Chemical Denial: From Vietnam To Fallujah

“I have just learned what the doctors think of my case. They say that Agent Orange has affected my marrow and atrophied my muscles. It is inoperable and incurable. I am going to lose little by little the use of my limbs and not be able to move.”

Ha Thi Hai, victim of Agent Orange, Thai Binh province, Vietnam.

…From 1961 trough 1971, 22 million gallons of highly toxic herbicides were sprayed over hundreds of thousands of hectares of land, mostly in Vietnam, but also in Laos and Cambodia In addition to the human toll, Agent Orange devastated Vietnam's natural environment, including the wholesale destruction of mangrove forests and the long-term poisoning of soil and crops.

“We have had a tremendous amount of support. We are trying to get legislation introduced within the next year or six months. We are calling on the U.S. to allocate money for Agent Orange victims in Vietnam.

From the discussions of the people from the tour, we have heard that they are living under difficult conditions. The Vietnamese government is trying to provide help for them and in fact is giving some kind of assistance to every Agent Orange victim in the country, but this is a poor country so they can not afford that much.

We think there is a responsibility, both legally and ethically, to compensate the Agent Orange victims in Vietnam, as the U.S. has been forced to do with the U.S. veterans.”

Merle Ratner, Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, remarks to IPS.

…In Vietnam, they poisoned us with Agent Orange, and now they are poisoning another generation with depleted uranium and other toxins.

Out of the 360,000 discharged veterans from the current Iraq war, nearly one in four had already visited VA (the Veterans Administration) for physical injuries or mental health counseling by February 2005.

Dave Curry, Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Elisabeth Schreinemarcher, “U.S. Vets Join Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims,” Inter Press Service, 12/19/05.