Agent Orange

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Image:Agent Orange Cropdusting.jpgAgent Orange is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange was used from 1961 to 1971, and was by far the most used of the so-called "rainbow herbicides" used during the program. Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, Blue and Green) contained dioxins which caused serious harm to the health of exposed Vietnamese, South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and Americans, as well as their children and grandchildren. Dioxins are recognized as strong carcinogens and teratogens (meaning it causes birth defects, literally, monster-making) - which are persistent in the environment and in the human body. Since the 1980s, several lawsuits have been filed against the companies who produced Agent Orange, among them being Dow Chemical and Monsanto. U.S. veterans obtained $180 million in compensation in 1984, while Australian, Canadian and New Zealand veterans also obtained compensation in an out-of-court settlement the same year. In 1999, 20,000 South Koreans filed a lawsuit in Korea; in January 2006, the Korean Appeal Court ordered Monsanto and Dow to pay $62 million in compensation to about 6,800 people. However, the Vietnamese victims, by far the most affected, haven't yet obtained compensation, and a U.S. Appeal Court is due to examine their appeal in March 2006.

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Description

Agent Orange is a roughly 1:1 mixture of two phenoxy herbicides in ester form, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T). These herbicides were developed during the 1940s by independent teams in England and the United States for use in controlling broad-leaf plants. Phenoxy agents work by mimicking a plant growth hormone, indoleacetic acid (IAA). When sprayed on broad-leaf plants they induce rapid, uncontrolled growth, eventually killing them. When sprayed on crops such as wheat or corn, it selectively kills just the broad-leaf plants in the field - the weeds - leaving the crop relatively unaffected. First introduced in 1946, these herbicides were in widespread use in agriculture by the middle of the 1950s.

It was later learned that a dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD), is produced as a side effect of the manufacture of 2,4,5-T, and was thus present in any of the herbicides that used it. The National Toxicology Program has classified TCDD to be a human carcinogen, frequently associated with soft-tissue sarcoma, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). 2,4,5-T has since been banned for use in the US and many other countries.

The herbicide 2,4-D does not contain dioxin, and remains one of the most used herbicides in the world today.

Diseases associated with dioxin exposure are chloracne, soft tissue sarcomas, Hodgkin's disease, and non-Hodgkin's disease. Diseases with limited evidence of an association with Agent Orange are respiratory cancers, prostate cancer, multiple myeloma, Porphyria cutanea tarda (a type of skin disease), acute and subacute transient peripheral neuropathy, spina bifida, Type 2 diabetes, and acute myelogenous leukemia found only in the second or third generation. Diseases with inadequate or insufficent evidence of an association are hepatobiliary cancers, nasal or nasophargyngeal cancers, bone cancer, female reproductive cancers, renal cancer, testicular cancer, leukemia, spontaneous abortion, birth defects, neonatal or infant death and stillbirths, low birth weight, childhood cancers, abnormal sperm parameters, cognitive neuropsychiatric disorders, ataxia, peripheral nervous system disorders, circulatory disorders, respiratory disorders, skin cancers, urinary and bladder cancer. Diseases with limited or suggestive evidence of no association are gastrointestinal tumors such as stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer, and brain tumors.

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Use in Vietnam (1961-1971)

This section covers the use of all of the "rainbow" herbicides.

During the Vietnam War, the US instituted a massive herbicidal program that ran from 1961 through 1971. The aim of the program was two-fold, one to destroy the "cover" provided by the jungle-like forest, and another to deny food to the enemy. First named Operation Trail Dust, then Operation Hades, it was finally renamed Operation Ranch Hand.

A variety of chemicals, fifteen in total, were tested or used operationally during this program. The primary broad-leaf herbicides sprayed during the "testing" phase of the program between 1962 and 1964 were Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White. The chemicals themselves had no color; the names refer to colored stripes painted on the 55 gallon barrels to identify their contents. Much smaller amounts of other herbicides were also tested, including Agent Pink, Agent Green, Dinoxol, Trinoxol, Bromacil, Diquat, Tandex, Monuron, Diuron and Dalapon. Agent Blue was an unrelated herbicide based primarily on arsenic used to kill rice plants which were not susceptible to the phenoxy-based agents. A variety of Paraquat-related chemicals were apparently also tested in this role. For spraying, the various agents were mixed with kerosene or diesel fuel.

By 1964 the testing phase had ended, and Agent Orange was selected as the most effective agent for "territory denial". Operational use started in January 1965, increasing in breadth as logistical problems were solved. Most of Agent Orange sprayed during the program was delivered from modified US Air Force C-123K Provider aircraft under a program known as Operation Ranch Hand. Other delivery methods included helicopters, truck and hand spraying, notably for the areas directly around US bases. From 1968 on, an improved version known as "Orange II" or "Super Orange" was used as well.

Spraying reached its maximum during the most intense period of the war, between 1967 and 1968. After that the program "drew down", and ended in 1971. By this point an estimated 19 million gallons of herbicide had been sprayed on Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, somewhat more than half (55%) of that Agent Orange, between 1962 and 1971. Early estimates from 1974 had placed the amounts lower, between 12 and 14 million US gallons (45,000 and 53,000 m³). In total about 6 million acres (24,000 km²) were sprayed in Vietnam alone.

The military effectiveness of the program appears debatable. Many of the areas sprayed were not directly involved in later military actions. Of course, this could be considered as evidence for the effectiveness of the program. Nor does it appear there is any measurable effect on the warfighting abilities of the groups involved, the People's Army of Vietnam were able to mount full scale assaults in 1972 with little US intervention prior, which suggests that the program was, militarily, a failure. http://www.stopusa.be/scripts/texte.php?section=CL&langue=3&id=24471

http://www.monde-solidaire.org/spip/article.php3?id_article=2295

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Effects of the program

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The New Jersey Agent Orange Commission

In 1980, New Jersey created the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission, the first state commission created to study its effects. The Commission's research project in association with Rutgers University was called "The Pointman Project". It was disbanded by governor Christine Todd Whitman in 1996.

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The National Academy of Science 2003 report

An April 2003 report paid for by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that during the Vietnam War, 3,181 villages were sprayed directly with herbicides. Between 2.1 and 4.8 million people "would have been present during the spraying." Furthermore, many US military personnel were also sprayed or came in contact with herbicides in recently sprayed areas. The study was originally undertaken for the US military to get a better count of how many veterans served in sprayed areas and researchers were given access to military records and Air Force operational folders previously not studied. The re-estimate made by the report places the volume of herbicides sprayed between 1962 and 1971 to a level 7,131,907 liters more than an uncorrected estimate published in 1974 and 9.4 million more liters than a 1974 corrected inventory. It was produced under contract for the Army by Diamond Shamrock, Dow, Hercules, Monsanto, T-H Agricultural & Nutrition, Thompson Chemicals, and Uniroyal.

The National Academy of Sciences has also noted the harmful effects of the herbicides on US soldiers.

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Lawsuits

In 1984, Agent Orange manufacturers paid Australian, Canadian and New Zealand veterans in an out-of-court settlement <ref name=mercurynews>Template:Cite news</ref>.

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US Vietnamese victims class action lawsuit

On January 31, 2004, a victim's rights group, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), filed a class action lawsuit in a US Federal District Court in Brooklyn, New York, against several US companies, for liability in causing personal injury, by developing and producing the chemical. Dow Chemical and Monsanto were the two largest producers of Agent Orange for the US military, and were named in the suit along with eight other companies (Diamond Shamrock, Uniroyal, Thompson Chemicals, Hercules, etc.). A number of lawsuits by American GIs have been won in the years since the Vietnam War.

On March 10, 2005, the District Court judge Jack Weinstein - who had defended the US veterans victims of Agent Orange - dismissed the suit, ruling that there was no legal basis for the plaintiffs' claims. The judge concluded that Agent Orange was not considered a poison under international law at the time of its use by the US; that the US was not prohibited from using it as an herbicide; and that the companies which produced the substance were not liable for the method of its use by the government. The US government, which has sovereign immunity, had not been a target of the lawsuit. However, in 1984, chemical companies that manufactured Agent Orange paid $180 million into a fund for United States veterans following a lawsuit.

On September 30, 2005, the Vietnamese victims lodged an appeal; the Court of Appeal is due to examine it in March 2006. The funds gained should be used to finance the "Peace villages" in Vietnam, which each host between 50 to 100 victims, giving them medical and psychological help. As of 2006, they were 11 such Peace villages, thus granting some social protection to fewer than a thousand victims.

The VA has listed prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, multiple myeloma, type II diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, peripheral neuropathy, and spina bifida in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange as side effects of the herbicide.

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South Korean lawsuit

In 1999, about 20 000 South Koreans filed two separated lawsuits against US companies, seeking more than $5 billion in damages. After losing a decision in 2002, they made appeal. In January 2006, the South Korean Appeal Court ordered Dow Chemical and Monsanto to pay $62 million in compensation to about 6 800 people. The ruling acknowledged that "the defendants failed to ensure safety as the defoliants manufactured by the defendants had higher levels of dioxins than standard", and, quoting the U.S. National Academy of Science report, declared that there was a "causal relationship" between Agent Orange and 11 diseases, including cancers of the lung, larynx and prostate. However, the judges failed to acknowledge "the relationship between the chemical and peripheral neuropathy, the disease most widespread among Agent Orange victims" according to the Mercury News. South Koreans were the largest foreign contingent of US allies in Vietnam, contributing some 320 000 troops. It lost 5 077 soldiers and suffered 10 962 wounded, according to the Mercury News<ref name=mercurynews/>.

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Miscellaneous

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Cultural references

Due to its politically sensitive nature, Agent Orange has become a common topic for reference in popular culture.

For example, the songs "Orange Crush" by the group R.E.M and "Shadow of a Man" by Oysterhead, the album "Agent Orange" from German Thrash Metal band Sodom, and the punk band Agent Orange.

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Further reading

  • Weisman, Joan Murray. The Effects of Exposure to Agent Orange on the Intellectual Functioning, Academic Achievement, Visual Motor Skill, and Activity Level of the Offspring of Vietnam War Veterans. Doctoral thesis. Hofstra University. 1986.
  • Klein, Robert. Wounded Men, Broken Promises. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1981.
  • Uhl, Michael, and Tod Ensign. GI Guinea Pigs. 1st Ed. New York: Playboy Press, 1981.
  • Linedecker, Clifford, Michael Ryan, and Maureen Ryan. Kerry: Agent Orange and an American Family. New York: St. Martins Press, 1982.
  • Wilcox, Fred A. Waiting for an Army to Die. 1st ed. New York: Random House, 1983.
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Endnotes

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See also

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External links

de:Agent Orange es:Agente Naranja fr:Agent orange it:Agente Arancio ja:枯葉剤 pt:Agente laranja fi:Agent Orange sv:Agent Orange vi:Chất độc da cam

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