard Nixon, swore the country would never again use chemical weapons in a first strike. (Levy and Scott-Clark)

created to try to deprive North Vietnamese soldiers, or guerillas, of food, cover, and other resources during the war. The U.S. sprayed nearly 20 million gallons in all from 1962 to 1971 in Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia as part of Operation Ranch Hand. Unfortunately, the effects of Agent Orange did not just hurt the Viet Cong soldiers and the environment, but also many South Vietnam soldiers and U.S. soldiers who had to go through the pesticide infested area. The entire environment that it covered was harmed very substantially and nearly every person who came in contact with it now suffers from an illness or has a very increased risk of nerve, digestive, skin, and respiratory disorders, as well as numerous cancers. The ruminants from the chemical have also had effects on the offspring of veterans with it in their system; anywhere from birth defects to cancers have been reported from the chemical

The issue that has burdened our soldiers for multiple years post-war is the effect Agent Orange has had on their families. Agent Orange can not only be detrimental to a war veterans health, but it can also affect their loved ones for generations. The burden a family must carry just by having a sick father or husband is massive, but add the fact the children born from these same families could have horrific birth defects. Dr. Jean Grassman, a doctorate in environmental health sciences and a professor at the Brooklyn College, stated the effects dioxin has on unborn children. She stated that “dioxin is a potent cellular disregulator that alters several pathways and disrupts many bodily systems. She said children are very sensitive to dioxin,

Yet another type of bomb was dropped by the B-52s, this one containing a large amount of the defoliating gas, Agent Orange. Hundreds of millions of acres of jungle were destroyed and even more fields and rice paddies were poisoned because of Agent Orange. South Vietnamese farmers complained about the detrimental effect Agent Orange had on their rice paddies, and its use flooded camps and cities with refugees from outlying areas where entire crops were destroyed. Agent Orange was supposed to eliminate the VC's advantageous hiding places, but it only turned the people we were fighting for against us even more. Even more so, Agent Orange cause countless birth defects and deadly illnesses in returning vets. Thousands of soldiers came back with reoccurring sicknesses, and even cancer. 6 The use of Agent Orange was perhaps one of the largest mistakes made in Vietnam.

War causes a myriad of effects in varying degrees of severity on the land and consequently among humankind. In the scenario of Vietnam with Agent Orange, no one anticipated the birth defects, cancer, and brain damage that would affect the lives of our nation’s veterans, the people of Vietnam, and thousands of unborn children for years to follow. Despite the evidence linking the Agent Orange to these injustices, there has been little done to right these wrongs. There should be more policy protecting the environment and its inhabitants, especially when detrimental effects are exacerbated by war. As mentioned previously, most of society may not even be aware of the effects war has on our environment. This piece is aiming to serve as a bridge for the gap between what science knows and what the people know about war’s effect on the land we

POWs to death with the pesticide Zyklon-B. The SS soon placed a huge order for the gas with a

Atrazine is a commonly used corn herbicide in the United States. The lineone website says: