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Agent Orange Effect

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Agent Orange was a highly poisonous herbicide used during the Vietnam War for defoliation of forests and crop destruction (“agent orange”). Agent Orange is one of the many Rainbow herbicides such as Agent Pink, Agent Green, Agent White, Agent Purple, and Agent Blue used during the war. These herbicides got their colorful names due to the color-coded stripes painted on the fifty-five gallon drums they were stored in (“What is Agent Orange?).
Millions of gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed from low flying U.S. planes during a military operation called Ranch Hand (“Agent Orange I”). The United States used Agent Orange to defoliate forest areas where Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers found cover in the thick jungles of South Vietnam …show more content…

James Clary when they initiated the herbicide they knew of the potential damage due to dioxin contamination. However no one was concerned because it was only to be used on the enemy. They didn’t imagine their own personnel would be affected. In 1979 outraged veterans issued a lawsuit against the United States government because of all the effects they were experiencing. Five years later in an out of court agreement seven large chemical companies that manufactured Agent Orange offered to give 180 million dollars to all the Vietnam veterans or their next of kin. By 1988 the amount of money changed to 240 million dollars with interest. Any Veteran anywhere in the Vietnam War was most likely exposed to Agent Orange (Erickson). However in 1991 President Bush signed the Agent Orange Act saying that veterans with health issues as a result of the dioxins would be treated for free, as a thank you for their service to America (“Agent Orange …show more content…

Many Vietnamese people were affected as well. According to Vietnamese officials nearly 400,000 people were killed or maimed by the dioxins. They also claim that half a million children have been born with birth defects and two million people got cancer or other illnesses because of the dioxin. Not to mention the thousands of square miles of damaged terrain. Fred Wilcox says that America will not compensate Vietnam for the damages because they would be admitting to committing war crimes during the Vietnam War which would open the doors to many lawsuits and a loss of billions of dollars (Legacy of Agent Orange in

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