What did Agent Purple do?

Agent Purple is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in their herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. The name comes from the purple stripe painted on the barrels to identify the contents.

What was Agent Blue used for?

Defined in medical literature s “an arsenic-based herbicide used to destroy broadleaf plants and trees (including grass, rice, bamboo, banana trees, etc), used especially on rice paddies during the Vietnam War. 1.25 million US gallons of Agent Blue were used, successfully destroying 500,000 acres of crops.”

What are the 14 diseases associated with Agent Orange?

What did Agent Orange do to people?

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.

What toxic chemicals were used in the Vietnam War?

By far the most widely used herbicide was Agent Orange, followed by Agent White; other tactical herbicides that were used in Vietnam during the war include Agent Blue, Agent Purple, Agent Pink, and Agent Green.

Agent Orange (The Vietnam War)

Why was Agent Orange not 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 a Vietnam War crime?

Despite this, from 1961 to 1973, the U.S. military dropped an estimated 81,000,000 liters of various chemicals on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Over 60% of this was Agent Orange. The U.S. military's actions in poisoning these countries and their people still stand as one of the greatest war crimes since World War II.

Can Agent Orange be passed to child?

There is currently no definitive evidence that a father's exposure to Agent Orange causes birth defects. However, an analysis of Agent Orange registry data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) suggests a link between males' exposure to Agent Orange and having children with certain birth defects.

Is Agent Orange still being used?

But the deadly, mutagenic poison “dioxin,” central to Agent Orange's gruesome effectiveness, is still in wide use today, most indiscriminately by logging concerns as part of weed-killing herbicides sprayed over forests in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

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.

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.

Can Agent Orange be passed to spouse?

For veterans who have since passed away, their death could now be service connected to Agent Orange exposure, making their surviving spouse or dependents eligible for retroactive DIC benefits.

What benefits do you get after death from Agent Orange?

Survivors' benefits

Surviving spouses, dependent children and dependent parents of Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides during service and died as the result of diseases related to the exposure may be eligible for health care, compensation, education, and home loan benefits.

What did Agent Pink do?

Agent Pink is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War.

What was Agent Orange made of?

The two active ingredients in the Agent Orange herbicide combination were equal amounts of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), which contained traces of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). The dioxin TCDD was an unwanted byproduct of herbicide production.

What did Agent Green do?

Agent Green was mixed with Agent Pink and used for crop destruction. A total of 20,000 gallons of Agent Green were procured. Agent Green's only active ingredient was 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), one of the common phenoxy herbicides of the era.

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.

Can Agent Orange be passed through DNA?

U.S. animal tests show that genetic damage from dioxin in Agent Orange can be passed on to offspring, but species vary widely in how susceptible they are. No human studies exist.

How many Vietnam veterans had 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. “Did it save lives?

What is an Agent Orange baby?

Spina bifida (except spina bifida occulta), a defect in the developing fetus that results in incomplete closing of the spine, is associated with Veterans' exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides during qualifying service in Vietnam or Korea.

How much money do you 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.

How old would a Vietnam vet be today?

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.

Was everyone who served in Vietnam 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.

Is Vietnam still suffering from Agent Orange?

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 ...

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.