Monday, July 12, 2010

Agent Orange

Oleg Volkonsky
Jul 12, 2010


Vietnam. © Flickr.com/lecercle/cc-by-nc-sa 3.0

The history of mankind consists of many wars. Historians say that conflicts have killed both civilians and soldiers each and every year over the past 2000 years. In 1961, the U.S. unleashed the first war in mankind’s history against the environment - farmlands, forests and rivers - in South Vietnam, eastern Laos and part of Cambodia.

Here is an opinion from Colonel Anatoly Sozranov, a military expert at the Civil Defence Academy of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry: "The Americans started spraying herbicides and defoliants on South Vietnam, especially on guerrilla bases and the Ho Chi Min Trail killing all living beings and plants. More than 2 million people were exposed to these chemicals in Vietnam. The impact of these chemicals can be seen even today. Children were born with defects. This is the most horrible echo of the herbicidal warfare by the U.S. "

Anatoly Sozranov spent almost a year in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972 and gathered evidence of the chemical war by the Americans in South Vietnam. He is still studying the topic. He has this to say concerning the chemicals used in South Vietnam:"The Americans sprayed over 100 thousand tons of herbicides and defoliants on 44 percent of forests. The overall territory affected by these chemicals is estimated at about 50 thousand square kilometers. This can be considered only as genocide. Americans have tested 15 chemical recipes for destroying food crops and plants. Over 72 thousand tons of Agent Orange was sprayed. The U.S. used Agent Blue to target crops, while the Agent white, to destroy forests. All these contained dioxin."

Dioxin is one of the most toxic chemicals. It does not dissolve in water and does not disintegrate for decades and passes from one generation to other by heredity. American scientists, who published the book “Ecocide in Vietnam”, say that at least one century will be needed to restore forests in Vietnam.

At present, dioxin in waters is poisoning flora and fauna in rivers and is affecting the health of people, says Anatoly Sozranov: "The Soviet and Russian experts have been involved in deintoxication programme since the liberation of South Vietnam. They have developed highly effective medicines that help to weaken the affect of toxic chemicals sprayed on the territory several decades ago. The Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Centre is engaged in studying the consequences of the ecocide in Vietnam and the development of ways to eliminate them."

The United Nations has recently allocated 5 million U.S. dollars to overcome the consequences of the chemical war waged by the U.S. in Vietnam. This is a good amount, but much more money and many decades will be needed to achieve this goal.

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