USE OF CHEMICALS CONTINUED IN VIETNAM
While the debate over the danger of Agent Orange and
dioxin heated up in scientific circles, the U.S. Air Force continued flying
defoliation sorties, and the troops on the ground continued to live in the
chemical mist of the rainbow herbicides. They slept with it, drank it in their
water, ate it in their food and breathed it when it dropped out of the air in a
fine, white pungent mist.
Some of the troops in
Vietnam used the empty Agent Orange drums for barbecue pits. Others stored
watermelons and potatoes in them. Still others rigged the residue-laden drums
for showers. The spraying continued
unabated in 1968, even though, according to military records, it apparently was
having minimal effects on the enemy. A series of memorandums uncovered in the
National Archives and now declassified indicate that defoliation killed a lot
of plants, but had little real effect on military operations.
ORANGE AEROSOL DISCOVERED
Meanwhile, the military continued to learn just how toxic
Agent Orange could be. On October 23, 1969, an urgent message was sent from
Fort Detrick, Maryland, to MACV concerning cleaning of drums containing
herbicides. The message provided detailed instructions on how to clean the
drums and warned that it was particularly important to clean Agent Orange
drums. "Using the (Agent) Orange
drums for storing petroleum products without thoroughly cleaning them can
result in creation of an orange aerosol when the contaminated petroleum
products are consumed in internal combustion engines. The Orange aerosol thus
generated can be most devastating to vegetation in the vicinity of engines.
Some critics claim that some of the damage to vegetation along Saigon streets
can be attributed to this source. White and Blue residues are less of a problem
in this regard since they are not volatile." Not only was Agent Orange being sprayed from
aircraft, but it was unwittingly being sprayed out of the exhausts of trucks,
jeeps and gasoline generators.
VETS BEGIN DEVELOPING HEALTH PROBLEMS
As soldiers who had served in Vietnam attempted to settle
back into civilian life following their tours, some of them began to develop
unusual health problems. There were skin and liver diseases and what seemed to
be an abnormal number of cancers to soft tissue organs such as the lungs and
stomach. There also seemed to be an unusually high number of birth defects
among children born to Vietnam veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange.
Some veterans experienced wild mood swings, while others developed a painful
skin rash known as chloracne. Many of these veterans were found to have high
levels of dioxin in their blood, but scientists and the U.S. government
insisted there was no link between their illnesses and Agent Orange. In the mid 1970s, there was renewed interest
in dioxin and its effects on human health following an industrial accident in
Seveso, Italy, in which dioxin was released into the air, causing animal deaths
and human sickness.
Paul Sutton
Veteran Advocate
Ssgtusmc6169@yahoo.com
I hope you can come to this exciting event!
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Love Canal crisis
in Niagara Falls, NY which launched the grassroots environmental health
and justice movement and set off the alarm to the public about how
environmental chemicals may be impacting health especially children’s
health.
For more information see AGENT ORANGE ZONE
That's the subject of a town hall meeting planned this month by Vietnam Veterans of America.
Those
who lived through the 60s remember Agent Orange as the dioxin-laden
defoliant used by the military to clear away dense vegetation during the
war in Vietnam. Even though decades have passed, some Vietnam veterans
and their families say Agent Orange continues wreak havoc in their
lives.
For more information see AGENT ORANGE ZONE
Progress Report: August 1, 2013 to August 31, 2013
USAID
and GVN continued successful implementation of the Project, passing an
important 1-year anniversary milestone of the Project’s August 2012
launch.
CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS
USAID contractors continued to
safely excavate and place soil and sediment from Danang Airport into the
containment structure for treatment.
At the end of August 2013,
approximately 90% of the containment structure was filled with soil and
sediment.
After Al and Sharon Martinelli had their first son who was born
with short limbs, they thought they had the assurance they needed before
having their second child.
"One of the questions that we asked a team of doctors is, if we
have more children, what are the chances (of having another child with a
disorder)," Al said. "They looked at me in the eye and said the chances
would be a million to one."
