Chemistry Page

How did chemical warfare play into the Vietnam War and how does the use of the chemicals still effect the world?

Agent Orange is a mixture of herbicides that was used in the Malayan conflicts of the 1950's then in the Vietnam War.  It was used mostly to destroy the crops of Communist insurgents, making food and other plants hard to grow.  The US dropped over 20,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange onto Vietnam, eastern Laos and parts of Cambodia between 1962-1971.  Agent orange is still effecting people in the areas of the spraying, they are third generation agent orange spray victims.  These people are affected by physical and mental disorders that make life almost impossible.

Agent orange is still hurting people in Vietnam, giving them birth defects and ruining their lives.  Agent orange not only affected the Vietnamese troops but the American troops as well.  over 60,000 US troops are believed to have been exposed to the chemical agent orange.  Three million Vietnamese people were effected by the use of agent orange, and over 150,000 children were born with birth defects because of its use.  During the war 17.8% of the Vietnam forests were sprayed over the course of its use in the war.

In Vietnam you can walk around and see someone afflicted with the effects of agent orange.  The Red Cross said that 1 million Vietnamese people are being affected by the chemical agent orange, with disabilities or other life changing conditions.  About 28 of the former U.S. military bases in Vietnam where the herbicides were stored and loaded onto airplanes may still have high level of chemicals in the soil, threatening the health of the surrounding communities.  One study a Harvard biologist found that in one sprayed forest there were only 24 species of birds and five species of mammals, while in two adjacent sections of unsprayed forest there were 145 and 170 species of birds and 30 and 55 species of mammals.  

This picture shows that American veterans still acknowledge that agent orange is still affecting US and Vietnamese people.  All the air bases which the chemicals were loaded at are still afflicted with the agent orange chemical along with others.  Agent orange and other chemicals that were used are still affecting veterans and killing them indirectly.  Agent orange has caused different kinds of cancers and other lethal diseases to inhabit veterans.  The men returned home from war and began to have families, thats when they noticed that they were carrying the agent orange effects, they could see it when they had miscarriages and their children had birth defects.  

Napalm was another chemical that was used in the Vietnam war to further harm the other troops.  Napalm is a thick liquid that when on fire severely burns skin and other objects.  People lit up entire forests and camps with napalm.  Today people are still alive that were burned by napalm, and you can physically see the burns all over their bodies.  Napalm stills scares the land of Vietnam, the forests are growing back but some places stubbled to grow back.

The chemicals used in the Vietnam were poisons and were used to kill people.  They were intended to be used as weapons of war to benefit those using them.  The chemicals are still effecting the people of the Vietnam and even those of the US.  People are not necessarily still dying from these chemicals, its more that they are being born with irreversible birth defects.  Chemical cleanups are not very effective, and the chemicals are still prevalent in areas of war.  Bases are still contaminated and the men that worked in those places still have traces in their bodies.  These chemicals are still very real and still effect people.

There were 28 air force bases that were used to load chemicals onto planes.  All of the bases still have traces of the chemicals in them.  The men that loaded the planes were exposed to high levels of agent orange and other bad chemicals.  Over 20,000,000 gallons of agent orange was dropped on parts of Vietnam and other countries.  In the 9 years that agent orange was used, about 5 million people were effected by it.  The chemical was made of two different types of herbicides, and the two together were not safe for humans.  The use of agent orange and other chemicals in Vietnam left Vietnam a scared place with many environmental issues concerning growing of plants and other human development problems.