Latest news with #OperationRanchHand
News18
01-05-2025
- Health
- News18
How Agent Orange Used By US 50 Years Ago Still Haunts The People Of Vietnam
Last Updated: Under Operation Ranch Hand, the US military used 19 million gallons of herbicides in southern Vietnam that destroyed forests and is still causing birth problems and cancers Five decades since the fall of Saigon, millions of Vietnamese people are still reeling in the aftermath of Agent Orange, a potent herbicide used by the US forces, in the war. The US military during the peak of the Vietnam War between 1962 and 1971 launched a vast defoliation campaign across southern Vietnam known as Operation Ranch Hand. The chemical ghost used by the forces still haunts generations, leaving many disabled and suffering. What Was Agent Orange? Under Operation Ranch Hand, the US military used nearly 19 million gallons of herbicides over vast stretches of land, about 24% of southern Vietnam, that destroyed both upland, mangrove forests and agricultural land. The goal of the US was to eliminate dense jungle canopy that provided cover to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, and destroy crops that fed enemy troops. Agent Orange comprised about 60 percent of the total herbicides sprayed and was a 50:50 mix of two chemicals — 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. While its herbicidal effect was relatively short-lived, the production of 2,4,5-T introduced a highly toxic contaminant: 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, or TCDD. The chemical has severely impacted Vietnam's ecological systems. Five million acres of forests and 500,000 acres of cropland were damaged or destroyed. Nearly half of the nation's protective mangrove trees, crucial for defending against coastal storms, were lost. Besides, the herbicide leached nutrients from the soil, leaving portions of the Vietnamese landscape barren and highly vulnerable to climate-related impacts. As per the Vietnamese government estimates, four million citizens were exposed to Agent Orange, with around three million people suffering from its health effects. The concentrations in Agent Orange were some 20 times the concentration the manufacturers recommended for killing plants, according to a report by The Aspen Institute, a US-based non-profit organisation. The US stopped using the chemical in 1971 amid fierce international condemnation and safety concerns. This happened as by the late 1960s, several studies had shown that dioxin could cause abnormalities and stillbirths in mice, and reports of human birth defects in sprayed areas of Vietnam had started to emerge. How The Chemical Is Still Haunting Vietnam The Vietnam Red Cross attributes at least 150,000 cases of severe birth defects to Agent Orange exposure. According to studies, children born in contaminated regions have shown higher instances of cleft palates, additional fingers or toes, developmental disorders and cancers. Other health issues among Vietnamese people has been birth defects such as spina bifida (when a baby's spine and spinal cord do not develop properly), cardiovascular defects, hip dislocations and hypospadias (where the opening of the urethra is not at the tip of the penis). In the early 2000s, the Red Cross of Vietnam estimated that at least 150,000 Vietnamese children were born with serious birth defects. Between 2.6 and 3.8 million US service members were exposed to Agent Orange, and research shows that these veterans face significantly higher risks for various cancers compared to those not deployed to Vietnam. Dioxin has a half-life of 11 to 15 years in the human body, and in buried or submerged environments, such as river sediments, it can persist for over 100 years. It has been found in the blood and breast milk of exposed populations even decades after the war. Vietnam contends that the impact can span multiple generations, affecting children, grandchildren and potentially great-grandchildren of those originally exposed. What Vietnamese Govt Is Doing To Clear The Effects Many of the most toxic areas, including former US military bases like Da Nang and Bien Hoa, were fenced off for public safety. Yet the US provided little help. From the mid-2000s onwards, the US began participating in remediation projects in Vietnam. Since then, over $155 million has been allocated to support people with disabilities in Agent Orange-contaminated zones and to remove unexploded ordnance. One of the largest clean-up initiatives took place at the Da Nang airbase, where Agent Orange had been stored and handled during the war. A $110 million project was completed in 2018, but an area equivalent to ten soccer fields still remains contaminated, reported AP. Another major site, the Bien Hoa airbase, saw the launch of a 10-year clean-up project in 2020 aimed at removing 500,000 cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil — enough to fill approximately 40,000 trucks. This effort was briefly halted in March but has since resumed. US-Vietnam Ties Affected The US turned away from taking any responsibility for the repercussions of the Vietnam War. The ties were only restored in 1995, and it was not until 2006 that the two countries began formal cooperation on Agent Orange issues. top videos View all This laid the groundwork for expanding bilateral relations, culminating in 2023 when Vietnam elevated the US to its highest diplomatic designation — comprehensive strategic partner. There are concerns in Vietnam that Washington may abandon the Agent Orange clean-up as President Donald Trump pares down foreign funding. Meanwhile, research into the long-term health effects of dioxin exposure remains insufficient. First Published: News explainers How Agent Orange Used By US 50 Years Ago Still Haunts The People Of Vietnam | Explained
Telegraph
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Agent Orange recovery in jeopardy 50 years after the fall of Saigon
It was an aggressive mission that turned the lush green landscape a desolate brown. For almost a decade, as America tried to stamp out enemy fighters lurking in the jungle, US aircraft doused Vietnam with 20 million gallons of herbicides in a campaign codenamed Operation Ranch Hand. Forests were stripped bare; rice paddies left barren. In the end, the toxic mission could not halt the Northern Vietnamese communists – who, exactly 50 years ago, delivered a final, humiliating blow to the US and its allies, bursting through the gates of South Vietnam's presidential palace in T-54 tanks. Saigon fell on April 30, 1975, bringing an end to decades of war and triggering the country's reunification. Now one of the world's fastest-growing economies and a popular tourist hotspot, Vietnam is this week marking 50 years of peace with military parades, a drone light show and picnics on streets lined with red and gold flags. But for millions of people, the struggle against Operation Ranch Hand never ended. Herbicidal warfare – especially the use of Agent Orange – has left a toxic legacy of environmental damage and severe health issues, from cancer to birth defects. Estimates suggest as many as three million people have been affected, including roughly 150,000 children born with serious developmental problems. Yet efforts to clean up contamination and help those affected are now in jeopardy, another victim of the chaos caused by the Trump administration's sweeping aid cuts. According to a Washington Post tally, at least 34 of 43 USAID contracts in Vietnam were axed. 'This has been gut-wrenching in so many ways, especially the uncertainty,' said Susan Hammond, executive director of the War Legacies Project, which works on the long-term consequences of conflict in the region. 'We're been advocating for so long to reach this point. To now see programmes… so abruptly cut – it's [a] huge setback,' she told the Telegraph from Vietnam. When the war ended, the US was eager to move on and largely turned its back on Vietnam. It was 20 years before diplomatic relations were normalised, and another decade before the governments overcame a deadlock to collaborate on the continued issues posed by Agent Orange. Roughly 12 million gallons of the defoliant were sprayed in Vietnam and in parts of Laos and Cambodia, as America sought to wipe out enemy cover. Amid the herbicide mix was a highly toxic substance: dioxin. While some of the health implications of dioxin exposure have proved hard to scientifically confirm – for instance, birth defects – there's a broad consensus that it poses serious health risks. A 2018 US National Academies report found 'sufficient' or 'suggestive' evidence linking it to 19 conditions including cancer, strokes and Parkinson's disease. In the immediate aftermath of the conflict the Vietnamese provided some support to impacted families, while fencing off the heavily contaminated sites where Agent Orange was still seeping into the environment, such as Da Nang airport. With US backing, these projects expanded in the last 15 years. In 2024 the US Congress had an annual budget of $30 million for victims of Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance, funding everything from training for physiotherapists and specialist nurses, to speech therapy and education programmes. Another $35 million was allocated to clean up the final dioxin hotspot – a former US airbase in Bien Hoa. But when Donald Trump, the US President, issued a stop-work order for all foreign assistance in January, these efforts were paused overnight and their future thrown into turmoil. In Bien Hoa, bulldozers that were cleaning up more than 280,000 cubic metres of highly contaminated soil suddenly stopped. Although this work has been resumed, niggling doubts have been introduced about a previously steadfast commitment to the complex process. 'It's an enormous volume of soil – even the most heavily contaminated portion would fill over 47,000 dump trucks,' said Charles Bailey, co-author of the book ' From Enemies to Partners: Vietnam, the US and Agent Orange '. Less than half of the soil has so far been cleaned, he added, and the most heavily contaminated material will need to be put in an incinerator set to 300 degrees for one month. The furnace has not yet been built and Washington is yet to approve a contractor. 'The government of Vietnam does work on this, but it lacks the resources to do this alone. It is a huge project… and there is a cost to stopping any super fund site when you've started. That is the cost of failing to complete it and possibly make the situation worse.' With bipartisan support in Congress, Mr Bailey is optimistic that the Trump administration will 'see the value' and ensure the clean-up is completed. In the short term, he is more concerned about disruption to programmes supporting individuals. 'Currently, the health and disability assistance program was unterminated in eight of the ten provinces,' said Mr Bailey. 'However funding has returned in fits and starts, and for the NGO implementing the program in three of the eight [provinces], resumption came too late. 'As a result of the shut off of funds, it had to stop services and let go all its field staff – it doesn't have the wherewithal to restart its work. 'This stoppage of the program, not on paper, but in practical terms on the ground, has severe consequences for all the children and young adults with severe disabilities who until February were being reached and helped,' he said. Humanity & Inclusion, which operated two USAID-funded rehabilitation programmes in Vietnam, is one of the NGOs affected. Its experience also suggests it is not always as simple as turning a tap back on. While the organisation received a letter to restart activities on March 5, a spokesperson told the Telegraph they have not received the next round of funding. They have also had to re-apply for approval from the Vietnamese government, which is yet to arrive. War Legacies' Ms Hammond said the turmoil is feeding into a wider uncertainty about what will happen to work for Agent Orange survivors in the future. Many of the programmes had contracts due to end this year or next but, given the Trump administration's 'America First' agenda, it's not clear if their work will continue to be a priority. NGOs on the ground are also unsure how to apply for more funds, as Vietnam's USAID office has closed, and some 100 USAID officials working on projects in the country have been fired. 'The uncertainty makes it really hard to know what the future is going to be,' Ms Hammond said, warning that there is no obvious alternative to step into the gap. 'It's not clear who else can provide the scale of the support – and the US is morally responsible.' Half a century on from the fall of Saigon, Ms Hammond is in the city – long since renamed Ho Chi Minh City – as events aimed at celebrating peace and unity unfold. She said the atmosphere in the streets is electric. But in government circles, there's also an undercurrent of 'shock' at the possibility of a new shift in US-Vietnam relations as US aid cuts bite – and President Trump threatens a 46 per cent tariff on Vietnamese goods. 'The last 10 years has shown that the [US and Vietnam] can work together on a really divisive issue,' said Ms Hammond. 'You still can't prove who's an Agent Orange victim precisely,' she said. 'But to get to this point where the US was acknowledging through their actions that these people exist and these people need help, and now to have that taken away, potentially, and the funding not reinstated fully – it is painful. Really painful. Particularly for people affected.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Agent Orange recovery in jeopardy 50 years after the fall of Saigon
It was an aggressive mission that turned the lush green landscape a desolate brown. For almost a decade, as America tried to stamp out enemy fighters lurking in the jungle, US aircraft doused Vietnam with 20 million gallons of herbicides in a campaign codenamed Operation Ranch Hand. Forests were stripped bare; rice paddies left barren. In the end, the toxic mission could not halt the Northern Vietnamese communists – who, exactly 50 years ago, delivered a final, humiliating blow to the US and its allies, bursting through the gates of South Vietnam's presidential palace in T-54 tanks. Saigon fell on April 30, 1975, bringing an end to decades of war and triggering the country's reunification. Now one of the world's fastest-growing economies and a popular tourist hotspot, Vietnam is this week marking 50 years of peace with military parades, a drone light show and picnics on streets lined with red and gold flags. But for millions of people, the struggle against Operation Ranch Hand never ended. Herbicidal warfare – especially the use of Agent Orange – has left a toxic legacy of environmental damage and severe health issues, from cancer to birth defects. Estimates suggest as many as three million people have been affected, including roughly 150,000 children born with serious developmental problems. Yet efforts to clean up contamination and help those affected are now in jeopardy, another victim of the chaos caused by the Trump administration's sweeping aid cuts. According to a Washington Post tally, at least 34 of 43 USAID contracts in Vietnam were axed. 'This has been gut-wrenching in so many ways, especially the uncertainty,' said Susan Hammond, executive director of the War Legacies Project, which works on the long-term consequences of conflict in the region. 'We're been advocating for so long to reach this point. To now see programmes… so abruptly cut – it's [a] huge setback,' she told the Telegraph from Vietnam. When the war ended, the US was eager to move on and largely turned its back on Vietnam. It was 20 years before diplomatic relations were normalised, and another decade before the governments overcame a deadlock to collaborate on the continued issues posed by Agent Orange. Roughly 12 million gallons of the defoliant were sprayed in Vietnam and in parts of Laos and Cambodia, as America sought to wipe out enemy cover. Amid the herbicide mix was a highly toxic substance: dioxin. While some of the health implications of dioxin exposure have proved hard to scientifically confirm – for instance, birth defects – there's a broad consensus that it poses serious health risks. A 2018 US National Academies report found 'sufficient' or 'suggestive' evidence linking it to 19 conditions including cancer, strokes and Parkinson's disease. In the immediate aftermath of the conflict the Vietnamese provided some support to impacted families, while fencing off the heavily contaminated sites where Agent Orange was still seeping into the environment, such as Da Nang airport. With US backing, these projects expanded in the last 15 years. In 2024 the US Congress had an annual budget of $30 million for victims of Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance, funding everything from training for physiotherapists and specialist nurses, to speech therapy and education programmes. Another $35 million was allocated to clean up the final dioxin hotspot – a former US airbase in Bien Hoa. But when Donald Trump, the US President, issued a stop-work order for all foreign assistance in January, these efforts were paused overnight and their future thrown into turmoil. In Bien Hoa, bulldozers that were cleaning up more than 280,000 cubic metres of highly contaminated soil suddenly stopped. Although this work has been resumed, niggling doubts have been introduced about a previously steadfast commitment to the complex process. 'It's an enormous volume of soil – even the most heavily contaminated portion would fill over 47,000 dump trucks,' said Charles Bailey, co-author of the book 'From Enemies to Partners: Vietnam, the US and Agent Orange'. Less than half of the soil has so far been cleaned, he added, and the most heavily contaminated material will need to be put in an incinerator set to 300 degrees for one month. The furnace has not yet been built and Washington is yet to approve a contractor. 'The government of Vietnam does work on this, but it lacks the resources to do this alone. It is a huge project… and there is a cost to stopping any super fund site when you've started. That is the cost of failing to complete it and possibly make the situation worse.' With bipartisan support in Congress, Mr Bailey is optimistic that the Trump administration will 'see the value' and ensure the clean-up is completed. In the short term, he is more concerned about disruption to programmes supporting individuals. 'Currently, the health and disability assistance program was unterminated in eight of the ten provinces,' said Mr Bailey. 'However funding has returned in fits and starts, and for the NGO implementing the program in three of the eight [provinces], resumption came too late. 'As a result of the shut off of funds, it had to stop services and let go all its field staff – it doesn't have the wherewithal to restart its work. 'This stoppage of the program, not on paper, but in practical terms on the ground, has severe consequences for all the children and young adults with severe disabilities who until February were being reached and helped,' he said. Humanity & Inclusion, which operated two USAID-funded rehabilitation programmes in Vietnam, is one of the NGOs affected. Its experience also suggests it is not always as simple as turning a tap back on. While the organisation received a letter to restart activities on March 5, a spokesperson told the Telegraph they have not received the next round of funding. They have also had to re-apply for approval from the Vietnamese government, which is yet to arrive. War Legacies' Ms Hammond said the turmoil is feeding into a wider uncertainty about what will happen to work for Agent Orange survivors in the future. Many of the programmes had contracts due to end this year or next but, given the Trump administration's 'America First' agenda, it's not clear if their work will continue to be a priority. NGOs on the ground are also unsure how to apply for more funds, as Vietnam's USAID office has closed, and some 100 USAID officials working on projects in the country have been fired. 'The uncertainty makes it really hard to know what the future is going to be,' Ms Hammond said, warning that there is no obvious alternative to step into the gap. 'It's not clear who else can provide the scale of the support – and the US is morally responsible.' Half a century on from the fall of Saigon, Ms Hammond is in the city – long since renamed Ho Chi Minh City – as events aimed at celebrating peace and unity unfold. She said the atmosphere in the streets is electric. But in government circles, there's also an undercurrent of 'shock' at the possibility of a new shift in US-Vietnam relations as US aid cuts bite – and President Trump threatens a 46 per cent tariff on Vietnamese goods. 'The last 10 years has shown that the [US and Vietnam] can work together on a really divisive issue,' said Ms Hammond. 'You still can't prove who's an Agent Orange victim precisely,' she said. 'But to get to this point where the US was acknowledging through their actions that these people exist and these people need help, and now to have that taken away, potentially, and the funding not reinstated fully – it is painful. Really painful. Particularly for people affected.' Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
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First Post
30-04-2025
- Health
- First Post
50 years after the Vietnam War, why the toxic legacy of Agent Orange still haunts millions
Between 1961 and 1971, the US military sprayed over 72 million litres of herbicides in Vietnam, including more than 45 million litres of Agent Orange, contaminated with toxic dioxin. Today, over three million Vietnamese suffer health complications, including at least 150,000 children with birth defects, while hundreds of thousands of veterans report cancer and chronic illnesses linked to exposure read more Flying a bare 100 feet above the jungle hills west of Hue, 5 bulky 'C-123 providers' cut loose a spray of chemical defoliant on August 14, 1968. File Image/AP (Trigger warning: Please note that the report contains images which could be distressing to some. Reader discretion is advised) 50 years ago, even as the guns fell silent on April 30, 1975, with the fall of Saigon, the aftermath of the Vietnam War continues to linger — most visibly through the lingering scars of Agent Orange. Between 1962 and 1971, during the height of the Vietnam War, the United States military launched a vast defoliation campaign across southern Vietnam under an initiative known as Operation Ranch Hand. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The goal was twofold: eliminate dense jungle canopy that provided cover to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, and destroy crops that fed enemy troops. To carry this out, nearly 19 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed over vast stretches of land — approximately 24 percent of southern Vietnam — impacting both upland and mangrove forests as well as agricultural areas. A yellow flag marks a field contaminated with dioxin near Danang airport, during a ceremony marking the start of a project to clean up dioxin left over from the Vietnam War, at a former US military base in Danang, Vietnam, August 9, 2012. File Image/AP These included a series of 'rainbow herbicides,' with Agent Orange being the most prominently used. Agent Orange comprised about 60 percent of the total herbicides sprayed and was a 50:50 mix of two chemicals — 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. While its herbicidal effect was relatively short-lived, the production of 2,4,5-T introduced a highly toxic contaminant: 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, or TCDD. Maps of the area contaminated with dioxin around Danang airport are displayed during a ceremony marking the start of a project to clean up dioxin left over from the Vietnam War, at a former US military base in Danang, Vietnam, August 9, 2012. File Image/AP This dioxin, now widely recognised as one of the most dangerous persistent organic pollutants, had long-term environmental and health consequences. Though Agent Orange's application ceased in 1971 and its remaining stocks were incinerated by 1978 on Johnston Atoll, the residual dioxin continues to plague Vietnam and the people who lived through or inherited the war's legacy. Agent Orange's horrific generational impact on health & environment Vietnam's ecological systems bore the immediate brunt of the defoliants. Five million acres of forests and 500,000 acres of cropland were damaged or destroyed. Nearly half of the nation's protective mangrove trees, crucial for defending against coastal storms, were lost. Much of this land remains degraded and unproductive even today. Meanwhile, the herbicide leached nutrients from the soil, leaving portions of the Vietnamese landscape barren and highly vulnerable to climate-related impacts. Soldiers in protective gear are pictured after a presentation on detecting Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and defoliant Agent Orange during the launch of the 'Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination Project' in Vietnam's Da Nang City, June 17, 2011. File Image/Reuters The chemical's toll on human health is just as harrowing. The Vietnamese government estimates that as many as four million citizens were exposed to Agent Orange, with around three million people suffering from its health effects. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Vietnam Red Cross attributes at least 150,000 cases of severe birth defects to Agent Orange exposure. According to studies, children born in contaminated regions have shown higher instances of cleft palates, additional fingers or toes, developmental disorders and cancers. Nguyen Thanh Hai, 34, reacts after getting compliments on his work during class at a school for victims of Agent Orange in Da Nang, Vietnam, March 7, 2025. File Image/AP Somewhere between 2.6 and 3.8 million US service members were exposed to Agent Orange, and research shows that these veterans face significantly higher risks for various cancers compared to those not deployed to Vietnam. The chemical is not only dangerous to those directly exposed. Dioxin has a half-life of 11 to 15 years in the human body, and in buried or submerged environments, such as river sediments, it can persist for over 100 years. Nguyen Thi Van Long (R), 23, a victim of the defoliant Agent Orange, leaves after a ceremony held ahead of Orange Day in Hanoi, August 8, 2009. File Image/Reuters It has been found in the blood and breast milk of exposed populations even decades after the war. Vietnam contends that the impact can span multiple generations, affecting children, grandchildren and potentially great-grandchildren of those originally exposed. Efforts toward cleaning up Agent Orange Following the end of the war in 1975 with the fall of Saigon, Vietnam faced the daunting task of rehabilitating its environment and treating affected populations. Many of the most toxic areas, including former US military bases like Da Nang and Bien Hoa, were fenced off for public safety. Yet, for decades, the United States provided little assistance. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US sailors perform with Agent Orange victims at a hospice as part of the visit to Vietnam of US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in Danang, Vietnam, March 7, 2018. File Image/Reuters It wasn't until 1991 that the US government formally acknowledged that exposure to Agent Orange could be linked to specific diseases in veterans, making them eligible for medical benefits. From the mid-2000s onward, the US began participating in remediation projects in Vietnam. Since then, over $155 million has been allocated to support people with disabilities in Agent Orange-contaminated zones and to remove unexploded ordnance. Tang Thi Thang baths her disabled son Doan Van Quy outside their family home in Truc Ly, in Vietnam's Quang Binh Province, April 11, 2015. Doan Van Quy's father, a soldier who served on 12.7 mm anti-aircraft guns during the Vietnam war, said he lived in several areas that were contaminated by Agent Orange. Two of his sons were born with serious health problems and the family and local health officials link their illnesses to their father's exposure to Agent Orange. File Image/Reuters One of the largest cleanup efforts occurred at the Da Nang airbase, where Agent Orange had been stored and handled during the war. A $110 million project was completed in 2018, but an area equivalent to ten soccer fields still remains contaminated, reported AP. Another major site, the Bien Hoa airbase, saw the launch of a 10-year cleanup project in 2020 aimed at removing 500,000 cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil — enough to fill approximately 40,000 trucks. This effort was briefly halted in March but has since resumed. 18-year-old Thang, believed to be an Agent Orange victim according to locals who know his mother, waits for customers at a market in Hanoi, January 9, 2012. Thang, who cannot remember his full name and comes from Vietnam's central province of Thanh Hoa, sells toothpicks and earbuds at a market in Hanoi. Witnesses say he also receives donations from passers-by. File Image/Reuters The cleanup is both hazardous and costly. Severely contaminated soil must be excavated and treated in high-temperature thermal systems, while less toxic soil is sealed in secure landfills. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Despite progress, dozens of high-risk 'hotspots' still remain across 58 of Vietnam's 63 provinces. Experts caution that any interruption in cleanup could allow toxins to leach into water systems, exacerbating the threat to public health. US aid to Vietnam in jeopardy Despite the devastation, the US largely turned away from the legacy of Agent Orange after the war. Diplomatic ties with Vietnam were only normalised in 1995, and it was not until 2006 that the two countries began formal cooperation on Agent Orange issues. This collaboration laid the groundwork for expanding bilateral relations, culminating in 2023 when Vietnam elevated the US to its highest diplomatic designation — comprehensive strategic partner. Agent Orange victim Tran Van Bao (R), 18, is pictured holding a piece of paper as a mobile phone to make a call at a hospice in Vietnam's Da Nang City, June 16, 2011. File Image/Reuters However, uncertainties persist. Vietnamese officials and victims' advocates express concern over the possibility of dwindling US support, especially in light of shifting foreign aid policies. There are concerns in Vietnam now that Washington may abandon the Agent Orange cleanup as President Donald Trump slashes foreign aid. Meanwhile, research into the long-term health effects of dioxin exposure remains insufficient. Ten-year-old Pham Duc Duy is cradled in the arms of his mother, Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, 35, in their house in Hanoi, June 16, 2007. Vietnamese doctors believe Duy, whose grandfather served in the Vietnam war, is a victim of exposure to dioxin or 'agent orange' passed down the generations. File Image/Reuters While the presence of dioxin in soil and bodies is measurable, studies into its genetic and generational impacts remain incomplete or inconclusive, owing in part to the scientific focus on environmental decontamination rather than human health. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The US military's reliance on Agent Orange may have ended over half a century ago, but its consequences persist in the lives of millions. The contamination lingers in soil, in ecosystems, and in the bodies of those who never participated in the war but inherited its burden. Members of a veteran's group release balloons for the Agent Orange Memorial for those affected by the chemical agent in Vietnam at a Memorial Day Ceremony at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, Florida, US, May 27, 2013. File Image/Reuters With inputs from agencies
Asia Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Asia Times
50 years on, Vietnam War's ecocide still not healed
When the Vietnam War finally ended on April 30, 1975, it left behind a landscape scarred with environmental damage. Vast stretches of coastal mangroves, once housing rich stocks of fish and birds, lay in ruins. Forests that had boasted hundreds of species were reduced to dried-out fragments, overgrown with invasive grasses. The term 'ecocide' had been coined in the late 1960s to describe the US military's use of herbicides like Agent Orange and incendiary weapons like napalm to battle guerrilla forces that used jungles and marshes for cover. Fifty years later, Vietnam's degraded ecosystems and dioxin-contaminated soils and waters still reflect the long-term ecological consequences of the war. Efforts to restore these damaged landscapes and even to assess the long-term harm have been limited. As an environmental scientist and anthropologist who has worked in Vietnam since the 1990s, I find the neglect and slow recovery efforts deeply troubling. Although the war spurred new international treaties aimed at protecting the environment during wartime, these efforts failed to compel post-war restoration for Vietnam. Current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East show these laws and treaties still aren't effective. The US first sent ground troops to Vietnam in March 1965 to support South Vietnam against revolutionary forces and North Vietnamese troops, but the war had been going on for years before then. To fight an elusive enemy operating clandestinely at night and from hideouts deep in swamps and jungles, the U.S. military turned to environmental modification technologies. The most well-known of these was Operation Ranch Hand, which sprayed at least 19 million gallons (75 million liters) of herbicides over approximately 6.4 million acres (2.6 million hectares), of South Vietnam. The chemicals fell on forests, and also on rivers, rice paddies and villages, exposing civilians and troops. More than half of that spraying involved the dioxin-contaminated defoliant Agent Orange. A U.S. Air Force C-123 flies low along a South Vietnamese highway spraying defoliants on dense jungle growth beside the road to eliminate ambush sites during the Vietnam War. Photo: AP via The Conversation / Department of Defense Herbicides were used to strip the leaf cover from forests, increase visibility along transportation routes and destroy crops suspected of supplying guerrilla forces. As news of the damage from these tactics made it back to the US, scientists raised concerns about the campaign's environmental impacts to President Lyndon Johnson, calling for a review of whether the US was intentionally using chemical weapons. American military leaders' position was that herbicides did not constitute chemical weapons under the Geneva Protocol, which the US had yet to ratify. Scientific organizations also initiated studies within Vietnam during the war, finding widespread destruction of mangroves, economic losses of rubber and timber plantations, and harm to lakes and waterways. A photo at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, historically known as Saigon, shows the damage at Cần Giờ mangrove forest. The mangrove forest was destroyed by herbicides, bombs and plows. Photo: Gary Todd / Flickr via The Conversation In 1969, evidence linked a chemical in Agent Orange, 2,4,5-T, to birth defects and stillbirths in mice because it contained TCDD, a particularly harmful dioxin. That led to a ban on domestic use and suspension of Agent Orange use by the military in April 1970, with the last mission flown in early 1971. Incendiary weapons and the clearing of forests also ravaged rich ecosystems in Vietnam. The US Forest Service tested large-scale incineration of jungles by igniting barrels of fuel oil dropped from planes. Particularly feared by civilians was the use of napalm bombs, with more than 400,000 tons of the thickened petroleum used during the war. After these infernos, invasive grasses often took over in hardened, infertile soils. Fires from napalm and other incendiary weapons cleared stretches of forest, in some cases scorching the soil so badly that nothing would regrow. Photo: AP via The Conversation 'Rome Plows,' massive bulldozers with an armor-fortified cutting blade, could clear 1,000 acres a day. Enormous concussive bombs, known as 'daisy cutters', flattened forests and set off shock waves killing everything within a 3,000-foot (900-meter) radius, down to earthworms in the soil. The US also engaged in weather modification through Project Popeye, a secret program from 1967 to 1972 that seeded clouds with silver iodide to prolong the monsoon season in an attempt to cut the flow of fighters and supplies coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam. Congress eventually passed a bipartisan resolution in 1973 urging an international treaty to prohibit the use of weather modification as a weapon of war. That treaty came into effect in 1978. The US military contended that all these tactics were operationally successful as a trade of trees for American lives. Despite Congress's concerns, there was little scrutiny of the environmental impacts of US military operations and technologies. Research sites were hard to access, and there was no regular environmental monitoring. After the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese troops on April 30, 1975, the US imposed a trade and economic embargo on all of Vietnam, leaving the country both war-damaged and cash-strapped. Vietnamese scientists told me they cobbled together small-scale studies. One found a dramatic drop in bird and mammal diversity in forests. In the A Lưới valley of central Vietnam, 80% of forests subjected to herbicides had not recovered by the early 1980s. Biologists found only 24 bird and five mammal species in those areas, far below normal in unsprayed forests. Only a handful of ecosystem restoration projects were attempted, hampered by shoestring budgets. The most notable began in 1978, when foresters began hand-replanting mangroves at the mouth of the Saigon River in Cần Giờ forest, an area that had been completely denuded. Mangroves have been replanted in the Cần Giờ Biosphere Reserve near Ho Chi Minh City, but their restoration took decades. Photo: Tho Nau / Flickr, CC BY In inland areas, widespread tree-planting programs in the late 1980s and 1990s finally took root, but they focused on planting exotic trees like acacia, which did not restore the original diversity of the natural forests. For years, the US also denied responsibility for Agent Orange cleanup, despite the recognition of dioxin-associated illnesses among US veterans and testing that revealed continuing dioxin exposure among potentially tens of thousands of Vietnamese. The first remediation agreement between the two countries only occurred in 2006, after persistent advocacy by veterans, scientists and nongovernmental organizations led Congress to appropriate US$3 million for the remediation of the Da Nang airport. That project, completed in 2018, treated 150,000 cubic meters of dioxin-laden soil at an eventual cost of over $115 million, paid mostly by the US Agency for International Development, or USAID. The cleanup required lakes to be drained and contaminated soil, which had seeped more than 9 feet (3 meters) deeper than expected, to be piled and heated to break down the dioxin molecules. Large amounts of Agent Orange had been stored at the Da Nang airport during the war and contaminated the soil with dioxin. The cleanup project, including heating contaminated soil to high temperatures, was completed in 2018. Photo: Richard Nyberg / USAID via The Conversation Another major hot spot is the heavily contaminated Biên Hoà airbase, where local residents continue to ingest high levels of dioxin through fish, chicken and ducks. Agent Orange barrels were stored at the base, which leaked large amounts of the toxin into soil and water, where it continues to accumulate in animal tissue as it moves up the food chain. Remediation began in 2019; however, further work is at risk with the Trump administration's near elimination of USAID, leaving it unclear if there will be any American experts in Vietnam in charge of administering this complex project. While Agent Orange's health effects have understandably drawn scrutiny, its long-term ecological consequences have not been well studied. Current-day scientists have far more options than those 50 years ago, including satellite imagery, which is being used in Ukraine to identify fires, flooding and pollution. However, these tools cannot replace on-the-ground monitoring, which is often restricted or dangerous during wartime. The legal situation is similarly complex. In 1977, the Geneva Conventions governing conduct during wartime were revised to prohibit 'widespread, long term, and severe damage to the natural environment.' A 1980 protocol restricted incendiary weapons. Yet oil fires set by Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991, and recent environmental damage in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine and Syria indicate the limits of relying on treaties when there are no strong mechanisms to ensure compliance. Remediation work to remove dioxin contamination was just getting started at the former Biên Hoà Air Base in Vietnam when USAID's staff was dismantled in 2025. Photo: USAID Vietnam, CC BY-NC / The Conversation An international campaign currently underway calls for an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to add ecocide as a fifth prosecutable crime alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Some countries have adopted their own ecocide laws. Vietnam was the first to legally state in its penal code that 'Ecocide, destroying the natural environment, whether committed in time of peace or war, constitutes a crime against humanity.' Yet the law has resulted in no prosecutions, despite several large pollution cases. Both Russia and Ukraine also have ecocide laws, but these have not prevented harm or held anyone accountable for damage during the ongoing conflict. The Vietnam War is a reminder that failure to address ecological consequences, both during war and after, will have long-term effects. What remains in short supply is the political will to ensure that these impacts are neither ignored nor repeated. Pamela McElwee is professor of human ecology, Rutgers University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
