The deadly chemicals, which the US forces used during the Vietnam
War, continue to destroy the environment and seriously damage the
people.
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TRAILER)
Chemical warfare
is condemned world-wide. And yet there has only been one war where
chemicals have been used extensively. And that was during the Vietnam
War of 1956 –1973.
The US forces,
in an attempt to find the Viet Cong hiding in the jungles, experimented
with thousands of chemicals to kill the foliage of the forests to
reveal the enemy.
Figures vary,
but according to US Defence Department documents, 17,6 million gallons
(66,6 million litres) of chemicals were used during the war. Different
chemicals were used for different purposes; herbicides and defoliants
were the most frequently used, so too were asphyxiates, teargas,
nerve gas and insecticides. The haunting image of Kim Phuc running
naked, her body covered with Napalm burns, highlighted the devastation
been wrecked on Vietnam, and turned the US population against this
foreign war.
But the war
is not over for the people of Vietnam. The extensive use of chemicals
thirty four years ago is still causing devastating damage to humans
and to nature today. Agent Orange, one of the main defoliates used
by the US, is the cause. It was tainted with the deadly poison dioxin
– 100000 times more toxic than anything found in nature.
Vietnam has,
since the war, recorded extraordinarily high numbers of birth abnormalities.
Serious birth defects
and malformations are now been seen in the second generation of
children born after the war. In the grandchildren of those who fought
protecting their country. Vietnamese scientists are adamant that
these defects are a direct result of dioxin poisoning. And they
are fearful that the dioxin may have affected the DNA. However,
the United States refuses to acknowledge that there is a link between
dioxin poisoning and malformations. Ironically, the US recognises
the effects of Agent Orange in their own vets and their children.
What cannot
be ignored though is the hotspots. These are reservoirs where the
dioxin from Agent Orange has accumulated.
 There
are 12 such areas in South Vietnam located all around previous US
air bases. They were found by accident by Canadian independent researchers,
who have measured dioxin levels in the humans 17 times the World
Health Organisations maximum level. Near the old Bien Hoa airbase
levels are so high in the city lake, that they should warrant an
immediate evacuation and international clean up operation. Why is
that not happening?
It will cost
billions of dollars, money that Vietnam cannot afford. Without the
United States acknowledging their responsibility to the aftermath
of the war, Vietnam and her people will continue to fight the war,
long after the battle cry is silent.
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