the effects of Agent Orange

When? How? Who?

During the second Indochina War, between 1961 and 1971,
millions of litres of toxic chemicals, including a
herbicide called Agent Orange - which contained dioxin -
were sprayed over large parts of Vietnam. According to U.S.
defense records, the U.S. Air Force sprayed 72 million
litres of toxic chemicals, of which 44 million were Agent
Orange - the most toxic chemical discovered so far.

Health effects
Agent Orange and dioxin are especially harmful to human
health. Recent laboratory tests of human tissue samples
(blood, fat tissue, and breast milk) taken from exposed
veterans and people living in sprayed areas revealed levels
of dioxin higher tham levels found in people living in non-
sprayed areas of Vietnam as well as people living in
industrialised countries.

Since 1990, the Agent Orange Victims Fund has been testing
dioxin in pooled blood samples from different areas in
order to map out the average dioxin levels throughout the
country. Blood samples collected from those in northern
Vietnam have the lowest dioxin levels (2-3 ppt) and almost
all the samples collected from people in southern Vietnam,
where the chemicals were sprayed showed a much higher
dioxin level.

Most noteworthy are the levels of dioxin in breast milk.

The high level of dioxin in nursing mothers shows how
contamination spreads and bio-acumulates from mothers to
their children.

Epidemiological studies have shown an elevated rate of

diseases and disorders in people exposed to dioxin. These
include high rates of cancers, abnormalities during
pregnancies, neurological and metabolic disorders, and
especially birth defects.

How many people?

Millions of Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange

during the war. It is estimated that today approximately a
million people have disabilities or other health problems
associated with Agent Orange, according to a number of
pilot studies made in Vietnam. These studies estimate that
approximately 100,000 of these adversely affected people
are disabled children.

Based on the high number of people in need of assistance

and the extremely difficult situation many of them have to
face, the Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC) has set up a special
fund and taken the lead to mobilise support in order to
provide humanitarian assistance.

The people affected by Agent Orange are not only suffering

from severe disabilities and a multitude of other health
problems, but also from the associated effects of not being
able to integrate into normal life. Many children cannot go
to school and their parents are often unable to work.

And the environment?

The consequences of spraying these toxic chemicals continue
to have devastating effects on the environment. Millions of
litres of Agent Orange caused a great ecological imbalance,
destroying timber, wild animals and forest products.
Without forest cover to retain water, flooding in the rainy
season and drought in the dry season has adversely affected
agricultural production. Topsoil is easily washed away,
further hindering forest recovery. While the uplands have
been and continue to be eroded, the lowlands have become
choked with sediment, further increasing the threat of
flooding.

The Agent Orange Victims Fund (AGORAVIF) works to support

families and children affected by Dow's chemicals. You can
find out more and donate to their fund by visiting
www.vnrc.org.vn. This information was adapted from Mac Thi
Hoa's original - she works with the victims at one of the
clinics set up by AGORAVIF in southern Vietnam.

Diseases and conditions linked to Agent Orange

soft tissue sarcoma

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Hodgkin’s disease

chloracne
respiratory cancers (including cancers of the lung,
larynx, trachea & bronchus)

prostate cancer

multiple myeloma

peripheral neuropathy
(acute or subacute)

spina bifida

porphyria cutanea tarda

increased rate of primary liver cancer & oropharynx

cancer

miscarriage

still birth

premature birth

hyditiform mole & choriocarcinoma

anencephalia

microcephalia

hydrocephalia

cerebral palsy

higher rates of infant mortality

contaminated breast milk

loss of appetite

insomnia

weight loss
fatigue

headache

impaired vision & hearing

hepatitis

liver cirrhosis

immune-deficiency: increased rates of infectious

diseases & malaria

intestinal diseases: gastric ulcers, gastroduodenitis

dermatitis

arteriolosclerosis, hypertension & cerebral circulation

disorders