Agent Orange

In another March, 45 years ago, President Nixon's advisors were holding secret negotiations with Vietnam as Nixon himself tried to placate America. These negotiations would lead to the policy of Vietnamization, which was a way to extract U.S. forces from Vietnam without discrediting their power and also to help the Vietnamese fight for themselves. In this post I will summarize some of my findings on one aspect of the war.

After doing some research, I found that there was, and still is, controversy over the use of Agent Orange in the war. Agent Orange is a toxic mixture of chemicals that was used as herbicide to clear the forests of Vietnam, removing cover for Viet Cong forces. From 1961 to 1972, Operation Ranch Hand led to the spray of more than 19 million gallons of Agent Orange over 4.5 million acres of land. Agent Orange was only one member of the "Rainbow Herbicides," which also included Agents White, Purple, Pink, Green, and Blue. Containing a chemical called dioxin, Agent Orange has proved to be extremely hazardous even in small doses, leading to muscular dysfunction, inflammation, birth defects, nervous system disorders and even cancer.

Decades later, veterans of the war and Vietnamese citizens continue to be affected by its toxicity. This led to a class action lawsuit in 1979, which was filed to bring justice for the 2.4 million veterans who had been affected by Agent Orange. The U.S. Supreme Court was eventually involved, and in 1991 President George H.W. Bush signed the Agent Orange Act into law, guaranteeing that diseases associated with the chemical would be treated.

The impact of Agent Orange on Vietnam is also very significant, for around 400,000 people were killed or maimed by such toxins. Furthermore, around half a million children were reported to have been born with serious defects, along with the 2 million people that are still suffering from health issues caused by Agent Orange. To top this off, approximately 5.5 million acres of forest and cropland were ruined by the extreme environmental damage that the U.S. inflicted. Vietnamese citizens filed a class-action lawsuit against the guilty chemical companies in 2004, arguing that Agent Orange had left a legacy of health problems, which constituted a violation of international law. However, also in March, this suit was dismissed.

America has been reluctant to admit the damage that it did to Vietnam with Agent Orange, but in 2012 finally the first move was made to address the remaining environmental damage. A program involving U.S. Aid is slated to last for four years and cost $43 million. Vietnamese citizens agree that this is a start, but bitterness over the last forty years remains, and much more action on the part of America is called for to right these wrongs.

Sources:
http://theweek.com/article/index/258148/today-in-history-nixons-secret-negotiations
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/agent-orange
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/us-moves-to-address-agent-orange-contamination-in-vietnam.html