Dioxins from Agent Orange have persisted in the Vietnamese environment since the war, settling in the soil and sediment and entering the food chain through animals and fish which feed in the contaminated areas. The movement of dioxins through the food web has resulted in bioconcentration and biomagnification.
Thankfully, the last several decades have seen major reforestation efforts in affected areas and forest density is steadily climbing towards pre-war levels.
Agent Orange has a short half-life of days and weeks after application to vegetation, and has not been found to persist, after 50 years, in the water or soils of southern Vietnam.
While the herbicide received a ban in 1971 and the U.S. destroyed all remaining inventory shortly after, there are still lingering effects present among veterans and Vietnamese people who lived in areas where the U.S. sprayed Agent Orange.
There are three major Dioxin hot spots in Vietnam, including the Da Nang air base in Central Vietnam, Bien Hoa Airbase in Bien Hoa City (25 km from Ho Chi Minh City), and Phu Cat Airbase in Qui Nhơn in Southern Vietnam. Samples collected from these significant hot spots demonstrated high concentrations of T.C.D.D.
The Agent Orange Registry health exam is a medical evaluation offered to qualifying veterans for free by VA that can alert you to illnesses commonly associated with Agent Orange and other dangerous herbicides.
About Agent Orange: Agent Orange was one of a class of color-coded herbicides that U.S. forces sprayed over the rural landscape in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 to defoliate trees and shrubs and kill food crops that were providing cover and food to opposition forces.
There is currently no definitive evidence that a father's exposure to Agent Orange causes birth defects. However, an analysis of Agent Orange registry data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) suggests a link between males' exposure to Agent Orange and having children with certain birth defects.
Obstacles to Reconciliation
“The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that three million Vietnamese have been affected by dioxin, including at least 150,000 children born after the war with serious birth defects,” said Wells-Dang, referring to the toxic chemical in Agent Orange.
U.S. animal tests show that genetic damage from dioxin in Agent Orange can be passed on to offspring, but species vary widely in how susceptible they are.
According to military estimates of herbicide use, 90 percent of Agent Orange was used in Ranch Hand forest defoliation missions; 8 percent was used in Ranch Hand crop destruction missions; and 2 percent was sprayed from the ground around base perimeters and cache sites, waterways, and communication lines (NAS, 1974).
The half-life of dioxins in the soil is from 60 to 80 years, and at the same time, it persists for a long time in the environment, seeps into the soil and sediments, and migrates into vegetation and aquatic life, leading to bioaccumulation in the soil and food chain [2,9,44].
“Going into Agent Orange was like it had a musty smell to it. It was a reddish-brown-colored fog that would be in the air,” said Dudich, who served much of his first tour with troops of the Republic of Vietnam.
The Da Nang airbase was a major Ranch Hand facility during the American War in Vietnam. Nearly 11 million liters of Agent Orange were handled on the base.
Sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail still exist today, and parts of it have been incorporated into the Ho Chi Minh Highway, a paved road that connects the north and south regions of Vietnam.
A military government was instituted, and on July 2, 1976, the country was officially united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with its capital in Hanoi. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
During the 11-year campaign, approximately 2.7 million American men and woman served; of those, 58,220 died and 153,000 were wounded. Today, there are fewer than 850,000 living Vietnam War veterans, many of whom who are eligible for VA benefits.
During its operation, the Settlement Fund distributed a total of $197 million in cash payments to members of the class in the United States. Of the 105,000 claims received by the Payment Program, approximately 52,000 Vietnam Veterans or their survivors received cash payments which averaged about $3,800 each.
VA has recognized certain cancers and other health problems as presumptive diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides during military service. Veterans and their survivors may be eligible for benefits for these diseases. A type of cancer which affects white blood cells.
The recent Ranch Hand study (Henriksen et al., 1996) also reported a relatively small decrease in testosterone in relation to increased dioxin level. The study found no association with sperm count or percentage of abnormal sperm.
Common Birth Defects Caused by Agent Orange
The chemical in Agent Orange, Dioxin, can cause developmental abnormalities in a developing fetus. The Dixion is stored in the fatty cells and can be passed to the mother and unborn fetus through the sperm.
Studying a small number of sperm samples from veterans enrolled in the AFHS, we did not find evidence of significant epigenome-wide alterations associated with exposure to Agent Orange. However, additional analysis showed that the H19 gene region is altered in the sperm of Agent Orange-exposed Ranch Hand veterans.
In 2011, the United States local press KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, alleged that in 1978 the United States Army had buried 250 drums of Agent Orange in Camp Carroll, the U.S. Army base in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea.
Answer and Explanation: Yes, Agent Orange was used in Chu Lai, Vietnam, during the war. This region was once the home to millions of troops, who were stationed in Chu Lai before receiving further orders.
Concerns have been expressed about the Department of Defense's (DOD) use of Agent Orange, a herbicide, in Vietnam because it contains the highly toxic contaminant dioxin. From August 1965 to 1971, DOD sprayed 11.22 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam, with about 3 gallons per acre sprayed undiluted.