Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Agent Orange: US to clean up toxic Vietnam
War air base
Agent Orange was the most-used herbicide by
US military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest and crops for
their enemy, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. Over 90 million liters of herbicides,
such as Agent Orange, Agent Green, Agent Pink, and Agent purple, which were
produced by chemical companies like Dow Chemical and Monsanto, were used over Vietnam,
Cambodia, and Laos for ten years until 1971.
These herbicides contained deadly chemical dioxin.
Once exposed, it causes severe skin problems, diabetes, immune system and muscular
dysfunction, nerve disorders, or heart disease. It is also highly persistent and
lasts many years in the environment in soil, water and in the food chain. As a
result, increased rates of cancers and birth defects are linked to these deadly
herbicides. Several millions of Vietnamese were affected by the agent including
over 150,000 birth defects, according to the Vietnamese government.
Over four decades after the end of the war,
the US finally started cleaning up the most contaminated land by Agent Orange, Bien Hoa
airport, outside Ho Chi Minh City, where US air force based during the war. Why it
took so long to take such an action is not clear. But those chemical
manufacturers agreed to pay $180 million in compensation to US veterans 35
years ago.
Read the article and learn about this deadly
chemical used by the US military forces.
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