MoMo's Blogs: Agent Orange

Beginning in 1962, in the middle of the Vietnam War, the United States starting dropping an herbicide called Agent Orange in South Vietnam in an operation called Operation Ranch Hand. The purpose of this poison was to destroy enemy crops so they would not have food and it would be harder for them to hide. Approximately 6 million acres of South Vietnam were covered by this deadly toxin. The United States had no clue that this plant killer would also turn into a human killer, killing and harming many of their own soldiers.

Agent Orange contains one of the mostly deadly poisons: dioxin. It is half 2,4 Dicholorophenoxyacetic acid and half 2,4,5 Tricholorophenoxyacetic acid. It can enter the human body through contact with skin, inhalation, or most commonly ingestion through contaminated food or water. It received its name from the barrels they were kept in, which had an orange stripe around it.

Veterans of the Vietnam War have shown a higher chance of developing many diseases. Doctors have determined that this is from exposure to Agent Orange in the war. Some diseases that are common with veterans are: Al Amyloidosis, Chronic B-Cell Leukemia, Chloracne, Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, Hodgkin’s Disease, Ischemic Heart Disease, Multiple Myeloma, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Parkinson’s Disease, Peripheral Neuropathy (Acute and Subacute), Porphyria Cutanea Tarda, Prostate Cancer, Respiratory Cancers, and Soft Tissue Sarcomas. There is also an increase rate of birth defects in children of Vietnam Veterans. Most American soldiers have been able to receive some form of compensation but Vietnamese people who are suffering have received nothing. Not only are they suffering from diseases, but they lost homes, crops, livestock, etc.

In 1991, the Agent Orange Act was established. The Act stated that all of the above diseases could be caused by exposure. However, veterans had to prove that serving their country was how they got those diseases. More recently since President Obama has been in office, a new law was passed so that veterans don’t have to prove that is how they got those illnesses. The government assumes that any veteran that served in Vietnam from January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975, then they were definitely exposed and can receive compensation.

There are still many hot spots of Agent Orange in Vietnam today. Hot spots are areas where it is still highly concentrated and deadly. Many children in Vietnam are still being born with awful birth defects ranging from mental diseases to being born with deformities or without limbs. Also, a lot of the land has been permanently ruined. Tough grass that is useless to farmers has taken the place of what was once useful, nice grass.

One issue currently is that the government does not have a way to dispose of Agent Orange because it is so toxic. Currently it is being stored in a warehouse, but the cost to keep it in this warehouse is tremendous because the dioxin destroys the barrels that it is kept in, so it has to be placed in new barrels frequently. It cannot be buried or dumped anywhere without either seeping into waterlines, destroying plants, or ruining something else that could affect humans.

I decided to research this topic because it is close to me personally. My grandfather, Phil Williams, passed away on April 12, 2013 at the age of 73 after having several health complications due to exposure to the Dioxin in Agent Orange. These complications included Type 2 Diabetes, kidney failure, and liver cancer. He was first exposed to this deadly toxin after consuming water that had been contaminated by Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. The war has been over for 40 years and this is proof that veterans are still suffering from illnesses caused by Agent Orange. Just today, my grandmother found out she will not receive any form of money from the Veterans’ Affair for my grandfather’s death for another year.