The Vietnam war has been over for 23 years. However, one weapon that was used by the
Americans is still lethal - Agent Orange. New research shows it is still creating
environmental chaos, poisoning the food chain and causing serious
concern over its effects on human health. Agent Orange is the combination of the code names for Herbicide Orange(HO) and Agent LNX, one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S military as part of its herbicidal warfare program. Vietname estimates 400,00- thousand people were killed or maimed, and 500,00 children were born with birth defects. The Red Cross estimates that up to one million people are disabled or have health problems as a result of Agent Orange.
Children in the areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected and have multiple health problems, including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias and/or extra fingers and toes. In the 1970's, high levels of dioxin were found in the breast milk of Southern Vietnamese women, and in the blood of U.S soldiers who served in Vietnam during that time.
 |
| Le Dang Kiet,age 5, is blind and can't speak looks out from a window at
the Duc Son Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam. There are 15 handicapped
children amongst the 190 orphans, most are suffering from the effects of
Agent Orange.- LINK |
 |
| Tran Minh Anh, born 14/10/1994 is a patient at the Peace Village in the Tu Du(Freedom) Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam. Photo credit: David Dare Parker |
 |
| A boy, born of parents who were affected by Agent Orange during the
Vietnam War, lives in an orphanage at the Tu Do Obstetrical Hospital in
Ho Chi Minh City. Many "Agent Orange babies" are abandoned by their
parents who are too poor to provide the care they need. The Tu Du
Obstetrical Hospital is an important center for International and
Vietnamese research on the long term effects of this chemical.Photo credit: Steve Raymer - LINK |
 |
| Third Generation Victims of Agent Orange at the Ba Vi Orphanage in Vietnam. Photo credit: Justin Mott |
 |
| Agent Orange victim Nguyen Thi Hong Van and her mother, Nguyen
Thi Luu. Defoliants were sprayed over vast swathes of jungle in an
attempt to flush out Viet Cong communist guerrillas by depriving them of
tree cover and food. (Photo: AFP) - LINK |
 |
| Le Thi Hong Hanh, a 19 year old was born with hands and feet. Her skin
falls from her and her whole body is a mass of scabs and open wounds.
Her hands and feet have worn down to mere stumps. - LINK |
 |
| Trien
Meng Hiep, 9, against wall, is hugged by another boy at a "PeaceVillage"
center in Tu Du hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in this May 25,
2007. Both of the boys were born with severe physical deformities
typical of spina bifida and which hospital officials suspect to have
been caused by their parents exposure to dioxin in the chemical
defoliant Agent Orange. - LINK |
 |
| Five-year-old
girl Tran Huynh Thuong Sinh, who was born without eyes in the Binh Dinh
province of Vietnam, is fed breakfast by a nurse at the "Peace Village"
center at Tu Du hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, May 25, 2007.
Officials at the hospital suspect that the dioxin in Agent Orange blocks
the receptors in a developing fetus, preventing the hormones that would
normally instruct the cells to form eyes from doing so. - LINK |
 |
| Photo credit: Aaron Joel Santos - LINK |
 |
| Patient at the friendship village outside of Hanoi. Photo credit: Aaron Joel Santos - LINK |
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Philip Jones Griffiths - LINK |
 |
| Children eat lunch on July 6, 2009, at Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam. Many children in the hospital, who are from areas that
were heavily sprayed by Agent Orange during the war, suffer mental and
physical problems due to exposure to the toxic herbicide. Photo credit: Kuni Takahashi |
 |
| "Agent Orange - A lethal legacy".Memories of the Vietnam War are
dimming, but Vietnamese who were exposed to Agent Orange and other
dioxin-laced chemicals during the fighting are still experiencing
devastating health effects, and birth defects have brought the impact
into a second generation. Photo credit: Kuni Takahashi |
So sad.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Vietnam- in Ho Chi Minh City there's a museum dedicated to Vietnamese War, with a whole exhibiton of Agent Orange impact. It's very hard to look at those pictures, showing deformed fetuses, blind children, people so mutated they can't live on their own, which in a country like Vietnam is a life sentence- there's not enough money to compensate the tragedy to most of the victims, often with no family ready to help. I think the pictures are available in the internet.
ReplyDelete