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Agent orange world war 2
Agent orange history science and the politics
Agent orange world war 2
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Veterans who served anywhere in Vietnam between January 9th, 1962 and May 7th, 1975 are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. Agent Orange was a powerful mixture of chemical defoliants used by the U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover for North Vietnam and Vietnam troops. It was also used for crops. Agent Orange contained Chemical dioxin, which was the most commonly used of herbicide mixtures and was the most effective. 19 million gallons were sprayed over 4.5 million acres of land from 1961 to 1972. Agent Orange was a disease that affected Veterans who served in Vietnam. Even if you just stepped foot in Vietnam or you served on a ship while it operated on the island waterways of Vietnam you could still get Agent Orange. “Many recognized certain cancers and other health problems with exposure to Agent Orange during military service” (U.S Department of Veterans Affairs). This shows that Agent Orange caused diseases, many diseases. “Agent Orange reviled to cause serious health issues, tumors, birth defects, rashes, psychological symptoms, and cancer among returning U.S servicemen and their families as well as the Vietnamese population” (History.com). This states that Agent Orange was harmful to Vietnam Servicemen and their …show more content…
“Agent Orange removed the leaves of trees and other dense tropical foliage that provided enemy cover” (Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). This shows that in some ways Agent Orange was a good thing. “Agent Orange was not the commercial grade herbicides” (Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). This informs us that if the herbicides were a grade higher, the effects that the chemicals have on people would be worse. Agent Orange may of caused problems, but in some ways it
These applications include pesticide, herbicide, defoliating agent such as Agent Orange, cleaning agent and electrical insulation. Consequently, human exposure to dioxin is not a recent phenomenon and the dangers of dioxin are not unknown. Only in recent years, especially after the Vietnam War, has the media concentrated on the dangers and impact of dioxin. The physical effect of exposure to dioxin was first seen in skin diseases developed by chemical plant workers in 1895. Exposure to dioxin results in a type of skin disease like acne called "chloroacne," since its cause was initially and incorrectly linked to chlorine gas.
In the article, “A Legacy of Illness: The Healing Process Is Far From Done” by Amanda Spake, the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War is shown to be detrimental to Vietnam War veterans’ mental and physical health. The aftermath and effects of the agent did not and still does not receive the acknowledgment it deserves. The depth of the mental and physical distress of Vietnam veterans exposed to the agent is dismissed by the Veteran Administration, Department of Veteran Affairs and the general public. It is from this lack of awareness for the hardships of the veterans of the Vietnam War endangered by Agent Orange that their psychological and physical struggles stem.
On April 12, 1961, the first application of the chemical nicknamed Agent Orange was sprayed on Vietnamese foliage in an attempt to stop guerilla warfare, launching a herbicidal disaster ("Herbicidal Warfare"). The consequences of agent orange, unbeknownst to the former government officials, led to a series of catastrophic effects including, but not limited to neurobehavioral and physical anomalies of the human body. As a result of the lacking knowledge of Agent Orange, the United States and Vietnam are still cleaning up the herbicidal mess that could have been avoided (Magnuson). Decades later, scientific evidence proved that the use of the dioxin herbicide Agent Orange was linked to many physical and neurobehavior disorders (Poremba).
Why has the use of Agent Orange become so controversial? The Americans dropped the atomic bomb to end World War II and did not have the backlash that it had, and still has, with Agent Orange. The ver...
The mission, known as Operation Ranch Hand, involved spraying 20 million gallons of Agent Orange over roughly 3.6 million acres of Vietnamese land to remove forest cover, destroy crops, and clear vegetation from U.S. army bases (Vietnam War Herbicides).
"Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam." Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam. N.p., 1994. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. .
It was later known that the EPA or better known as the Environmental Protection Agency banned Agent Orange in the United States when a large number of birth of a baby who is born without any signs of life at or after 24 weeks of pregnancy were reported among mothers in Oregon, where Agent Orange had been heavily used (The Story of Agent Orange). Many Americans were outraged after finding out what Agent Orange has caused to their people. The Vietnam veterans cried for help from the Veterans Administration and usually the response was put on, but the veterans will not back down. These veterans would band together to have studies on the toxic herbicide and bring those studies to the government attention. Despite the veterans’ hard efforts, the
and N-Butyl Ester 2,4,5,-T, Agent Orange made many Vietnam soldiers go insane (Vietnam Veterans, 11-10-2000). This atrocious chemical lead and still today leads to death, deformation, and diabetes. Dr. Joel E. Michalek, who deals with statistics for the air force, was the first to notice a link between Agent Orange and diabetes. But the federal government was not willing “...to spend millions of dollars on such studies”.
Johnson, it was time to change the way we were distributing our forces to help aid the Southern Vietnamese military forces (History.com, 2010). The use of aircrafts first started out to transport wounded off the battlefield, but quickly turned into the use of different chemicals such as agent orange, to destroy brush for troops to travel through easier. Operation Rolling Thunder started out as just a discussion among those of higher ranking command, but on March 1965 the talk became action (Pike, 2016).
i. Difficulties faced by soldiers due to the nature of fighting in the Vietnam War - Personnel had difficulties with transportation supplied with adapted vehicles back seat faced rear to provide additional fire power (Source A) – It appears as if the government didn't worry enough to supply men with safe and capable equipment - Threat of traps led to fear as vehicles had to be parked on street at night (Source A) o Check for traps each morning became a daily ritual particularly in fuel tanks (Source A) o A request for a locking fuel cap was denied because weren’t entitled to one” (Source A) • What circumstances would have needed to arise for them to be entitled to one? The Offensive full guard was set up (24hrs a day), personnel got no sleep and were constantly on alert (Source A) – How significant would this have been in the personnel’s mental frame of mind?
The Vietnam War is one of the most important wars that America has taken place in especially since the United States had to draft over a million Americans citizens to fight Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Cong. The draft caused many citizens at home to become angry, therefore they began to protest against the war forming anti war movements which college students mainly participated in. The war had several different names like the American war and the Living Room War, since many families watched it on their televisions in their living rooms. In every war, both sides will have severe casualties, including the Vietnam War.
The U.S strategy against the Guerilla warfare of the Viet Cong consisted of using Agent orange, a deadly chemical that kills the plant life, to\kill the crops around them and flush the enemy out (Leepson 300). This strategy was flawed in two ways. It first failed to work quickly or efficiently enough because of an unwillingness of the enemy to come out. Secondly, the U.S was fighting the enemy on their terms in their territory. This gave the Gurillias a huge advantage by being able to hide in the Jungle and set ambushes and traps for the approaching enemy in the jungle.
The war effort in Vietnam was quite possibly one of the most controversial the United States has ever been involved in. Almost the entire country was divided over their thoughts, with the majority being against this war. The people of the United States weren’t always opposed to involvement in Vietnam, that is until the truth started leaking to the public. Over the course of roughly twenty years somewhere between one and two million Vietnamese lives alone were lost (Overview of the Vietnam War). The Vietnam war has become widely known as an American mistake. Over time the general population began to see the war for what it was: one of the deadliest, most corrupt, and hardest wars to fight that we’ve ever been involved in.
In comparison, “They also pointed out that factors other than exposure to the herbicide showed themselves as possible causes of some of the problems. These factors included alcohol consumption and heavy smoking.- the researchers said that they could not find among the ranch handers a set of symptoms or a pattern of symptoms to suggest a solid connection between present-day health problems and exposure to Agent Orange in the past (Dolan 76).” Although the damages of Agent Orange were given little attention, a few investigations and minor court cases attempted to settle the devastation. In an effort to research, “Maude De Victor tried to determine if Operation Ranch Hand aircraft sprayed ground
There was a point during Chemo treatments that I didn’t want to go on (with treatments) and cried out to the Lord in exhaustion wanting to stop, however, the Lord told me in my spirit that’s it ok to finish them and that He was with me. Not much longer I had two friends call me the same evening to say that the Lord wanted them to tell me “it’s almost over” One of them went as far to say it’s like the war in Iraq and how we already won it – the United States won the war but now we are putting out small fires here and there. She told me “you already won the war” knowing with God all things are possible, therefore now you’re putting out the small fires and encouraged me to go on. I was in awe how much the Lord really walked with me in all that,