how was agent orange shipped to vietnam how was agent orange shipped to vietnam

In a just-published paper in the Open Journal of . It was used to push enemy troops out of the jungles, forcing them to fight out in the open. They were also effective. Of this figure, nearly 11.45 million (equivalent to over 208,000 drums) was Agent Orange, discharged mostly between 1965 and 1970. As one of a group of chemicals referred to as the rainbow herbicides, Agent Orange served as the most well-known defoliant used in the Vietnam War. It was a 50/50 mixture of two herbicides: 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. The herbicide and defoliant exposed Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops who previously sheltered under the . And while research in those areas is limited an extensive 2003 study was canceled in 2005 due to a reported lack of mutual understanding between the U.S. and the Vietnamese governments evidence suggests that the heavily polluted soil and water in these locations have yet to recover. Some of these vulnerable areas also happen to be very poor and, these days, home to a large number of Agent Orange victims. In parts of central and southern Vietnam that were already exposed to environmental hazards such as frequent typhoons and flooding in low-lying areas and droughts and water scarcity in the highlands and Mekong Delta, herbicide spraying led to nutrient loss in the soil. On leaf and soil surfaces it will last 13 years, depending on conditions. On August 10, 2023 - Agent Orange Awareness Day - we will bring light to the continuing dark toll of the war. More than 10 years of U.S. chemical warfare in Vietnam exposed an estimated 2.1 to 4.8 million Vietnamese people to Agent Orange. used to make that statementincluding the filing of multiple Freedom of Information Act requestshave been hampered by U.S. authorities, and the Pentagon has refused to help former service members who claim they were exposed to toxic defoliants during the operation. Whats more dreadful is that dioxin can permeate into the soil and groundwater of Vietnam, and dig its way into plants and animals, which later can be consumed by people and accumulated in their body tissues without their knowledge. Its abundantly clear now that this is false. Allegedly, chemical manufacturers had informed the U.S. military that Agent Orange was toxic, but spraying went forward anyway. We have a strong desire to do the right thing for all of the U.S. veterans who were exposed to herbicides/Dioxin on Okinawa as well as for Okinawa, states the letter, which was organized by former Air Force sergeant Joe Sipala. Learn more at erinblakemore.com. In 1967, around 5,000 American scientists, including 17 Nobel laureates, signed a petition condemning the use of . The most recent report, Update 11 (2018), presents the committee's analysis of peer-reviewed, scientific reports published between September 30, 2014, and December 31, 2017. Controversial then and now, its still not clear whether Operation Ranch Hand, a form of chemical warfare, was even permitted under international law. Please note that neither campus is open at this time.Thank you for your continued understanding and support. The sole target of Operation Ranch Hand was Vietnamese guerrillas (troops that hide well to make sudden attacks on the enemy). Some accounts show that almost 9,000 of the 25,000 barrels developed leaks on Johnston Island, leading to the contamination of large areas of land. In November 1961, with the authorization of President Kennedy, the U.S. Air Force officially launched Operation Ranch Hand, the codename for its aggressive defoliation program in the Vietnam War. Check out the ideal itinerary in Ho Chi Minh City that offers great insights into Vietnam culture and history. On 9 August 2012, the United States and Vietnam began a cooperative cleaning up of the toxic chemical. Agent Orange, mixture of herbicides that U.S. military forces sprayed in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 during the Vietnam War for the dual purpose of defoliating forest areas that might conceal Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces and destroying crops that might feed the enemy. For more information, and to find out how to change the configuration of cookies, please read our, Utilizamos cookies para realizar el anlisis de la navegacin de los usuarios y mejorar nuestros servicios. Open Journal of Soil Science , 2019; 09 (01): 1 DOI: 10.4236/ojss.2019.91001 Tags: Agent Orange . Weve always understood the importance of calling out corruption, regardless of political affiliation. About 50 million litres (13 million gallons) of Agent Orangecontaining about 170 kg (375 pounds) of dioxinwere dropped on Vietnam. Nearly 3 million service members served in Vietnam and most returned home. This is one of the greatest legacies of the countrys 20-year war, but is yet to be honestly confronted. These findings are important because they describe a previously unrecognized source of exposure to dioxin that has health significance to those who engaged in the transport work using these aircraft, according to Dr. Stellman and Peter A. Lurker, PhD, PE, CIH, an environmental engineer with many years of experience evaluating environmental exposures in the Air Force. Washington has pledged $400,000 (205,000) towards a $1m study into the removal of the highly toxic chemical dioxin at a former US base at Da Nang. Efforts of the US governments in accepting its responsibility have remained slow and minimal. The timeframe covered by the recently discovered report suggests that the barrels were a part of Operation Red Hatthe militarys 1971 operation to remove its 12,000-ton store of chemical weapons (including mustard gas, VX, and sarin) from Okinawa in preparation for the islands reversion to Japanese control the following year. In the early morning low angle sunlight, it appeared to have an orange hue. By spraying Agent Orange, he thought he was helping the United States military bust through Vietnams impenetrable jungles on the way to victory. The sole target of Operation Ranch Hand was Vietnamese guerrillas (troops that hide well to make sudden attacks on the enemy). The Geneva Protocol, developed after World. Agent Orange also contained small, variable proportions of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxincommonly called dioxinwhich is a by-product of the manufacture of 2,4,5-T and is toxic even in minute quantities. The barrels, containing over 1.4 million gallons of the toxic defoliant, were brought to Okinawa from Vietnam before being taken to Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean, where the U.S. military incinerated its stocks of the compound in 1977. In 2004 the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) filed a lawsuit in the New York court against the companies for liability and claimed the violation of international protocols and conventions. U.S. propaganda about Agent Orange was so effective, it fooled American troops into thinking it was safe, too. Dioxin stays in the soil and in the sediment at the . The issue was re-ignited after the Sunday News quoted Government minister and New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven saying he had information the ingredients of Agent Orange were shipped from. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The Vietnam War may be over, but the battle continues for many Vietnam veterans. Phone Number. Famine, malnourishment and starvation set in. "After President Nixon ordered the U.S. military to stop spraying Agent Orange in 1970, this is the site where all the Agent Orange barrels remaining in Vietnam were collected. The estimated airborne contamination exceeded the only available (German) standard.Dr. Meanwhile, the U.S. government recently allocated more than US$13 billion to fund expanded Agent Orange-related health services in America. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, Contaminated soils, permanent forest loss, soil erosion, and other environmental damage have haunted Vietnam for years. During Operation Ranch Hand, the U.S. and South Vietnamese governments spent considerable time and effort making the claim that tactical herbicides were safe for humans and the environment. Agent Orange is a mixture of two active chemicals. Its abundantly clear now that this is false. In the background of the shots, there is a large stack of barrels. But since then, thousands of Vietnam veterans have fought illnesses related . Stellman and her co-authors Drs. Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed roughly 11 million gallons of the chemical agent across large swaths of southern Vietnam. The chemicals were sprayed from aircraft contaminating soil, water, air. More than 40 years on, the impact on their health has been staggering. Today, Agent Orange has become a contentious legal and political issue, both within Vietnam and internationally. As a result, nobody is officially accountable for the suffering of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. All Rights Reserved. One prominent comic strip featured a character named Brother Nam who explained that The only effect of defoliant is to kill trees and force leaves to whither, and normally does not cause harm to people, livestock, land, or the drinking water of our compatriots.. - According with the Vietnam Red Cross the chemical has affected 3 million of Vietnamese, including at least 150,000 children. In the end, the military campaign was called Operation Ranch Hand, but it originally went by a more appropriately hellish appellation: Operation Hades. The most heavily exposed locations among them Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, Thua Thien Hue and Kontum were sprayed multiple times. As part of this Vietnam War effort, from 1961 to 1971, the United States sprayed over 73 million liters of chemical agents on the country to strip away the vegetation that provided cover for Vietcong troops in enemy territory.. Because the effects of the chemical are passed from one generation to the next, Agent Orange is now debilitating its third and fourth generation. The first test spraying occurred August 10, 1961. "Food is a weapon", said Kissinger. The past year has been the most arduous of our lives. From 1971-1982, Air Force reservists, who flew in 34 dioxin-contaminated aircraft used to spray Agent Orange and returned to the U.S. following discontinuation of the herbicide spraying operations in the Vietnam War, were exposed to greater levels of dioxin than previously acknowledged, according to a study published today in Environmental Research by senior author Jeanne Mager Stellman, PhD, Mailman School of Public Health professor emerita in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Its major manufacturers, including Dow Chemical and Monsanto, have . The images were taken during a U.S. military public relations event designed to assure the local media that the safety procedures in place for Operation Red Hat were sound. However, both Tokyo and Washington have refused these requests. The basis of their evidence was a purported claim from a former NZ Defence attach in Washington that he wrote reports to the United States Defence Department about the supply of Agent Orange. American soldiers were told the chemicals were safe. In the first generation, the impacts were mostly visible in high rates of various forms of cancer among both U.S. soldiers and Vietnam residents. In the end, the military campaign was called Operation Ranch Hand, but it originally went by a more appropriately hellish appellation: Operation Hades. This was used extensively in Vietnam and in the Gulf and also to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. As a result, flooding has gotten worse in numerous watershed areas. In 2004, a Vietnamese group unsuccessfully attempted to sue some 30 companies, alleging that the use of chemical weapons constituted a war crime. The legacy of the defoliant will outlast its immediate victims, said Kaderlik. Agent Orange is a blend of tactical herbicides the U.S. military sprayed from 1962 to 1971 during Operation Ranch Hand in the Vietnam War to remove trees and dense tropical foliage that provided enemy cover. While a small amount of dioxin can actually reduce the risk of cancer contraction, a greater level than permitted would do exactly the reverse, increasing the risk of cancer substantially. In Quang Ngai province (in the southern half of the central coast), for example, 85% of the croplands were demolished in 1970 alone, leading to severe famine across the town; hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation or suffered from severe malnutrition, especially kids. The other 5 colors in Rainbow Herbicides are green, pink, color, blue, and white - Agent Blue for crop destruction and the others for jungle defoliation. The Rainbow Herbicides left a lethal legacy. Lambert Campus -About 80 million litres of toxic chemicals were sprayed over the south of Vietnam. Sept. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- When the United States began using Chemical Warfare in Vietnam, its stated goals were to defoliate jungle coverage to see the enemy and limit the enemy's food supply. For each association between a specific health outcome and exposure to TCDD and other chemicals present in the herbicides used by the military in Vietnam, the study . But Britain argued that the conflict was an emergency, not a warand that the treaty didnt outlaw using chemicals for police actions. The dangerous quantity of residual dioxin in the earth thwarts the normal growth of crops and trees, while continuing to poison the food chain. Heather Bowser, a second-generation Agent Orange victim whose father, Bill Morris, was a U.S. soldier in the Vietnam war, walks at the Friendship Village, a hospice for Agent Orange victims . It is a mixture of two common herbicides (2,4-D and 2,4,5-T ) that were used separately in the United States since the late 1940s. As a result, flooding has gotten worse in numerous watershed areas. What counts now is the peace we have gained, and how we are always willing to join hands with our international friends in shaping a better present and future. Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? The army report, published in 2003 but only recently discovered, is titled An Ecological Assessment of Johnston Atoll. Outlining the militarys efforts to clean up the tiny island that the United States used throughout the Cold War to store and dispose of its stockpiles of biochemical weapons, the report states directly, In 1972, the U.S. Air Force brought about 25,000 55-gallon (208 liter) drums of the chemical Herbicide Orange (HO) to Johnston Island that originated from Vietnam and was stored on Okinawa.. Dioxin (Agent Orange) on the Carriers. Agent Orange is one of the six types of Rainbow Herbicides, a group of chemicals meant to kills plants, trees, and crops. This, in turn, has caused erosion, compromising forests in 28 river basins. Looking for a list of ships used by the Merchant Marines during the Vietnam war, specifically the ones that entered the inland waters that dropped off supplies. In Quang Ngai province (in the southern half of the central coast), for example, 85% of the croplands were demolished in 1970 alone. When they're combined, an unwanted byproduct -- a dioxin called TCDD -- is formed. The past has gone, but its traces are still present in Vietnam today. Exposure to . Toxic hotspots also remain at several former U.S. air force bases. South Vietnam was the main suffering region. In the report, which was published in 1969, Bionetics researchers stated that Agent Orange contained a contaminant called 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD), a dioxin that caused increased rates of stillbirths and birth defects in pregnant rats exposed to it. Dioxin can have devastating, lethal effects on human health, and on top of that, it is hereditary. Aerial spraying in central and southern Vietnam. It may be to your surprise, but the devastating effects of the Vietnam War continue to torture many Vietnamese both physically and mentally long after its end in 1975. From this operation, the term ecocide (Zierler, 2011) was born to denounce the environmental destructions and potential damage. No compensations have been given to vietnamese people. The VA concept of a dried residue that is biologically unavailable is not consistent with widely accepted theories of the behavior of surface residues. In 1970, the US Surgeon General's office reported that 2,4,5-T, the component of . -The Dioxin is the deadly toxin in Agent Orange. The couple married in September 1964 and the following March, Joe Weber shipped off to Vietnam. As the jungle died, so did crops. The Rainbow Herbicides, as they were known, were only used as weapons in the war for a little over a decade, but their consequences can still be felt today. Dioxin can have devastating, lethal effects on human health, and on top of that, it is hereditary.World Health Organization has listed dioxin as a cancer-causing substance, capable of impairing internal organs, the immune system, and the nervous system.Whats more dreadful is that dioxin can permeate into the soil and groundwater of Vietnam, and dig its way into plants and animals, which later can be consumed by people and accumulated in their body tissues without their knowledge. This dissertation addresses the long-term effects of improper handling and management of the herbicides during Operation Ranch Hand which caused excessive levels of dioxin contamination in Da Nang and surrounding areas. And a large part of that devastation comes from a type of defoliant called Agent Orange. Major destinations included the United States, some European countries, and other camps across the world where the Southeast Asian refugees embarked on the path of an uncertain and desperate life. Agent Orange was a tactical herbicide mixture used by the United States military during the Vietnam War era. The Korean War Project, an organization that has its office in Dallas, Texas, has been raising the issue of Agent Orange, which the U.S. used in the Vietnam War, for about 10 years. How has Agent Orange affected Vietnamese people? Exposure of Ground Troops After many years without monitoring, tests revealed the presence of dioxin (also known as TCDD). Agent Orange was stored on site at Diamond Alkali in 208-liter barrels painted with an orange stripe and then loaded on ocean-going vessels and shipped through the Panama Canal Zone [13] Figure 11 Vietnamese people werent the only ones poisoned by Agent Orange. (Though estimates vary, the government of Vietnam says that 4 million were exposed to the chemicals, 3 million of whom now suffer from health consequences.) The former service members were angered last year when the U.S. government and Japans Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that the veterans accounts of herbicides on Okinawa were dubious. The U.S. had a rainbow of chemicals at their disposal. As a result, nobody is officially accountable for the suffering of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. U.S. soldiers, unaware of the dangers, sometimes showered in the empty 55-gallon drums, used them to store food and repurposed them as barbecue pits. In the 1950s, Britain became involved in the Malayan Emergency, an insurgency in a former British colony in what is now Malaysia. Second, finding better technology to eradicate all dioxin residues in Agent Orange hotspots in the past - Bien Hoa, Da Nang, Phu Cat airbases. Finally, soldiering on the fight for justice for the dioxin victims, with efforts to win more advocacy from the international public. Evidence pointed to secret sorties flown by Air America pilots. The chemicals were produced by companies like DOW Chemical, Monsanto, and Hercules, Inc. Trail dust operations were conducted by the U.S. Air Force, whose cowboys flew C-123s escorted by fighters. U.S. soldiers, unaware of the dangers, sometimes showered in the empty 55-gallon drums, used them to store food and repurposed them as barbecue pits. While under developmentin the mid-1940s,one of the chem-icals in Agent Orange2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid . Out of the 28 bases where Ranch Hand stored defoliants and loaded them onto airplanes, the main ones were Bien Hoa Air Base for operations in Mekong Delta (Bien Hoa, a populous city in southern Vietnam) and Da Nang Air Base for central coast and the Ho Chi Minh Trail regions (an important artery for Vietnamese military in the war). Even Ken Burns and Lynn Novick seem to gloss over this contentious issue, both in their supposedly exhaustive Vietnam War documentary series and in subsequent interviews about the horrors of Vietnam. Chapter 4 distinguishes Agent Orange from dioxin. Among five million people exposed to AO/dioxin, over three million ones are still suffering from diseases and leaving birth defects on their children. (Vietnamese in the US raise funds for AO victims, 2011, Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs). -Up to now, babies in Vietnam are still being born with birth defects. We use cookies for statistical purposes and to improve our services. US plane spraying Vietnam landscape with tainted herbicide/defoliant Agent Orange during the war. [1] These accounts have caused alarm in Okinawa, where local residents have been urging the authorities to conduct environmental tests within the bases where U.S. veterans allege Agent Orange was stored. The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the Vietnam War. The EPA calls it a carcinogen (something that causes cancer . Toxic byproducts of Agent Orange are polluting the environment in Vietnam, including its food supply, 50 years later. They were nicknamed according to the color on the barrels in which they were shipped. Orange Agent Tees Co. Orange Agent Vietnam War Military Victims Retired Soldier T-Shirt 25 $2432 FREE delivery Tue, Feb 7 on $25 of items shipped by Amazon Or fastest delivery Mon, Feb 6 Amazon Merch on Demand +3 CafePress Agent Orange T Shirt Graphic Shirt 5 $1999 $4.99 delivery Feb 9 - 14 Or fastest delivery Feb 8 - 10 Small Business The destruction of Vietnamese forests, however, has proven irreversible. It is believed that Agent Orange is still affecting the health of Vietnamese people. A veteran of the Vietnam War, he has been working on issues relating to Agent Orange exposure since 1989. Al pulsar "Accept cookies" consiente dichas cookies. The use of Rainbow Herbicides was adopted by United States military during the Vietnam War, as a war tactic known as Herbicidal Warfare, which means using defoliant substances to kill forests and agricultural land, preventing the Vietnamese soldiers from using plants to camouflage or produce food to eat, thus reducing their combat capacity. Regular medical check-ups, reimbursement allowances, medical care, and special needs education program for their children are a few among the wonders VAVA has brought to the unlucky war survivors. The chemicals, in fact, have no color as their names might have mistakenly suggested. Agent Orange: Directed by Alan Adelson, Kate Taverna. The U.S. program,. Then the sprayers would move in and douse an area with the chemical. The U.S. and Vietnam are also undertaking a joint remediation program to deal with dioxin-contaminated soil and water. The US military sprayed Agent Orange from helicopters or low-flying aircraft to kill jungle growth. These are whats to blame for the Agent Orange Aftermath in Vietnam. Third, refining policies for dioxin victims, promoting relief efforts and ensuring better living conditions for them. Following the discovery of the army report, 10 former service members wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs demanding a full investigation into the militarys use of Agent Orange on Okinawa. During this period, the island was a major staging point for the U.S. war in Vietnamwhere the United States sprayed millions of liters of Agent Orange, poisoning tens of thousands of its own troops and approximately 3 million Vietnamese people. The U.S. and Vietnam are also undertaking a joint remediation program to deal with dioxin-contaminated soil and water. . Revealed: How Agent Orange Was Stored at the U.S. Military Base on Okinawa. U.S. Air Force aircrafts spraying Agent Orange over South Vietnam battlefields. Puede obtener ms informacin, o bien conocer cmo cambiar la configuracin, pulsando en. Erosion caused by loss of tree cover and loss of seedling forest stock meant that reforestation was difficult (or impossible) in many areas. From 1961 to 1972 the US military forces sprayed more than 19 million gallons of herbicides over 4.5 million acres of land in South Vietnam. South Vietnam was the main suffering region. Corrections? Chapter 1 discusses the researchers relationship with the topic and outlines the research procedures. Areas of Laos and Cambodia near the Vietnam border were also impacted.. Dioxin later revealed to cause serious health issues among returning U.S. servicemen and their families as well as at a larger scale among the Vietnamese population. To do so would set an unwelcome precedent: Despite official denials, the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, have been accused of using chemical weapons in conflicts in Gaza, Iraq and Syria. It has unleashed in Vietnam a slow-onset disaster whose devastating economic, health and ecological impacts that are still being felt today. Two heroic women fight to hold the manufacturers accountable. Remaining stocks were taken from Vietnam and the U.S. to Johnston Atoll (U.S. controlled island) where they were destroyed in 1978. ), Integrative Therapy & Healing Practices (Ph.D.), Jungian & Archetypal Studies (M.A./Ph.D. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Agent Orange is the generic name used for several types of the herbicide. Agent Blue, an arsenic-based herbicide, is becoming known . A Government Minister says that New Zealand supplied Agent Orange chemicals to the United States military during the Vietnam War. It is estimated that, in total, tens of thousands of people have suffered serious birth defects spina bifida, cerebral palsy, physical and intellectual disabilities and missing or deformed limbs. During the 10-year campaign, U.S. aircraft targeted 4.5 million acres across 30 different provinces in the area below the 17th parallel and in the Mekong Delta, destroying inland hardwood forests and coastal mangrove swamps as they sprayed. Founded in 2004 and now with over 350,000 members, VAVA has established its bountiful member groups across up to 61 out of 63 cities and provinces in Vietnam. By the end of the war, over 3.6 million acres had been sprayed with Rainbow Herbicides. During the Vietnam War, U.S. aircraft sprayed more than 20 million gallons of . It launched a public relations campaign included educational programs showing civilians happily applying herbicides to their skin and passing through defoliated areas without concern. Weve covered everything thrown at us this past year and will continue to do so with your support. A debate over the spread of Agent Orange, used as a tactical defoliant by the Americans during the Vietnam War, pits thousands of Navy veterans against the agency tasked with caring for them. Rural-to-urban migration rates dramatically increased in South Vietnam, Environmental improvements, rehabilitation/restoration of area. During the Vietnam War, in an operation known as Operation Ranch Hand, approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides, including around 10.5 million gallons of dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, were sprayed by 34 C-123 aircraft. However, the dioxin (the main component) continues to have harmful impact (both humans and ecosystems) today and no compensation of the US government to Vietnamese victims has taken place. On 13 March 1989, the Vietnam Veterans Association sent a fax to the government stating they had evidence about the manufacture of Agent Orange in New Zealand in the late 1960s for use in Vietnam. It had been the most popular one, probably the only one most Vietnamese know, because of the press coverage and the fact that it was used in the largest quantity among the Rainbow group, and also for the longest duration in the Vietnam War. Catholic Religious group, HIGH (widespread, mass mobilization, violence, arrests, etc), In REACTION to the implementation (during construction or operation), Development of a network/collective action. During the Vietnam War, in an operation known as "Operation Ranch Hand," approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides, including around 10.5 million gallons of dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, were sprayed by 34 C-123 aircraft. On a positive note, the Vietnamese government and both local and international organizations are making strides toward restoring this critical landscape. See Coronavirus Updates for information on campus protocols. In the early 1970s, the U.S. government banned the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam after scientific studies showed the dioxin-tainted herbicide posed a serious threat to human health. Today, Agent Orange has become a contentious legal and political issue, both within Vietnam and internationally. The Effect on Soldiers. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. When Tornoe heard that the military may have used the toxic weed killer Agent Orange to defoliate the canal zone she started digging. Find more hotels to stay in Vietnam below: Ho Chi Minh Private Tours:Saigon Shore ExcursionsMotorbike City ToursSaigon Food Tours, i Tour Vietnam - Private Tours Ltd. Outside Vietnam +84 986188801Inside Vietnam 0986188801 (English)info@itourvn.com. Agent Orange was a chemical herbicide used during the Vietnam War that had a devastating impact long after the conflict ended.Newsletter: https://www.history. Agent Orange is dangerous because it contains 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, otherwise known as TCDD. American veterans have suffered, too. About 3 million Americans served in the armed forces in Vietnam and nearby areas. Apparently striped with painted lids, they are consistent with the way in which the U.S. military shipped herbicides during the Vietnam War.