Listen to the podcast.

Agent Orange's Lasting Legacy

During the 1960s, the U.S. Air Force and South Vietnamese dumped 45 million liters of Agent Orange in south and central Vietnam. Though they knew as early as 1970 that the herbicide was dangerous and caused birth defects in mice, scientists and politicians still can’t agree decades later whether it caused birth defects in the offspring of humans exposed to it.

The defoliant – actually a mixture of two herbicides – was dumped over Vietnam to help clear away the jungle in which enemy soldiers hid. But the mixture contained more than just the herbicide; it contained dioxin, an unintentional chemical byproduct that is highly toxic.

Research into Agent Orange’s effects on American soldiers and the people of Vietnam has shown a strong link between the defoliant and diabetes and suggests a link with cancer. But a long-range study of its health impacts, which could shed greater light on just how much harm Agent Orange caused to those exposed, was recently shut down by the United States government.

Scientists are trying to revive the study by pressing members of Congress for funding. The most recent data published concludes there is a link between Agent Orange exposure and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and chloracne.

The Vietnamese claim it also caused serious birth defects in the children and grandchildren of those exposed during the war, and even afterwards in hot spots where the herbicide was stored. They’ve even brought a class-action lawsuit against the chemical manufacturers that supplied Agent Orange to the U.S. military. Scientists say it’s unclear at this stage, however, whether dioxin caused those defects or if they were the result of poor nutrition, infections and genetic flaws.

Without further studies, no one may ever know the truth.

For more information about this story, please click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org