The Consequences Of Agent Orange In The Vietnam War

The aftermath of the Vietnam War was not what many soldiers expected and this greatly impacted the lives of all involved. Their service wasn’t acknowledged like other war veterans and instead, they were viewed with distrust and anger and used as scapegoats for the travesties of the war they were forced to fight in. Despite the returned soldiers efforts to return back to civilian life, they found no support from the government, or elsewhere. This caused soldiers to develop many mental illnesses that continued to affect and impact their lives. They also experienced symptoms of Agent Orange, causing fatalities and health defects.

The Vietnam War began in 1954 after years of conflict stretching back to the 1940s between the communist regime of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was attempting to make South Vietnam a communist country; since we are a democracy, the United States opposes the views of communist countries, and because we feared the spread of communism the United States became involved as an ally of South Vietnam. The war ended in 1975, resulting in disastrous effects on Vietnam and America. The assertion of the United States in this war rose controversy among Americans, and I disagree with our involvement in the Vietnam War because of the United States’ reasons to fight.

Napalm is a highly flammable sticky jelly used in incendiary bombs and flamethrowers, consisting of gasoline thickened with special soaps, they were very deadly weapons used during the war. Operation Agent Orange is a herbicide and defoliant chemical, one of the tactical use Rainbow Herbicides. This devastating chemical sprayed more than 20 million gallons all over vietnam, Cambodia and laos from 1961 to 1971. The chemical contained these diseases Al Amyloidosis, Chronic B-cell Leukemias, Diabetes Mellitus type 2 and many more diseases but whoever survived this I feel sorry for.

Agent orange was used in the vietnam war from 1961-1971 and it is a mixture of 2 herbicides.

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)

There have been many wars throughout American history and millions of lives have been lost fighting for the land of the free. On November 1st, 1955, one of the most controversial wars in American history began; the Vietnam War. The politics behind the Vietnam War are very in-depth and important, but the issues being addressed now are based on the weapons used during the war and how they affected veterans; more specifically, the weapon is one that had more long-term effects and did not kill the enemy at the point-blank exposure. The U.S. created a newer chemical weapon known as Agent Orange. Agent Orange is a very lethal and harmful chemical that the U.S. used on the Viet Cong to try to weaken them by depriving their food source and cover. Now, over five decades after the war, veterans from both sides are still being greatly affected by this war tactic and the goal is to understand more about the human effects during and after the war.

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

Agent Orange was used to destroy crops and the jungle where the Viet Cong hid. Another U.S manufactured toxin was Napalm. The U.S. military combined Napalm with gasoline in incendiary devices to make flamethrowers that sent flames farther than traditional bombs. Napalm combined with gasoline gave off carbon monoxide when exploded which poisoned the air. “Among the more devastating explosives used in U.S. and South Vietnamese bombing runs was Napalm…”

The plants where gone and the soil had nothing to keep it together from eroding since the roots were gone from the plants. The animals suffered also drinking the toxic water and eating toxic plant with herbicides everywhere. The Agent Orange is not anything good. I found a that from my researches that “
In
the
environment, the
half‐life
varies
 depending
on
the
type
of
soil
and
the
depth
of
penetration.
Sun
will
break
down
dioxinson
leaf
and
soil
surfaces
it
will
last
13
years, depending
on
conditions.
Dioxin
buried or
leached
under
the
surface
or
deep
in
the
sediment
of
rivers
and
other
bodies
of
water
can
have
a
half‐life
of
more
than
100
years.” (Susan Hammond 1). This was also devastating for the Vietnam civilians. The terrible effects were cancer, liver damage, palmary, and heart diseases, defects on reproduction capacity, skin and nervous disorder, children and grandchildren may have severe physical deformities, mental and physical disabilities, diseases and shortened life spans (Jeanne and Marjorie). The human effects last 11-15 year (Susan Hammond

Before Agent Orange became the color of choice there was Agent Blue. Agent Blue was to be used to destroy rice crops in hopes of starving the enemy. The chemical would rapidly dry the plants effectively killing them. Unfortunately it also affected the farmers as well by destroying their crops (Greenfield, 2005). Another agent in the rotation was Agent White. “Agent White is an herbicide and is also a two part solution. Its technical name is Tordon 101 and was made by combining the chemicals Picloram and 2,4-D” (Dockery, 2000). Agent Orange was a defoliant consisting of a “50/50 mixture of two herbicides: 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T” (The Aspen Institute, n.d.). Agent Orange was named for the orange stripe painted around the 55-gallon drums it was stored in. The herbicides degraded quickly but the dioxin would remain. Although there are dioxins in nature, the dioxin left over from Agent Orange is man-made. “Dioxin came into existence as an unavoidable by-product in the manufacture of other products. It also derives from fires of various sources” (Gough, 1986). The primary delivery system was a C-123 Provider cargo plane fitted with a

Agent Orange caused many problems after the war, “Agent Orange was one of the many tragedies of Vietnam. It may have killed or sickened, via long-incubating cancers and nerve disorders, thousands of American soldiers and sailors (not to mention many more Vietnamese). The government, which once avidly drenched the delta with the poison, has awakened to its dangers. ‘The environmental hazard of the battlefield--that could be equally as deadly as a bullet wound,’” (Thomas).

In a mission called Operation Ranch Hand the US military sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on trees and vegetation during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange was sprayed in Vietnam about 50 times the concentration that was recommended for killing plants therefore much of the forest and farmland in Vietnam still remain degraded

Vietnam was a country divided into two by communism in the North and capitalism in the South. The Vietnam War, fought between the years 1959 and 1975, was, in essence, a struggle by nationalists in the north to unify the nation under a communist government. This was a long standing conflict between the two sides that had been occurring for years. It wasn’t until 1959 when the USA, stepped in, on the side of southern Vietnamese, to stop the spread of communism. It was a war that did not capture the hearts and minds of the American people as it was viewed as a war that the US army couldn’t win and so the government lost the peoples support for the war. This ultimately led to the withdrawal of the US army from Vietnam. Some people, like

The soldiers during the Vietnam era faced countless unknowns each day in battle. They went into battle using various forms of weaponry. Many soldiers were armed with high-powered guns, grenades, or even bayonets. However, one of the most detrimental weapons they faced was Agent Orange. Agent Orange, claimed to be an aid to the plant life, actually caused more harm than good. Many are still confused about what Agent Orange is, why the military chose to use it, and what type of side effects it caused. Although it was thought to be a beneficial move by the military, clearly Agent Orange caused a catastrophic effect in the area.