What did Agent Orange do to Vietnam vets?

Agent Orange was a tactical herbicide the U.S. military used to clear leaves and vegetation for military operations mainly during the Vietnam War. Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange may have certain related cancers or other illnesses.

What are the 14 diseases associated with Agent Orange?

Were all Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange?

For the purposes of VA compensation benefits, Veterans who served anywhere in Vietnam between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975 are presumed to have been exposed to herbicides, as specified in the Agent Orange Act of 1991.

What has Agent Orange done to Vietnam?

About Agent Orange: Agent Orange was one of a class of color-coded herbicides that U.S. forces sprayed over the rural landscape in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 to defoliate trees and shrubs and kill food crops that were providing cover and food to opposition forces.

How much do Vietnam vets get for Agent Orange?

Of the 105,000 claims received by the Payment Program, approximately 52,000 Vietnam Veterans or their survivors received cash payments which averaged about $3,800 each.

Agent Orange (The Vietnam War)

Was Agent Orange a war crime?

Is the spraying of Agent Orange considered a war crime? No. The Environmental Modification Convention, put into effect in after the end of the Vietnam War, prohibits the military to use techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects on the environment.

Was Agent Orange successful in Vietnam?

Legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam

In addition to the massive environmental devastation of the U.S. defoliation program in Vietnam, that nation has reported that some 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange.

Was Agent Orange used in the Philippines?

The first document was a list of 71 sites within the United States at which herbicide/Agent Orange testing or use was acknowledged, but the list does not include Okinawa or the Philippines.

How many deaths did Agent Orange cause?

Over almost five decades since its use in Vietnam, exposure to Agent Orange has killed or maimed approximately 400,000 US soldiers and affected an estimated 4 million Vietnamese. The chemical's reputation has permeated throughout Western and Vietnamese history.

How many people were killed from Agent Orange?

The number of Vietnam veterans affected by the chemical Agent Orange is astonishing. Roughly 300-thousand veterans have died from Agent Orange exposure -- that's almost five times as many as the 58-thousand who died in combat.

Why are Vietnam vets so traumatized?

Many mental health professionals in Psychiatry attribute the high incidence of PTSD in Vietnam-era veterans to a lack of “decompression” time.

What did Agent Orange do to soldiers?

Agent Orange was a tactical herbicide the U.S. military used to clear leaves and vegetation for military operations mainly during the Vietnam War. Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange may have certain related cancers or other illnesses.

How old would a Vietnam vet be right now?

Today, Vietnam Veterans range in age from 61 to 103 years old. Nearly ten million Veterans are age 65 or older, but within the next five years, around 700,000 more Vietnam Veterans will reach retirement age.

Why is it called Agent Orange?

More than 19 million gallons of various “rainbow” herbicide combinations were sprayed, but Agent Orange was the combination the U.S. military used most often. The name “Agent Orange” came from the orange identifying stripe used on the 55-gallon drums in which it was stored.

What did Agent Orange do to humans?

Among the Vietnamese, exposure to Agent Orange is considered to be the cause of an abnormally high incidence of miscarriages, skin diseases, cancers, birth defects, and congenital malformations (often extreme and grotesque) dating from the 1970s.

How much money do Vietnam veterans get?

For veterans who received VA's disability payments in addition to their other income, the average annual payment was $18,100. Those disability payments made their income higher than other veterans' income, on average.

What is the lifespan of Agent Orange?

Agent Orange has a short half-life of days and weeks after application to vegetation, and has not been found to persist, after 50 years, in the water or soils of southern Vietnam.

Is Agent Orange still a problem in Vietnam?

Nearly half a century since the end of the Vietnam War, there remains an urgent need for the United States and Vietnam to address the harmful legacy of Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed by the U.S. military over parts of southern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia — an area about the size of Massachusetts — that continues to ...

Are people still dying from Agent Orange?

“It was discovered while it was in use to have toxicities and carcinogenic properties. The VA moved through studies and reviews to properly assess that and then provide care for those people effected,” Hall said. Sklenar said Vietnam veterans are still dying every day from the effects of Agent Orange.

What does Agent Orange smell like?

“Going into Agent Orange was like it had a musty smell to it. It was a reddish-brown-colored fog that would be in the air,” said Dudich, who served much of his first tour with troops of the Republic of Vietnam.

Who stopped the use of Agent Orange?

The military use of 2,4,5-T, and thus Agent Orange, was suspended by the Department of Defense in April 1970 (Young and Reggiani, 1988).

What countries had Agent Orange?

During the Vietnam War, herbicides were also stored at military bases all over the world. With facilities in Cambodia, India, Korea, Laos, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Canada, as well as at sea, Agent Orange was stored at many overseas location—as well as used for testing purposes—up until 1970.

What are the horrors of Agent Orange?

Agent Orange is linked to serious health issues including cancers, severe psychological and neurological problems, and birth defects, both among the Vietnamese people and the men and women of the U.S. military. The VA recognizes 18 medical conditions for children of women who served in Vietnam.

Who dropped Agent Orange in Vietnam?

From 1962 to 1971, the U.S. Air Force sprayed nearly 19 million gallons of herbicides in Vietnam, of which at least 11 million gallons was Agent Orange, in a military project called Operation Ranch Hand.

What is the truth about Agent Orange?

Agent Orange contained a toxic chemical called “dioxin” now associated with cancer, type 2 diabetes, nerve disorders, and heart disease. Soldiers who had “boots on the ground” in Vietnam were eligible for VA disability benefits when they returned home and could prove they'd been exposed to Agent Orange.