Agent Orange

[Steph700]

"The legacy of Agent Orange

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41088000/jpg/_41088327_xuanminh203.jpg Vietnam doctors believe the effects of Agent Orange are ongoing

Thirty years after hostilities ended between the US and Vietnam, relations remain strained by one of America’s most notorious weapons during the war, the chemical Agent Orange.

The Vietnamese believe that the powerful weed killer - the use of which was intended to destroy crops and jungle providing cover for the Vietcong - is responsible for massively high instances of genetic defects in areas that were sprayed.

Nguyen Trong Nhan, from the Vietnam Association Of Victims Of Agent Orange and a former president of Vietnamese Red Cross, believes the use of Agent Orange was a “war crime”.

He told BBC World Service’s One Planet programme that Vietnam’s poverty was a direct result of the use of Agent Orange. “They are the poorest and the most vulnerable people - and that is why Vietnam is a very poor country,” he said. “We help the people who are victims of the Agent Orange and the dioxins, but the capacity of our government is very limited.”"

…

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4494347.stm

Oh… my… gosh!

 

[geezerbob]

Funny you post this today. I saw a news special on TV yesterday about how westernized and prosperous Viet Nam is now. Getting some conflicting information here.

 

[Steph700]

Funny you post this today. I saw a news special on TV yesterday about how westernized and prosperous Viet Nam is now. Getting some conflicting information here.

hmm… yeah. hard to know who to believe. i’ve heard it’s a beautiful place to travel to.

 

[Shinobu]

Is this a joke or something? Might I suggest that you remove the picture from your first post. It is quite disturbing and scared the heck out of me, joke or not. You might want to put a warning in your topic title so you don’t frighten people.

Edit: I’m too scared to read the article after seeing that picture heh

 

[Steph700]

Shinobu:

Is this a joke or something? Might I suggest that you remove the picture from your first post. It is quite disturbing and scared the heck out of me, joke or not. You might want to put a warning in your topic title so you don’t frighten people.

Edit: I’m too scared to read the article after seeing that picture heh

No, no joke. I wouldn’t post something like this as a joke. It’s the result of genetic problems due to weed killer/poison used during vietnam.

 

[quijote]

Steph700:

No, no joke. I wouldn’t post something like this as a joke. It’s the result of genetic problems due to weed killer/poison used during vietnam.

I too, at first, thought that you had posted a joke…then I read the article and was horrified.

 

[gilliam]

Agent Orange may have caused problems, but it wasn’t inflicted upon the civilians intentionally. When it was used, they didn’t know it would be causing genetic defects. You cannot equate it with the chemical weapons that Saddam used. Or use it to somehow justify supporting Saddam’s henchmen now.

 

[INRI]

The Agent Orange myth is a big shibboleth that keeps making the rounds. There is no evidence, NONE, that Agent Orange had anything to do with this. I refer you to the following links:
fumento.com/reasonagent.html

fumento.com/military/agent.html

There’s a couple of problems with alleging this birth defect link.

1. We have no way of knowing if these deformities occurred in any greater frequency than before spraying.
2. There is no documentation that any of the women who had these deformed children had any exposure to Agent Orange.
3. Those people who have had high exposure tend to develop a condtion called chloracne. The president of the Ukraine developed this on his face when he was given massive doses of dioxin. There have been no ties to birth defects, even among the children of those who sprayed Agent Orange in Operation Ranch Hand and who got large exposures to the chemical.

4)Agent Orange itself tends to break down after about 5-6 hours in sunlight, making extended long term exposure among the native populace unlikely.

1. This is still a communist country, these kids are being used for propaganda purposes.
2. Dioxin, the major “evil” chemical in this, is not really that toxic in the doses these people are likely to get. Victor Yushchenko got a dose thousands of times what these people got, and just got an ugly face.
3. Dioxin is created naturally in a lot of processes, including incineration. You think they might burn a few things in these rural areas of a 3rd-world country? There is dioxin naturally in the paper that you use every day. Can’t do anything about it. Big whoop.