U.S. Army Huey helicopter spraying Agent Orange over agricultural land during the Vietnam War
Agent Orange is a herbicide and defoliant chemical, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It is widely known for its use by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It is a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. In addition to its damaging environmental effects, traces of dioxin (mainly TCDD, the most toxic of its type) found in the mixture have caused major health problems for many individuals who were exposed.
Up to four million people in Vietnam
were exposed to the defoliant. The government of Vietnam says as many
as 3 million people have suffered illnesses because of Agent Orange. The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems as a result of Agent Orange contamination. The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable. The chemical is capable of damaging genes, resulting in deformities among the offspring of exposed victims. The U.S. government has documented higher cases of leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and various kinds of cancer in exposed veterans. Agent Orange also caused enormous environmental damage in Vietnam. Over 3,100,000 hectares (31,000 km2 or 11,969 mi2) of forest were defoliated. Defoliants eroded tree cover and seedling forest stock, making reforestation difficult in numerous areas. Animal species diversity sharply reduced in contrast with unsprayed areas.
The aftermath of the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam resulted in massive legal consequences. The United Nations ratified United Nations General Assembly Resolution 31/72 and the Environmental Modification Convention. Lawsuits filed on behalf of both US and Vietnamese veterans sought compensation for damages.
Agent Orange was to a lesser extent used outside Vietnam. Land in neighbouring Laos and Cambodia was also sprayed with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War because forests on the border with Vietnam were used by the Viet Cong. Some countries, such as Canada, saw testing, while other countries, such as Brazil, used the herbicide to clear out sections of land for agriculture.
Chemical composition
(1,4)dioxine_200.svg)
2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)
2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T)
The active ingredient of Agent Orange was an equal mixture of two phenoxy herbicides – 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) – in iso-octyl ester form, which contained traces of the dioxin 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD).
TCDD was a trace (typically 2-3 ppm, but ranging from 50 ppb to 50 ppm),
but significant contaminant of Agent Orange. TCDD is the most toxic of
the dioxins, and is classified as a human carcinogen by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
If not bound chemically to a biological surface such as soil,
leaves or grass, Agent Orange dries quickly after spraying and breaks
down within hours to days when exposed to sunlight and is no longer
harmful.
Toxicology
Due to its fat-soluble nature, TCDD enters the body through physical contact or ingestion. Dioxin easily accumulates in the food chain. Dioxin enters the body by attaching to a protein called the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a transcription factor. When TCDD binds to AhR, the protein moves to the nucleus, where it influences gene expression.
Development
Several herbicides were discovered as part of efforts by the US and the British to develop herbicidal weapons for use during World War II. These included 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid), 2,4,5-T (coded LN-14, and also known as trioxone), MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid, 1414B and 1414A, recoded LN-8 and LN-32), and isopropyl phenylcarbamate (1313, recoded LN-33).
In 1943, the U.S. Department of the Army contracted the botanist and bioethicist Arthur Galston, who discovered the defoliants later used in Agent Orange, and his employer University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign to study the effects of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on cereal grains (including rice) and broadleaf crops. Galston, then a graduate student at the University of Illinois, in his research and 1943 Ph.D. dissertation focused on finding a chemical means to make soybeans flower and fruit earlier. He discovered both that 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) would speed up the flowering of soybeans and that in higher concentrations it would defoliate the soybeans.
From these studies arose the concept of using aerial applications of
herbicides to destroy enemy crops to disrupt their food supply. In early
1945, the U.S. Army ran tests of various 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T mixtures at
the Bushnell Army Airfield in Florida. As a result, the U.S. began a full-scale production of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and would have used it against Japan in 1946 during Operation Downfall if the war had continued.
By the end of the war, the relationship between the two countries
was well established. In the years after the war, the U.S. tested 1,100
compounds, and field trials of the more promising ones were done at
British stations in India and Australia, in order to establish their
effects in tropical conditions, as well as at the U.S.'s testing ground
in Florida.
Between 1950 and 1952, trials were conducted in Tanganyika, at Kikore and Stunyansa, to test arboricides and defoliants under tropical conditions. The chemicals involved were 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, and endothall
(3,6-endoxohexahydrophthalic acid). During 1952–53, the unit supervised
the aerial spraying of 2,4,5-T over the Waturi peninsula in Kenya to
assess the value of defoliants in the eradication of tsetse fly.
Early use
During the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960), Britain was the first nation to employ the use of herbicides and defoliants
to destroy bushes, trees, and vegetation to deprive insurgents of
concealment and targeting food crops as part of a starvation campaign in
the early 1950s.
A detailed account of how the British experimented with the spraying of
herbicides was written by two scientists, E.K. Woodford of Agricultural Research Council's Unit of Experimental Agronomy and H.G.H. Kearns of the University of Bristol.
After the Malayan conflict ended in 1960, the U.S. considered the
British precedent in deciding that the use of defoliants was a legal tactic of warfare. Secretary of State Dean Rusk advised President John F. Kennedy that the British had established a precedent for warfare with herbicides in Malaya.
Use in the Vietnam War
Map showing locations of U.S. Army aerial herbicide spray missions in South Vietnam taking place from 1965 to 1971.
In mid-1961, President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam asked the United States to conduct aerial herbicide spraying in his country. In August of that year, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force conducted herbicide operations with American help. But Diem's request launched a policy debate in the White House and the State and Defense Departments.
However, U.S. officials considered using it, pointing out that the
British had already used herbicides and defoliants during the Malayan
Emergency in the 1950s. In November 1961, President John F. Kennedy authorized the start of Operation Ranch Hand, the codename for the U.S. Air Force's herbicide program in Vietnam.
During the Vietnam War, between 1962 and 1971, the United States military sprayed nearly 20,000,000 U.S. gallons (76,000 m3) of various chemicals – the "rainbow herbicides" and defoliants – in Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia as part of the aerial defoliation program known as Operation Ranch Hand,
reaching its peak from 1967 to 1969. For comparison purposes, an
olympic size pool holds approximately 660,000 U.S. gal (2,500 m3).
As the British did in Malaya, the goal of the US was to defoliate
rural/forested land, depriving guerrillas of food and concealment and
clearing sensitive areas such as around base perimeters. The program was also a part of a general policy of forced draft urbanization,
which aimed to destroy the ability of peasants to support themselves in
the countryside, forcing them to flee to the U.S.-dominated cities,
depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base.
Agent Orange was usually sprayed from helicopters or from low-flying C-123 Provider
aircraft, fitted with sprayers and "MC-1 Hourglass" pump systems and
1,000 U.S. gallons (3,800 L) chemical tanks. Spray runs were also
conducted from trucks, boats, and backpack sprayers.
The first batch of herbicides was unloaded at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam, on January 9, 1962. U.S. Air Force records show at least 6,542 spraying missions took place over the course of Operation Ranch Hand.
By 1971, 12 percent of the total area of South Vietnam had been sprayed
with defoliating chemicals, at an average concentration of 13 times the
recommended U.S. Department of Agriculture application rate for domestic use. In South Vietnam alone, an estimated 39,000 square miles (10,000,000 ha) of agricultural land was ultimately destroyed. In some areas, TCDD concentrations in soil and water were hundreds of times greater than the levels considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The campaign destroyed 20,000 square kilometres (5×106 acres) of upland and mangrove forests and thousands of square kilometres of crops. Overall, more than 20% of South Vietnam's forests were sprayed at least once over a nine-year period.
In 1965, members of the U.S. Congress
were told "crop destruction is understood to be the more important
purpose ... but the emphasis is usually given to the jungle defoliation
in public mention of the program." Military personnel
were told they were destroying crops because they were going to be used
to feed guerrillas. They later discovered nearly all of the food they
had been destroying was not being produced for guerrillas; it was, in
reality, only being grown to support the local civilian population. For
example, in Quang Ngai province, 85% of the crop lands were scheduled to
be destroyed in 1970 alone. This contributed to widespread famine,
leaving hundreds of thousands of people malnourished or starving.
The U.S. military began targeting food crops in October 1962, primarily using Agent Blue;
the American public was not made aware of the crop destruction programs
until 1965 (and it was then believed that crop spraying had begun that
spring). In 1965, 42 percent of all herbicide spraying was dedicated to
food crops. The first official acknowledgement of the programs came from
the State Department in March 1966.
Many experts at the time, including Arthur Galston,
opposed herbicidal warfare due to concerns about the side effects to
humans and the environment by indiscriminately spraying the chemical
over a wide area. As early as 1966, resolutions were introduced to the United Nations charging that the U.S. was violating the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which regulated the use of chemical and biological weapons. The U.S. defeated most of the resolutions,
arguing that Agent Orange was not a chemical or a biological weapon as
it was considered a herbicide and a defoliant and it was used in effort
to destroy plant crops and to deprive the enemy of concealment and not
meant to target human beings. The U.S. delegation argued that a weapon,
by definition, is any device used to injure, defeat, or destroy living
beings, structures, or systems, and Agent Orange did not qualify under
that definition. It also argued that if the U.S. were to be charged for
using Agent Orange, then Britain and its Commonwealth nations should be
charged since they also used it widely during the Malayan Emergency in
the 1950s.
In 1969, Britain commented on the draft Resolution 2603 (XXIV): "The
evidence seems to us to be notably inadequate for the assertion that the
use in war of chemical substances specifically toxic to plants is
prohibited by international law."
Stacks of 200 L (55 gallon) drums containing Agent Orange.
Defoliant spray run, part of Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War by UC-123B Provider aircraft.
U.S. Army armored personnel carrier (APC) spraying Agent Orange over Vietnamese rice fields during the Vietnam War.
A UH-1D helicopter from the 336th Aviation Company sprays a defoliation agent over farmland in the Mekong Delta.
Health effects
Vietnamese people
The government of Vietnam says that 4 million of its citizens were
exposed to Agent Orange, and as many as 3 million have suffered
illnesses because of it; these figures include their children who were
exposed. The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to contaminated Agent Orange. The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable.
According to a study by Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhan, children in the
areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected and have multiple
health problems, including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias,
and extra fingers and toes. In the 1970s, high levels of dioxin were found in the breast milk of South Vietnamese women, and in the blood of U.S. military personnel who had served in Vietnam. The most affected zones are the mountainous area along Truong Son
(Long Mountains) and the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. The
affected residents are living in substandard conditions with many genetic diseases.
In 2006, Anh Duc Ngo and colleagues of the University of Texas Health Science Center published a meta-analysis
that exposed a large amount of heterogeneity (different findings)
between studies, a finding consistent with a lack of consensus on the
issue. Despite this, statistical analysis of the studies they examined resulted in data that the increase in birth defects/relative risk
(RR) from exposure to agent orange/dioxin "appears" to be on the order
of 3 in Vietnamese-funded studies, but 1.29 in the rest of the world.
There is data near the threshold of statistical significance suggesting Agent Orange contributes to still-births, cleft palate, and neural tube defects, with spina bifida being the most statistically significant defect.
The large discrepancy in RR between Vietnamese studies and those in the
rest of the world has been ascribed to bias in the Vietnamese studies.
It is estimated that about 400,000 Vietnamese were killed by agent orange poisoning.
28 of the former U.S. military bases in Vietnam where the
herbicides were stored and loaded onto airplanes may still have high
levels of dioxins in the soil, posing a health threat to the surrounding
communities. Extensive testing for dioxin contamination has been
conducted at the former U.S. airbases in Danang, Phù Cát District and Biên Hòa. Some of the soil and sediment on the bases have extremely high levels of dioxin requiring remediation. The Da Nang Air Base has dioxin contamination up to 350 times higher than international recommendations for action.
The contaminated soil and sediment continue to affect the citizens of
Vietnam, poisoning their food chain and causing illnesses, serious skin
diseases and a variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx, and prostate.
A person with birth deformities associated with prenatal exposure to Agent Orange
Major Tự Đức Phang was exposed to dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange.
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U.S. veterans
National Academy of Medicine
Starting in the early 1990s, the federal government directed the Institute of Medicine (IOM), now known as the National Academy of Medicine,
to issue reports every 2 years on the health effects of Agent Orange
and similar herbicides. First published in 1994 and titled Veterans and
Agent Orange, the IOM reports assess the risk of both cancer and
non-cancer health effects. Each health effect is categorized by evidence
of association based on available research data.
In the last update, titled Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2014
(and published in 2016), the links between Agent Orange exposure and
cancer were listed as shown. (Note that this table shows only cancers.)
Other health effects are listed in the next section.)
IOM: Links Between Herbicides (Including Agent Orange) and Cancer
Sufficient evidence of an association
Soft
tissue sarcoma; Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); Hodgkin disease; Chronic
lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); including hairy cell leukemia and other
chronic B-cell leukemias
Limited/suggestive evidence of an association
Respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, trachea, larynx); Prostate cancer; Multiple myeloma; Bladder cancer
Inadequate/insufficient evidence to determine whether an association exists
Mouth,
throat, and sinus cancers; Gastrointestinal cancers (esophagus,
stomach, pancreas, colon, rectum); Liver, gallbladder, and bile duct
cancers; Bone and joint cancers; Skin cancers; Breast cancer; Female
reproductive cancers (cervical, ovarian, endometrial, uterine sarcoma);
Testicular and penile cancers; Kidney cancer; Brain tumors; Cancers of
endocrine glands (thyroid, thymus, etc.); Leukemia (other than CLL and
hairy cell leukemia); Cancers at all other sites
Cancer (including leukemia) in the children of veteran
US Public Health Service, CDC and VA
Publications by the Public Health Service
have shown that Vietnam veterans, overall, have increased rates of
cancer, and nerve, digestive, skin, and respiratory disorders. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention notes that in particular, there are higher rates of acute/chronic leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, throat cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, Ischemic heart disease, soft tissue sarcoma and liver cancer. With the exception of liver cancer, these are the same conditions the U.S. Veterans Administration
has determined may be associated with exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin,
and are on the list of conditions eligible for compensation and
treatment.
Military personnel who were involved in storage, mixture and
transportation (including aircraft mechanics), and actual use of the
chemicals were probably among those who received the heaviest exposures. Military members who served on Okinawa also claim to have been exposed to the chemical but there is no verifiable evidence to corroborate these claims.
Some studies have suggested that veterans exposed to Agent Orange may be more at risk of developing prostate cancer and potentially more than twice as likely to develop higher-grade, more lethal prostate cancers.
However, a critical analysis of these studies and 35 others
consistently found that there was no significant increase in prostate
cancer incidence or mortality in those exposed to Agent Orange or
2,3,7,8-tetracholorodibenzo-p-dioxin, itself. Furthermore, the National Academy of Medicine
(NAM, formerly the Institute of Medicine (IoM)), which since 1994 has
been congressionally mandated to conduct a comprehensive evaluation
every two years of any research and data related to the health outcomes
associated with Agent Orange, has repeatedly concluded that any evidence
suggestive of an association between Agent Orange and prostate cancer
is, "limited because chance, bias, and confounding could not be ruled
out with confidence."
While in Vietnam, the veterans were told not to worry, and were persuaded the chemical was harmless.
After returning home, Vietnam veterans began to suspect their ill
health or the instances of their wives having miscarriages or children
born with birth defects might be related to Agent Orange and the other
toxic herbicides to which they had been exposed in Vietnam. Veterans
began to file claims in 1977 to the Department of Veterans Affairs
for disability payments for health care for conditions they believed
were associated with exposure to Agent Orange, or more specifically,
dioxin, but their claims were denied unless they could prove the
condition began when they were in the service or within one year of
their discharge.
In order to qualify for compensation, veterans must have served on or
near the perimeters of military bases in Thailand during the Vietnam
Era, where herbicides were tested and stored outside of Vietnam,
Veterans who were crew members on C-123 planes flown after the Vietnam
War, or were associated with Department of Defense (DoD) projects to
test, dispose of, or store herbicides in the U.S.
By April 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs had compensated
only 486 victims, although it had received disability claims from
39,419 soldiers who had been exposed to Agent Orange while serving in
Vietnam.
Ecological impact
Mangrove forests, like the top one east of Saigon, were often destroyed by herbicides.
About 17.8 percent—3,100,000 hectares (31,000 km2;
12,000 sq mi)—of the total forested area of Vietnam was sprayed during
the war, which disrupted the ecological equilibrium. The persistent
nature of dioxins, erosion caused by loss of tree cover, and loss of
seedling forest stock meant that reforestation was difficult (or
impossible) in many areas. Many defoliated forest areas were quickly invaded by aggressive pioneer species (such as bamboo and cogon grass), making forest regeneration difficult and unlikely. Animal-species diversity was also impacted; in one study a Harvard biologist found 24 species of birds and five species of mammals
in a sprayed forest, while in two adjacent sections of unsprayed forest
there were 145 and 170 species of birds and 30 and 55 species of
mammals.
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. The areas most heavily contaminated with dioxins are former U.S. air bases.
Sociopolitical impact
American policy during the Vietnam War was to destroy crops, accepting the sociopolitical impact that that would have. The RAND Corporation's Memorandum 5446-ISA/ARPA
states: "the fact that the VC [the Vietcong] obtain most of their food
from the neutral rural population dictates the destruction of civilian
crops ... if they are to be hampered by the crop destruction program, it
will be necessary to destroy large portions of the rural economy –
probably 50% or more".
Crops were deliberately sprayed with Agent Orange, areas were bulldozed
clear of vegetation, and the rural population was subjected to bombing
and artillery fire. In consequence, the urban population in South
Vietnam nearly tripled, growing from 2.8 million people in 1958 to 8
million by 1971. The rapid flow of people led to a fast-paced and
uncontrolled urbanization; an estimated 1.5 million people were living
in Saigon slums due to people moving to cities.
Legal and diplomatic proceedings
International
The extensive environmental damage that resulted from usage of the herbicide prompted the United Nations to pass Resolution 31/72 and ratify the Environmental Modification Convention.
Many states do not regard this as a complete ban on the use of
herbicides and defoliants in warfare but it does require case-by-case
consideration.
In the Conference on Disarmament,
Article 2(4) Protocol III of the weaponry convention contains "The
Jungle Exception", which prohibits states from attacking forests or
jungles "except if such natural elements are used to cover, conceal or
camouflage combatants or military objectives or are military objectives
themselves". This exception voids any protection of any military and
civilian personnel from a napalm attack or something like Agent Orange
and is clear that it was designed to cover situations like U.S. tactics
in Vietnam.
U.S. veterans class action lawsuit against manufacturers
Since at least 1978, several lawsuits have been filed against the companies which produced Agent Orange, among them Dow Chemical, Monsanto, and Diamond Shamrock.
Attorney Hy Mayerson was an early pioneer in Agent Orange litigation, working with environmental attorney Victor Yannacone in 1980 on the first class-action suits against wartime manufacturers of Agent Orange. In meeting Dr. Ronald A. Codario,
one of the first civilian doctors to see affected patients, Mayerson,
so impressed by the fact a physician would show so much interest in a
Vietnam veteran, forwarded more than a thousand pages of information on
Agent Orange and the effects of dioxin on animals and humans to Codario's office the day after he was first contacted by the doctor. The corporate defendants sought to escape culpability by blaming everything on the U.S. government.
Mayerson, with Sgt. Charles E. Hartz as their principal client, filed the first US Agent Orange class-action lawsuit, in Pennsylvania in 1980, for the injuries military personnel in Vietnam suffered through exposure to toxic dioxins in the defoliant. Attorney Mayerson co-wrote the brief that certified the Agent Orange Product Liability action as a class action, the largest ever filed as of its filing. Hartz's deposition was one of the first ever taken in America, and the first for an Agent Orange trial, for the purpose of preserving testimony at trial, as it was understood that Hartz would not live to see the trial because of a brain tumor that began to develop while he was a member of Tiger Force, special forces, and LRRPs in Vietnam.
The firm also located and supplied critical research to the Veterans'
lead expert, Dr. Codario, including about 100 articles from toxicology
journals dating back more than a decade, as well as data about where
herbicides had been sprayed, what the effects of dioxin had been on
animals and humans, and every accident in factories where herbicides
were produced or dioxin was a contaminant of some chemical reaction.
The chemical companies involved denied that there was a link
between Agent Orange and the veterans' medical problems. However, on May
7, 1984, seven chemical companies settled the class-action suit out of
court just hours before jury selection was to begin. The companies
agreed to pay $180 million as compensation if the veterans dropped all
claims against them. Slightly over 45% of the sum was ordered to be paid by Monsanto alone.
Many veterans who were victims of Agent Orange exposure were outraged
the case had been settled instead of going to court, and felt they had
been betrayed by the lawyers. "Fairness Hearings" were held in five
major American cities, where veterans and their families discussed their
reactions to the settlement, and condemned the actions of the lawyers
and courts, demanding the case be heard before a jury of their peers.
Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein
refused the appeals, claiming the settlement was "fair and just". By
1989, the veterans' fears were confirmed when it was decided how the
money from the settlement would be paid out. A totally disabled Vietnam
veteran would receive a maximum of $12,000 spread out over the course of
10 years. Furthermore, by accepting the settlement payments, disabled
veterans would become ineligible for many state benefits that provided
far more monetary support than the settlement, such as food stamps, public assistance, and government pensions. A widow of a Vietnam veteran who died of Agent Orange exposure would only receive $3700.
In 2004, Monsanto spokesman Jill Montgomery said Monsanto should
not be liable at all for injuries or deaths caused by Agent Orange,
saying: "We are sympathetic with people who believe they have been
injured and understand their concern to find the cause, but reliable
scientific evidence indicates that Agent Orange is not the cause of
serious long-term health effects."
New Jersey Agent Orange Commission
In 1980, New Jersey
created the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission, the first state
commission created to study its effects. The commission's research
project in association with Rutgers University was called "The Pointman Project". It was disbanded by Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 1996.
During Pointman I, commission researchers devised ways to
determine small dioxin levels in blood. Prior to this, such levels could
only be found in the adipose (fat) tissue. The project studied dioxin (TCDD)
levels in blood as well as in adipose tissue in a small group of
Vietnam veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange and compared them
to those of a matched control group; the levels were found to be higher
in the former group.
The second phase of the project continued to examine and compare dioxin levels in various groups of Vietnam veterans, including Army, Marines and brown water riverboat Navy personnel.
U.S. Congress
In 1991, Congress enacted the Agent Orange Act, giving the Department of Veterans Affairs
the authority to declare certain conditions "presumptive" to exposure
to Agent Orange/dioxin, making these veterans who served in Vietnam
eligible to receive treatment and compensation for these conditions. The same law required the National Academy of Sciences to periodically review the science on dioxin and herbicides used in Vietnam to inform the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
about the strength of the scientific evidence showing association
between exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin and certain conditions.
The authority for the National Academy of Sciences reviews and addition
of any new diseases to the presumptive list by the VA is expiring in
2015 under the sunset clause of the Agent Orange Act of 1991.
Through this process, the list of 'presumptive' conditions has grown
since 1991, and currently the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has
listed prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, multiple myeloma, type II diabetes mellitus, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, peripheral neuropathy, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and spina bifida
in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange as conditions
associated with exposure to the herbicide. This list now includes B cell
leukemias, such as hairy cell leukemia, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease,
these last three having been added on August 31, 2010. Several highly
placed individuals in government are voicing concerns about whether some
of the diseases on the list should, in fact, actually have been
included.
In 2011, an appraisal of the 20 year long Air Force Health Study
that began in 1982 indicates that the results of the AFHS as they
pertain to Agent Orange, do not provide evidence of disease in the Ranch
Hand veterans due to "their elevated levels of exposure to Agent
Orange".
The VA denied the applications of post-Vietnam C-123 aircrew
veterans because as veterans without "boots on the ground" service in
Vietnam, they were not covered under VA's interpretation of "exposed".
At the request of the VA, the Institute Of Medicine
evaluated whether or not service in these C-123 aircraft could have
plausibly exposed soldiers and been detrimental to their health. Their
report "Post-Vietnam Dioxin Exposure in Agent Orange-Contaminated C-123
Aircraft" confirmed it.
In June 2015 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs issued an Interim final
rule providing presumptive service connection for post-Vietnam C-123
aircrews, maintenance staff and aeromedical evacuation crews. VA now
provides medical care and disability compensation for the recognized
list of Agent Orange illnesses.
U.S.–Vietnamese government negotiations
In
2002, Vietnam and the U.S. held a joint conference on Human Health and
Environmental Impacts of Agent Orange. Following the conference, the
U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(NIEHS) began scientific exchanges between the U.S. and Vietnam, and
began discussions for a joint research project on the human health
impacts of Agent Orange.
These negotiations broke down in 2005, when neither side could
agree on the research protocol and the research project was canceled.
More progress has been made on the environmental front. In 2005, the
first U.S.-Vietnam workshop on remediation of dioxin was held.
Starting in 2005, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began to work with the Vietnamese government to measure the level of dioxin at the Da Nang Air Base.
Also in 2005, the Joint Advisory Committee on Agent Orange, made up of
representatives of Vietnamese and U.S. government agencies, was
established. The committee has been meeting yearly to explore areas of
scientific cooperation, technical assistance and environmental remediation of dioxin.
A breakthrough in the diplomatic stalemate on this issue occurred as a result of United States President George W. Bush's state visit to Vietnam in November 2006. In the joint statement, President Bush and President Triet
agreed "further joint efforts to address the environmental
contamination near former dioxin storage sites would make a valuable
contribution to the continued development of their bilateral
relationship."
On May 25, 2007, President Bush signed the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 into law for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
that included an earmark of $3 million specifically for funding for
programs for the remediation of dioxin 'hotspots' on former U.S. military bases, and for public health programs for the surrounding communities; some authors consider this to be completely inadequate, pointing out that the U.S. airbase in Da Nang, alone, will cost $14 million to clean up, and that three others are estimated to require $60 million for cleanup.
The appropriation was renewed in the fiscal year 2009 and again in FY
2010. An additional $12 million was appropriated in the fiscal year 2010
in the Supplemental Appropriations Act and a total of $18.5 million
appropriated for fiscal year 2011.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
stated during a visit to Hanoi in October 2010 that the U.S. government
would begin work on the clean-up of dioxin contamination at the Da Nang
airbase.
In June 2011, a ceremony was held at Da Nang airport to mark the
start of U.S.-funded decontamination of dioxin hotspots in Vietnam.
Thirty-two million dollars has so far been allocated by the U.S.
Congress to fund the program.
A $43 million project began in the summer of 2012, as Vietnam and
the U.S. forge closer ties to boost trade and counter China's rising
influence in the disputed South China Sea.
Vietnamese victims class action lawsuit in U.S. courts
On January 31, 2004, a victim's rights group, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn,
against several U.S. companies for liability in causing personal
injury, by developing, and producing the chemical, and claimed that the
use of Agent Orange violated the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, 1925 Geneva Protocol, and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Dow Chemical and Monsanto were the two largest producers of Agent
Orange for the U.S. military, and were named in the suit, along with the
dozens of other companies (Diamond Shamrock, Uniroyal, Thompson
Chemicals, Hercules, etc.). On March 10, 2005, Judge Jack B. Weinstein
of the Eastern District – who had presided over the 1984 U.S. veterans
class-action lawsuit – dismissed the lawsuit, ruling there was no legal
basis for the plaintiffs' claims. He concluded Agent Orange was not considered a poison under international law
at the time of its use by the U.S.; the U.S. was not prohibited from
using it as a herbicide; and the companies which produced the substance
were not liable for the method of its use by the government.
Weinstein used the British example to help dismiss the claims of people
exposed to Agent Orange in their suit against the chemical companies
that had supplied it.
The Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency's (ARPA) Project AGILE was instrumental in the United States' development of herbicides as a military weapon, an undertaking inspired by the British use of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T to destroy jungle-grown crops and bushes during the insurgency in Malaya. The United States considered British precedent in deciding that the use of defoliants was a legally accepted tactic of war. On November 24, 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk advised President John F. Kennedy that herbicide use in Vietnam would be lawful, saying that "[t]he use of defoliant does not violate any rule of international law concerning the conduct of chemical warfare and is an accepted tactic of war. Precedent has been established by the British during the emergency in Malaya in their use of helicopters for destroying crops by chemical spraying."
George Jackson stated that "if the Americans were guilty of war
crimes for using Agent Orange in Vietnam, then the British would be also
guilty of war crimes as well since they were the first nation to deploy
the use of herbicides and defoliants in warfare and used them on a
large scale throughout the Malayan Emergency. Not only was there no
outcry by other states in response to Britain's use, but the U.S. viewed
it as establishing a precedent for the use of herbicides and defoliants
in jungle warfare." The U.S. government was also not a party in the lawsuit, due to sovereign immunity, and the court ruled the chemical companies, as contractors of the U.S. government, shared the same immunity.
The case was appealed and heard by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan
on June 18, 2007. Three judges on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
upheld Weinstein's ruling to dismiss the case. They ruled that, though
the herbicides contained a dioxin (a known poison), they were not
intended to be used as a poison on humans. Therefore, they were not
considered a chemical weapon and thus not a violation of international
law. A further review of the case by the whole panel of judges of the
Court of Appeals also confirmed this decision. The lawyers for the
Vietnamese filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. On March 2, 2009, the Supreme Court denied certiorari and refused to reconsider the ruling of the Court of Appeals.
In a November 2004 Zogby International
poll of 987 people, 79% of respondents thought the U.S. chemical
companies which produced Agent Orange defoliant should compensate U.S.
soldiers who were affected by the toxic chemical used during the war in
Vietnam. Also, 51% said they supported compensation for Vietnamese Agent
Orange victims.
Help for those affected in Vietnam
To
assist those who have been affected by Agent Orange/dioxin, the
Vietnamese have established "peace villages", which each host between 50
and 100 victims, giving them medical and psychological help. As of
2006, there were 11 such villages, thus granting some social protection
to fewer than a thousand victims. U.S. veterans of the war in Vietnam
and individuals who are aware and sympathetic to the impacts of Agent
Orange have supported these programs in Vietnam. An international group
of veterans from the U.S. and its allies during the Vietnam War working
with their former enemy—veterans from the Vietnam Veterans
Association—established the Vietnam Friendship Village outside of Hanoi.
The center provides medical care, rehabilitation and vocational
training for children and veterans from Vietnam who have been affected
by Agent Orange. In 1998, The Vietnam Red Cross
established the Vietnam Agent Orange Victims Fund to provide direct
assistance to families throughout Vietnam that have been affected. In
2003, the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange
(VAVA) was formed. In addition to filing the lawsuit against the
chemical companies, VAVA provides medical care, rehabilitation services
and financial assistance to those injured by Agent Orange.
The Vietnamese government provides small monthly stipends to more
than 200,000 Vietnamese believed affected by the herbicides; this
totaled $40.8 million in 2008 alone. The Vietnam Red Cross has raised
more than $22 million to assist the ill or disabled, and several U.S.
foundations, United Nations agencies, European governments and
nongovernmental organizations have given a total of about $23 million
for site cleanup, reforestation, health care and other services to those
in need.
Vuong Mo of the Vietnam News Agency described one of the centers:
May is 13, but she knows nothing, is unable to talk fluently, nor walk with ease due to for her bandy legs. Her father is dead and she has four elder brothers, all mentally retarded ... The students are all disabled, retarded and of different ages. Teaching them is a hard job. They are of the 3rd grade but many of them find it hard to do the reading. Only a few of them can. Their pronunciation is distorted due to their twisted lips and their memory is quite short. They easily forget what they've learned ... In the Village, it is quite hard to tell the kids' exact ages. Some in their twenties have a physical statures as small as the 7- or 8-years-old. They find it difficult to feed themselves, much less have mental ability or physical capacity for work. No one can hold back the tears when seeing the heads turning round unconsciously, the bandy arms managing to push the spoon of food into the mouths with awful difficulty ... Yet they still keep smiling, singing in their great innocence, at the presence of some visitors, craving for something beautiful.
On June 16, 2010, members of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin
unveiled a comprehensive 10-year Declaration and Plan of Action to
address the toxic legacy of Agent Orange and other herbicides in
Vietnam. The Plan of Action was released as an Aspen Institute
publication and calls upon the U.S. and Vietnamese governments to join
with other governments, foundations, businesses, and nonprofits in a
partnership to clean up dioxin "hot spots" in Vietnam and to expand
humanitarian services for people with disabilities there.
On September 16, 2010, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) acknowledged the
work of the Dialogue Group by releasing a statement on the floor of the
United States Senate. The statement urges the U.S. government to take
the Plan of Action's recommendations into account in developing a
multi-year plan of activities to address the Agent Orange/dioxin legacy.
Use outside Vietnam
Australia
In
2008, Australian researcher Jean Williams claimed that cancer rates in
the town of Innisfail, Queensland were 10 times higher than the state
average due to secret testing of Agent Orange by the Australian military
scientists during the Vietnam War. Williams, who had won the Order of
Australia medal for her research on the effects of chemicals on U.S. war
veterans, based her allegations on Australian government reports found
in the Australian War Memorial's archives. A former soldier, Ted
Bosworth, backed up the claims, saying that he had been involved in the
secret testing. Neither Williams or Bosworth have produced verifiable
evidence to support their claims. The Queensland health department
determined that cancer rates in Innisfail were no higher than those in
other parts of the state.
Brazil
The Brazilian government in the late 1960s used herbicides to defoliate a large section of the Amazon rainforest so that Alcoa could build the Tucuruí dam to power mining operations.
Large areas of rainforest were destroyed, along with the homes and
livelihoods of thousands of rural peasants and indigenous tribes.
Cambodia
Agent
Orange was used as a defoliant in eastern Cambodia during the Vietnam
War, but its impacts are difficult to assess due to the chaos caused by
the Khmer Rouge regime.
Canada
The U.S.
military, with the permission of the Canadian government, tested
herbicides, including Agent Orange, in the forests near the Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick. In 2007, the government of Canada offered a one-time ex gratia payment of $20,000 as compensation for Agent Orange exposure at CFB Gagetown.
On July 12, 2005, Merchant Law Group LLP on behalf of over 1,100
Canadian veterans and civilians who were living in and around the CFB
Gagetown filed a lawsuit to pursue class action litigation concerning Agent Orange and Agent Purple with the Federal Court of Canada. On August 4, 2009, the case was rejected by the court due to lack of evidence. The ruling was appealed.
In 2007, the Canadian government announced that a research and
fact-finding program initiated in 2005 had found the base was safe.
On February 17, 2011, the Toronto Star revealed that Agent Orange was employed to clear extensive plots of Crown land in Northern Ontario. The Toronto Star
reported that, "records from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s show forestry
workers, often students and junior rangers, spent weeks at a time as
human markers holding red, helium-filled balloons on fishing lines while
low-flying planes sprayed toxic herbicides including an infamous
chemical mixture known as Agent Orange on the brush and the boys below." In response to the Toronto Star article, the Ontario provincial government launched a probe into the use of Agent Orange.
Guam
An analysis of chemicals present in the island's soil, together with resolutions passed by Guam's legislature, suggest that Agent Orange was among the herbicides routinely used on and around military bases Anderson Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Agana, Guam.
Despite the evidence, the Department of Defense continues to deny that
Agent Orange was ever stored or used on Guam. Several Guam veterans have
collected an enormous amount of evidence to assist in their disability
claims for direct exposure to dioxin containing herbicides such as
2,4,5-T which are similar to the illness associations and disability
coverage that has become standard for those who were harmed by the same
chemical contaminant of Agent Orange used in Vietnam.
Korea
Agent Orange was used in Korea in the late 1960s.
The United States local press KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Arizona,
alleged (in 2011) that the United States Army had in 1978 buried 250
drums of Agent Orange in Camp Carroll, the U.S. Army base in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea.
In 1999, about 20,000 South Koreans filed two separated lawsuits
against U.S. companies, seeking more than $5 billion in damages. After
losing a decision in 2002, they filed an appeal.
In January 2006, the South Korean Appeals Court ordered Dow
Chemical and Monsanto to pay $62 million in compensation to about 6,800
people. The ruling acknowledged that "the defendants
failed to ensure safety as the defoliants manufactured by the
defendants had higher levels of dioxins than standard", and, quoting the
U.S. National Academy of Science report, declared that there was a
"causal relationship" between Agent Orange and a range of diseases,
including several cancers. The judges failed to acknowledge "the
relationship between the chemical and peripheral neuropathy, the disease
most widespread among Agent Orange victims".
Currently, veterans who provide evidence meeting VA requirements
for service in Vietnam, and who can medically establish that anytime
after this 'presumptive exposure' they developed any medical problems on
the list of presumptive diseases, may receive compensation from the VA.
Certain veterans who served in Korea and are able to prove they were
assigned to certain specified around the DMZ during a specific time
frame are afforded similar presumption.
Laos
Parts of Laos were sprayed with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
New Zealand
The Ivon Watkins-Dow factory in New Plymouth, New Zealand
The use of Agent Orange has been controversial in New Zealand,
because of the exposure of New Zealand troops in Vietnam and because of
the production of Agent Orange for Vietnam and other users at an Ivon
Watkins-Dow chemical plant in Paritutu, New Plymouth. There have been continuing claims, as yet unproven, that the suburb of Paritutu has also been polluted; see New Zealand in the Vietnam War.
There are cases of New Zealand soldiers developing cancers such as bone
cancer but none has been scientifically connected to exposure to
herbicides.
Philippines
Herbicide persistence studies of Agents Orange and White were conducted in the Philippines.
Johnston Atoll
Leaking Agent Orange barrels at Johnston Atoll circa 1973.
Rusting Agent Orange barrels at Johnston Atoll, circa 1976.
The U.S. Air Force operation to remove Herbicide Orange from Vietnam in 1972 was named Operation Pacer IVY, while the operation to destroy the Agent Orange stored at Johnston Atoll in 1977 was named Operation Pacer HO. Operation Pacer IVY (InVentorY) collected Agent Orange in South Vietnam and removed it in 1972 aboard the ship MV Transpacific for storage on Johnston Atoll. The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) reports that 6,800,000 L (1,800,000 U.S. gal) of Herbicide Orange
was stored at Johnston Island in the Pacific and 1,800,000 L
(480,000 U.S. gal) at Gulfport in Mississippi.
Research and studies were initiated to find a safe method to
destroy the materials and it was discovered they could be incinerated
safely under special conditions of temperature and dwell time. However, these herbicides were expensive and the Air Force wanted to resell its surplus instead of dumping it at sea. Among many methods tested, a possibility of salvaging the herbicides by reprocessing and filtering out the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin
(TCDD) contaminant with carbonized (charcoaled) coconut fibers. This
concept was then tested in 1976 and a pilot plant constructed at
Gulfport.
From July to September 1977 during Operation Pacer HO
(Herbicide Orange), the entire stock of Agent Orange from both
Herbicide Orange storage sites at Gulfport and Johnston Atoll was
subsequently incinerated in four separate burns in the vicinity of Johnston Island aboard the Dutch-owned waste incineration ship MT Vulcanus.
As of 2004, some records of the storage and disposition of Agent Orange at Johnston Atoll have been associated with the historical records of Operation Red Hat.
Okinawa, Japan
There
have been dozens of reports in the press about use and/or storage of
military formulated herbicides on Okinawa that are based upon statements
by former U.S. service members that had been stationed on the island,
photographs, government records, and unearthed storage barrels. The U.S.
Department of Defense (DoD) has denied these allegations with
statements by military officials and spokespersons, as well as a January
2013 report authored by Dr. Alvin Young that was released in April
2013.
A
scientific study of the effects military contamination at Johnston
Atoll included a statement confirming records of Agent Orange storage in
Okinawa.
In particular, the 2013 report refuted articles written by journalist
Jon Mitchell as well as a statement from "An Ecological Assessment of
Johnston Atoll" a 2003 publication produced by the United States Army Chemical Materials Agency
that states, "in 1972, the U.S. Air Force also brought about 25,000
200L drums of the chemical, Herbicide Orange (HO) to Johnston Island
that originated from Vietnam and was stored on Okinawa."
The 2013 report stated: "The authors of the [2003] report were not DoD
employees, nor were they likely familiar with the issues surrounding
Herbicide Orange or its actual history of transport to the Island." and
detailed the transport phases and routes of Agent Orange from Vietnam to
Johnston Atoll, none of which included Okinawa.
Excerpt
of U.S. Army 1971 Fort Detrick report describes Tactical Herbicide
stockpiles of U.S. Government restricted materials on Okinawa at Kadena
AFB, in Thailand, and Vietnam.
Further official confirmation of restricted (dioxin containing)
herbicide storage on Okinawa appeared in a 1971 Fort Detrick report
titled "Historical, Logistical, Political and Technical Aspects of the
Herbicide/Defoliant Program", which mentioned that the environmental
statement should consider "Herbicide stockpiles elsewhere in PACOM
(Pacific Command) U.S. Government restricted materials Thailand and
Okinawa (Kadena AFB)."
The 2013 DoD report says that the environmental statement urged by the
1971 report was published in 1974 as "The Department of Air Force Final
Environmental Statement", and that the latter did not find Agent Orange
was held in either Thailand or Okinawa.
Thailand
Agent
Orange was tested by the United States in Thailand during the war in
Southeast Asia. Buried drums were uncovered and confirmed to be Agent
Orange in 1999. Workers who uncovered the drums fell ill while upgrading the airport near Hua Hin District, 100 km south of Bangkok.
Vietnam-era veterans whose service involved duty on or near the
perimeters of military bases in Thailand anytime between February 28,
1961, and May 7, 1975, may have been exposed to herbicides and may
qualify for VA benefits.
A declassified Department of Defense report written in 1973,
suggests that there was a significant use of herbicides on the fenced-in
perimeters of military bases in Thailand to remove foliage that
provided cover for enemy forces.
In 2013, VA determined that herbicides used on the Thailand base
perimeters may have been tactical and procured from Vietnam, or a
strong, commercial type resembling tactical herbicides.
United States
The University of Hawaii
has acknowledged extensive testing of Agent Orange on behalf of the
United States Department of Defense in Hawaii along with mixtures of
Agent Orange on Kaua'i Island in 1967–68 and on Hawaii Island in 1966;
testing and storage in other U.S. locations has been documented by the
United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 1971, the C-123 aircraft used for spraying Agent Orange were
returned to the United States and assigned various East Coast USAF
Reserve squadrons, and then employed in traditional airlift missions
between 1972 and 1982. In 1994, testing by the Air Force identified some
former spray aircraft as "heavily contaminated" with dioxin residue.
Inquiries by aircrew veterans in 2011 brought a decision by the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs opining that not enough dioxin residue
remained to injure these post-Vietnam War veterans. On 26 January 2012,
the U.S. Center For Disease Control's Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry challenged this with their finding that former spray
aircraft were indeed contaminated and the aircrews exposed to harmful
levels of dioxin. In response to veterans' concerns, the VA in February
2014 referred the C-123 issue to the Institute of Medicine for a special
study, with results released on January 9, 2015.
In 1978, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suspended spraying of Agent Orange in National Forests.
A December 2006 Department of Defense report listed Agent Orange
testing, storage, and disposal sites at 32 locations throughout the
United States, as well as in Canada, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Korea, and
in the Pacific Ocean.
The Veteran Administration has also acknowledged that Agent Orange was
used domestically by U.S. forces in test sites throughout the United
States. Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was one of the primary testing sites throughout the 1960s.
Cleanup programs
In February 2012, Monsanto agreed to settle a case covering Dioxin contamination around a plant in Nitro, West Virginia,
that had manufactured Agent Orange. Monsanto agreed to pay up to $9
million for cleanup of affected homes, $84 million for medical
monitoring of people affected, and the community's legal fees.
On 9 August 2012, the United States and Vietnam began a cooperative cleaning up of the toxic chemical on part of Danang International Airport,
marking the first time Washington has been involved in cleaning up
Agent Orange in Vietnam. Danang was the primary storage site of the
chemical. Two other cleanup sites the United States and Vietnam are
looking at is Biên Hòa, in the southern province of Đồng Nai—a "hotspot" for dioxin—and Phù Cát airport in the central province of Bình Định, says U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear. According to the Vietnamese newspaper Nhân Dân,
the U.S. government provided $41 million to the project, which will
reduce the contamination level in 73,000 cubic meters of soil by late
2016. Some 45,000 cubic meters were "cleaned", an equal amount began in October 2016 scheduled for completion in mid 2017.
The Seabee's Naval Construction Battalion Center at Gulfport,
Mississippi was the largest storage site in the United States for agent
orange. It was 30 odd acres in size and was still being cleaned up in 2013.
Due to the fact that destruction requires high temperatures (over 1000 °C), the destruction process is energy intensive.
