The Negative Effects Of Agent Orange In The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was, and continues to be, one of America's darkest moments, one that nearly tore the nation apart. In order to stop the spread of communism in Europe and Asia, the United States aided French imperialists and their reoccupation of Vietnam. At first, the U.S took a position of neutrality to both countries, but by early 1947, they began fighting in support of France. This war, lasting over 20 years, became the longest and most unpopular war in the 20th century. Overall, the Vietnam War was detrimental to the United States because it caused a massive debt from the 1960s to the 1990s, turned the American people against their government, and many troops were neglected and despised upon their return.

Agent Orange may not have been the first herbicide, however, one could argue that it is the deadliest. Dao Chemical made agent orange in 1943. Taking 2 commonly used herbicides and mixing them together created Agent Orange. They mixed, “2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.” (Agent Orange.” UXL Encyclopedia of Science). Dao Chemical knew how dangerous the chemicals that they were mixing together. There was previous knowledge that2,4,5-T can cause problems in humans, and they only mixed it with something more dangerous: “One chemical used to make Agent Orange was contaminates with a dioxin, TCDD” (Agent Orange.” UXL Encyclopedia of Science). Dioxins are very toxic to humans, animal, and the environment. Once a dioxin is released, the dioxin will remain present in the soil. During the Vietnam War the United Sates army covered over 4 million acres with Agent Orange. During the years, “1962 and 1971, over 10.5 million gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed on Vietnam.” (Agent Orange).

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

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

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.

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)

Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide used in the Vietnam war. It was used to kill off the jungle and crops. The jungle allowed the Vietcong to hide and the crops feed the enemy. Agent Orange got its name from the Orange label on the drums of herbicide.   Agent Orange was two herbicides combined 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. It was mixed at 50 times the concentration that would have been by used US farmers. The herbicide 2,4,5-T contained dioxin.

Agent Orange is a herbicide that was used to defoliate the jungles, meaning the United States military was trying to kill off the trees in Vietnam in order to take away places for North Vietnamese military men could hide (1). The Viet Cong did not fight conventionally against the American military, they could not do so and expect to win. This caused them to resort to guerilla warfare in order to strike and weaken parts of a division or unit. The Americans used Agent Orange as a defense strategy in order to take away hiding places for the Viet Cong to run to after hitting the American units (2). What is especially harmful to those who were around Agent Orange and where it was sprayed was the dioxin, which is a byproduct of one of the chemicals components. People still worked and breathed even with the residue of the toxin still in the air and in the soil, civilians and military personnel alike. The toxin carried in it a carcinogen that got its way into the water and in the soil. Slowly as the years have passed and Vietnam has been hit with a lot of monsoons clean water has washed away the toxic water, but not before it entered into the food chain and then started to accumulate into body fat and tissue in humans that was able to passed from a mother to their child threw breast milk. The American military, by word of the American government, dumped millions of gallons of Agent Orange onto the southern half of

The chemical weaponry that were used on the Vietnam vegetation had an adverse effect on the people in a way that even after three generations, the effects are still evident on the children. Many of them are born with malformations and severe defects in the nervous structure and immune system. The chemical also affected the American soldiers and veterans as many of them have health issues related to these weapons. Although the American government thought that they were only punishing the North Vietnamese, American veterans ended up victims of chronic and unhealthy conditions.

The destruction this chemical caused to the vegetation should have been the first clue that what destroys nature will in due time destroy us. We are the cause for this mess; but we should have been notified much earlier about the potential risk associated with Agent Orange. According to the Executive Summary on Operations Trail Dust and Ranch Hand, "On April 17,1995 Researchers have found that during the spraying of Agent Orange in southern Vietnam, dioxin levels in human tissue were as high as 900 times greater in Vietnamese living in southern Vietnam than those living in Northern Vietnam where Agent Orange was not used."(Arison5) It was not until 1993, when the Institute of Medicine News reported, "Evidence exists linking three cancers and two other health problems with chemicals used in herbicides used in the Vietnam War, a committee of the Institute of Medicine has concluded. Those diseases are soft tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Hodgkin's disease as well as chloracne and prophyria cutanea tarda (PCT)."(Turner-Lowe1) An explanation of each disease follows: Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma refers to any group of cancers of lymphoid tissues that multiply. These are found mainly in the lymph nodes and the spleen. The symptoms are related to painless swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck or groin region. There is an attempted

In 1970’s, Monsanto had produced a chemical known as Agent Orange. Agent Orange contained dioxin; a chemical that caused a legal nightmare for Monsanto, a lawsuit was filed against Monsanto on behalf of hundreds of veterans. The repercussions of dioxin would plague the company for years.

Agent Orange is a powerful mixture of chemical herbicides, whose main component is the toxic dioxin, that causes serious health issues as well as extensively contaminates the environment. More than 19 million gallons of herbicides was spraying deliberately over 4.5 million acres of Vietnam’s land from 1961 to 1971 by the U.S. military for the purpose of defoliating the farmland and the forestation, thus, depriving Viet Cong troops of food and cover. It was the