History of Agent Orange
Agent Orange is a chemical defoliant introduced in agriculture in 1946 as an herbicide to aid farmers and was used accordingly throughout 1950, after which its production was switched solely for military uses under the Defense Production Act of 1950. Since then, even though ingredients were commercially available and accessible to the public, mass production became heavily regulated and only a handful of the US Chemical manufacturing companies were able to produce it. Agent Orange derives its name from the distinctive orange bands that were used by the military to mark Agent Orange storage containers in which it was transported, rather than from the color of the substance itself. British Military was the first to use Agent Orange in warfare in Malaya. Later, it was used by the US in the Republic of Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 during the Vietnam conflict. It was used as a defoliant and herbicide in Vietnam to deny the enemy use of jungle foliage, for cover and concealment, and to disrupt food production used to sustain the enemy force (Committee on Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure. (2011). Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure. The National Academies Press.).
Agent Orange is a dangerous pollutant that has caused countless birth defects and cancers in both the Vietnamese civilian populous and the U.S. military personnel that served on land and in brown-water navy units that were responsible for intercostal riverine operations in the Republic of Vietnam. The extent to which US military members were exposed to Agent Orange is still a matter of debate and congressional inquiries to this date over 40 years after its employment on the battlefield ended.
Agent Orange w...
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... of the enemy but from our own efforts to win the war.
Works Cited
Committee on Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure. (2011). Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure. The National Academies Press.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health . (2007). DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2005-149. In DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2005-149 (p. 298).
Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2012). Article Title. In Veterans and agent orange: Update 2012 (pp. 1-1). National Academies Press.
U.S Department of Veterans Affairs. (2014, 03 18). Veterans' Diseases Associated with Agent Orange. Retrieved from Veterans' Diseases Associated with Agent Orange: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/index.asp
3Brophy, L. (1959). The Chemical Warfare Service (1st ed.). Washington: Office of the Chief of
This paper is about what chemical agent being employed during the attack of Yichang during the Sin-Japanese war in 1940 and which side of the conflict or both would employ it. What type of agent that was used if any? Employment methods used to disperse the chemical agent in wartime. Finally, I examined situations in which the agent would be employed by military forces to gain maximum effectiveness. A brief description of Unit 731, its commander, and a bit about what the kinds has been explained. Next key point is a brief summary of the actual war previous to the incident usage, and the attack itself. The war is followed by research on the chemical actually used during the course of the paper a slight background of the war and. Next explained is the main battle where the chemical was found to be employed. Afterwards the chemical mustard gas is detailed in prosperities and symptoms.
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).
Warwick, Hugh. “Agent Orange: The Poisoning of Vietnam.” The Ecologist v28 no. 5. 1998: 264-265.
Napalm and Agent Orange, two of the most morally terrifying weapons used in the mid to late 1900’s. These destructive weapons were most famous in the Vietnam War for inflicting fatal wounds and even deformities. In world war two, napalm was mostly used in tanks and incendiary bombs to destroy enemy ground troops. These were extremely effective and later used in planes like bombers. The word napalm comes from the combination of naphthene and palmitate, which are powdered aluminum soap. It was invented in a top-secret 1942 war research collaboration between Harvard University and the U.S. government, used to devastating effect in Europe and the Pacific in World War II most notably to incinerate 64 of Japan’s largest cities and in most major military conflicts after 1945, notably in Korea and Vietnam (Thompson). Agent Orange was later introduced in the Vietnam War. In the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese people there started with little of anything to begin with. The Northern people of Vietnam joined communism because they were
"Chemical Warfare Agents - Resources on the health effects from chemical weapons, emergency response & treatment, counterterrorism, and emergency preparedness.au.af." Specialized Information Services - Reliable information on toxicology, environmental health, chemistry, HIV/AIDS, and minority health. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
"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. .
Vietnam Veterans of America, Agent Orange, “VVA Sues VA Over AO Comp. Rules”. Washington, D.C., December 1986.
Fries, A. A., & West, C. J. (1921). Chemical warfare,. New York [etc.: McGraw-Hill book company, inc..
Health effects are prominent in Vietnam veterans but denied by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. As reported in the American Legion Magazine, “The defoliant also is believed to have poisoned many people who handled it or passed through sprayed locations. After the war, a conspicuous percentage of veterans contracted various cancers or diabetes, and birth defects occurred at high rate among their children, VA compensation and care were denied (Carroll).” Denial of these severe diseases and unnatural occurrences by the VA could be construed as a cover-up for the government’s mistake or a truthful disconnect of Agent Orange and the diseases. Research has shown, “Dioxin has been found to be a carcinogen associated with Parkinson’s disease,
US Enviromental Protection Agency. (2010, December 13). Retrieved January 20, 2011, from US EPA Human Health: http://cfpub.epa.gov/eroe/index.cfm?fuseaction=list.listByChapter&ch=49
Boffey, Philip. "Agent Orange in Vietnam 30 Years Later" New York Times 8 September 1998
The Vietnam and other wars have mentally and sometimes physically dismembered many veterans. Another factor that plays a role in a war-related suicide is the addition of many on-site diseases such as defoliants, Agent Orange in particular. Made up of equal parts N-Butyl Ester 2,4,-D 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”. Dr. Michael Gough, a retired biologist was quoted as saying “the conclusion I’ve come to is that there is no evidence whatsoever to support any connection between low-level dioxin exposure and any human disease”. Some say they will not do research because it is another thing “...that will be linked to the health complaints of Vietnam veterans” (Kolata, A16). There is hope still. In 1996, Clinton ordered disability benefits for Vietnam veterans suffering from prostate cancer and nerve disease associated with Agent Orange. Eventually, the government will fund more and more diseases for those who served in the war and were exposed to the substances.
...s - Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.