Agent Orange and the war's toxic legacy
US forces spray tens of millions of litres of dioxin-contaminated herbicides over South Vietnam, leaving a legacy of illness and contamination that is still being cleaned up.
- The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam — Jeanne Mager Stellman et al., Nature (2003)
- Vietnam: A New History — Christopher Goscha, Basic Books (2016)
- America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 — George C. Herring, McGraw-Hill (1979)
From 1961 to 1971, in Operation Ranch Hand, US aircraft sprayed herbicides over South Vietnam’s forests, mangroves and crops to strip cover from communist forces and deny them food. A 2003 study in Nature by Jeanne Mager Stellman and colleagues estimated that about 77 million litres were sprayed, most of it Agent Orange, contaminated with the highly toxic dioxin TCDD, and that between 2.1 and 4.8 million people lived in villages that were sprayed directly.
- The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam — Jeanne Mager Stellman et al., Nature (2003)
Dioxin persists for decades in soil and sediment, especially at former US air bases where the chemicals were stored, such as Đà Nẵng and Biên Hòa. Vietnam attributes widespread cancers and birth defects to exposure, and the Vietnam Red Cross speaks of millions of victims; the scale of health effects is debated by scientists. In the 2010s the US and Vietnam began jointly decontaminating the Đà Nẵng airport, and work at Biên Hòa followed.
- The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam — Jeanne Mager Stellman et al., Nature (2003)
- Vietnam: A New History — Christopher Goscha, Basic Books (2016)
Millions of people were exposed, and hundreds of thousands, including the children and grandchildren of those exposed, suffer cancers and birth defects caused by dioxin. The US and the chemical companies owe them compensation.
- The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam — Jeanne Mager Stellman et al., Nature (2003)
- Vietnam: A New History — Christopher Goscha, Basic Books (2016)
The United States funds environmental remediation and disability programmes in Vietnam as humanitarian assistance, but has not accepted legal liability, and the extent of health effects on Vietnamese, especially birth defects, is scientifically disputed.
- The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam — Jeanne Mager Stellman et al., Nature (2003)
Why it matters today
Many Vietnamese families believe their children's and grandchildren's disabilities come from Agent Orange, and "Agent Orange victims" are a recognised group supported by charities and the state. Joint US–Vietnamese clean-up of former air bases has become a symbol of reconciliation, but many feel justice has never been done.