Question

Describe Operation Ranch Hand, and state how Agent Orange received its name. Why is Agent Orange alleged to be a potential health hazard?

Answer 1

Agent Orange was a powerful mixture of chemical defoliants used by U. S military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, as well as crops that might be used to feed them. The U. S program of defoliation code named the operation Ranch hand ,sprayed more than 19 million gallons of herbicides over 4.5million scres of land in Vietnam from 1961 to 1972.Agent Orange, which contained the chemical dioxin was the most commonly used of the herbicide mixtures and the most effective. It was later revealed to cause serious health issues -including tumors, birth defects, rashes, psychological symptoms and cancer among reforming US service men and their families as well as among the Vietnamese population.

In addition to the massive environmental impact of the U. S defoliation program in Vietnam, that Nation has reported that dome 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange. In addition, Vietnam claims half a million children have been born with serious birth defects while as many 2 million people are suffering from cancer or other illness caused by Agent Orange. In 2004,a group of Vietnamese citizens foled a class-action lawsuit against more than 30 chemical companies, including the same ones that settled with the U. S veterans in 1984.The suit, which sought billions of dollars worth of damsges claimed that agent Orange and it's poisonous effects left so legacy of health problems.