{"id":101096,"date":"2020-04-13T16:30:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T23:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=101096"},"modified":"2020-04-13T16:30:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T23:30:52","slug":"united-states-and-britain-pioneers-in-chemical-warfare-and-the-biggest-perpetrators-of-environmental-damage-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/04\/13\/united-states-and-britain-pioneers-in-chemical-warfare-and-the-biggest-perpetrators-of-environmental-damage-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN: Pioneers in Chemical Warfare and the Biggest Perpetrators of Environmental Damage in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

AGENT ORANGE<\/strong> is the\nbest known highly toxic herbicide and defoliant chemical, developed by Americans and used by the\nU.S. military as part of its chemical warfare program in Vietnam and\nneighboring countries. Between 1962\nand 1971, during the Vietnam war, the United States military sprayed nearly 20\nmillion gallons of various toxic chemicals \u2013 the “rainbow\nherbicides<\/a>” and\ndefoliants \u2013 in Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia as part of its\nchemical warfare known as Operation Ranch Hand\u201d, reaching its peak from 1967\nto 1969. During the Vietnam war, Agent Orange was used extensively in\nLaos and Cambodia  because forests on the\nborder with Vietnam were used by the Viet Cong<\/a>. In 1961, it was John\nF. Kennedy, the US President, who authorized the criminal Operation Ranch\nHand\u201d, involving the widespread aerial spraying of Agent Orange or the toxic\nherbicide and defoliant chemical, in South Vietnam. USA justified its use by\nciting that Britain had already used herbicides and defoliants in Malaya during\nthe Malayan Emergency in the 1950s and thereby has established a precedent for chemical\nwarfare in Asia.  As the British did\nin Malaya, the goal of the U.S. was to defoliate rural\/forested land, depriving\nVietnamese rebels of food and concealment and clearing sensitive areas such as\naround base perimeters. The program was also a part of a general policy\nof forced\ndraft urbanization<\/a>, which aimed to destroy the ability\nof peasants to support themselves in the countryside, forcing them to flee to\nthe U.S.-dominated cities, depriving the rebels referred to by them as\nguerrillas, of their rural support base<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JOINT\nINITIATIVE BY USA AND BRITAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several\nherbicides were developed as part of efforts by the United States and Great\nBritain to create herbicidal weapons for use during World War II<\/a>.\nIn 1943, the United States Department of the Army<\/a> contracted\nbotanist and bioethicist Arthur\nGalston<\/a>, to find chemical means to\ndestroy enemy crops in order to disrupt their food supply. (Galston is the\nAmerican scientist who later discovered the herbicide and defoliant chemical named Agent\nOrange used  extensively in Vietnam and\nneighboring countries, to destroy forests and crops in view of disrupting food\nsupply). U.S. began a full-scale production and aerial application of these\nherbicides against Japan in 1946 during Operation\nDownfall<\/a>. In the years after the war,\nthe U.S. tested 1,100 compounds, and field trials of the more promising ones\nwere done at British stations in India and Australia, as well as at the U.S.’s\ntesting ground in Florida, in order to establish their effects in tropical\nconditions. Between 1950 and 1952, trials were conducted in Tanganyika<\/a>,\nat Kikore<\/a> and\nStunyansa, to test arboricides and defoliants under tropical conditions. During\n1952\u201353, USA supervised the aerial spraying of these defoliants in the\neradication of tsetse fly<\/a>\nin Kenya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MALAYSIAN\nEMERGENCY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British gained control of\nwhat is now Malaysia in 1795 and formally made Malaysia a British colony in\n1867. In 1909, the British merged all Malaya territory under their control to\nform Malaya. Using divide and rule tactics, the British encouraged\nrivalries between Malaysia’s different ethnic groups and between the sultans.\nDuring the Malayan Emergency (1948\u20131960), Britain was the first nation to\nemploy the use of herbicides and defoliants to destroy bushes, trees, and\nvegetation to deprive insurgents of concealment and target food crops as part\nof a starvation campaign in the early 1950s. Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought in the\nFederation of Malaya from 1948 until 1960. The conflict was between\nCommonwealth armed forces led  by Britain\nand pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army, the\nmilitary wing of the Malayan Communist Party. The Malayan Emergency was a counter-insurgency\noperation undertaken by the Western powers, \nwhere the British and Commonwealth forces defeated a revolt in Malaya. A\ndetailed account of how the British experimented with the spraying of\nherbicides in Malaya was written by two scientists, E.K. Woodford of Agricultural Research Council<\/a>‘s\nUnit of Experimental Agronomy and H.G.H. Kearns of the University\nof Bristol<\/a>. After the\nMalayan conflict ended in 1960, the U.S. considered the British practice of\nusing defoliants as a tactic of\nwarfare<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DEFOLIATE FOREST-LAND\nAND DESTROY CROPLAND<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agent Orange was\nusually sprayed from helicopters or from low-flying aircraft, fitted with\nsprayers. Spray runs were also conducted from trucks, boats, and backpack\nsprayers. U.S. Air Force records show that 6,542 spraying missions<\/strong> took\nplace over the course of Operation Ranch Hand. By 1971, 12 percent of the\ntotal area of South Vietnam had been sprayed with defoliating\nchemicals. In South Vietnam alone, an estimated 39,000 square miles or\n10 million ha of agricultural land was ultimately destroyed<\/strong>. It destroyed\n20,000 square kilometres of upland and mangrove forests and thousands of square\nkilometres of crops. Overall, more than 20% of South Vietnam’s forests\nwere sprayed at least once over the nine-year period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. military\nbegan targeting food crops in October 1962, primarily using what was\nreferred to as Agent Blue<\/a>\u201d. US Military\npersonnel were told they were destroying crops because they were going to be\nused to feed guerrillas. American policy during the Vietnam War was to destroy\ncivilian crops and a greater part of the rural economy, because Americans\nbelieved that the Vietnamese rebels -the Vietcong obtained most of their food\nfrom the neutral rural population. Crops were deliberately sprayed with\nAgent Orange; areas were bulldozed clear of vegetation. It was discovered later\nthat the food that was destroyed was not produced for guerrillas but for the\nlocal civilian population. In  Quang Ngai\nprovince, 85% of the crop lands were destroyed in 1970 and this contributed to\nwidespread famine, leaving hundreds of thousands of people malnourished or\nstarving.  In addition, the rural\npopulation was subjected to bombing and artillery fire. This led to excessive\nmigration of people to urban areas and estimated 1.5 million people living a\nmiserable life in the highly overcrowded Saigon slums. Urban population in\nSouth Vietnam nearly tripled during this time, growing from 2.8 million people\nin 1958 to 8 million by 1971. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ENVIRONMENTAL-DAMAGE
\n<\/strong>Agent Orange caused enormous environmental\ndamage in Vietnam. Over 3.1 million hectares or 18% of the total forested area\nof Vietnam was sprayed and defoliated. Official\nUS military records refer to the destruction of 20% of the forests of South\nVietnam and 20-36% of the lush mangrove forests of Vietnam. Forests that were\nsprayed multiple times show the greatest ecological damage and in most places,\nthere has been total annihilation of vegetal cover and loss of animal life. Destruction\nand removal of forested areas severely destroyed\nall lifeforms big and small and totally disrupted the ecological equilibrium in\nVietnam. Defoliants eroded tree cover and seedling forest stock, making reforestation<\/a> difficult in numerous areas. The diversity of land\nand water-based animal species, bird-life and\nmicroorganisms, was <\/a>sharply\nreduced owing to defoliant sprays of forests.\nThe persistent nature of dioxins, erosion caused by loss of tree cover, and\nloss of seedling forest stock meant that reforestation out of the question in\nmany areas. Defoliated forest areas were quickly invaded by aggressive\npioneer species making forest regeneration difficult. Dioxins from Agent Orange\nhave persisted in the  environment\nsettling in the soil and sediment and entering the food chain<\/a> through\nwater and through animals and fish which feed in the contaminated areas. The\nmovement of dioxins through the food web<\/a> has\nresulted in bioconcentration<\/a> and biomagnification<\/a>. The\nareas most heavily contaminated with dioxins were former U.S. air bases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOSS OF LIFE AND SEVERE\nHEALTH EFFECTS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its enormously damaging ecological\/environmental\neffects, about 400,000 Vietnamese were killed by the toxic effects of Agent Orange.\nUp to four million people in Vietnam<\/a> were\ndirectly exposed to the Agent Orange. The most illustrative effects of Agent\nOrange upon the Vietnamese people are the health effects. It has caused major\nhealth problems for several millions of people including children. As many as 3\nmillion people suffered illnesses because of Agent Orange. Up to 1 million\npeople are disabled or have health problems as a result of Agent Orange\ncontamination. Millions of Vietnamese are\nliving with the effects of Agent Orange and more are being born with defects\nlinked to the herbicide. In 2019, infants were still being born with\nbirth defects linked to a toxic herbicide used by the US military to weed out\nViet Cong fighters. Many living in poor villages\ndo not receive the health care and rehabilitation they need, simply because\nthey cannot afford to seek treatment. Environmentalists say the country could see 6\nto 12 more generations of victims. Exposure\nto Agent Orange is associated with many diseases – diabetes,\nParkinson’s disease, and several forms of cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rigorous studies have been\nconducted to measure the levels of dioxin still present in the blood samples of\nthe citizens of both North and South Vietnam. These studies indicate Vietnamese\ncitizens have had severe  exposure to\nbreadth and scope of the target. The Red\nCross of Vietnam<\/a> estimates that up to 1 million people\nare disabled or have health problems due to contaminated Agent Orange. According\nto a study by Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhan, children in the areas where Agent Orange\nwas used have been affected and have multiple health problems, including cleft\npalate, mental disabilities, hernias, and extra fingers and toes<\/a>. In the 1970s, high levels of dioxin were found in the breast milk<\/a> of South Vietnamese women, and in the blood of U.S. military\npersonnel who had served in Vietnam. The most affected zones are the\nmountainous area along Truong\nSon<\/a> (Long Mountains) and the border between\nVietnam and Cambodia. The affected residents are living in substandard\nconditions with many genetic diseases<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. government has\ndocumented higher cases of leukemia, Hodgkin’s\nlymphoma<\/a>, and various kinds of cancer among USA\nVietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. An epidemiological study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> showed that there was an impact of birth defects of the children\nof veterans as a result of Agent Orange. Twenty-eight of the former U.S.\nmilitary bases in Vietnam where the herbicides were stored and loaded onto\nairplanes may still have high levels of dioxins in the soil, posing a health\nthreat to the surrounding communities. The soil and sediment on the bases have\nextremely high levels of dioxin requiring remediation. The contaminated soil\nand sediment continue to affect the citizens of Vietnam, poisoning their food\nchain and causing illnesses, serious skin diseases and a variety of cancers in\nthe lungs, larynx, and prostate. In 2008, Australian researcher Jean Williams\nclaimed that cancer rates in Innisfail,\nQueensland<\/a>, were 10 times higher than the state average\nbecause of secret testing of Agent Orange by the Australian military scientists\nduring the Vietnam War. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LAWSUITS AGAINST USA <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United Nations being a\npaw in the hands of the USA and the Western world, played its usual\nhypocritical role by passing Resolution 31\/72, which is not a complete ban on\nthe use of herbicides and defoliants in warfare. In 2002, Vietnam and the\nU.S. held a joint conference on Human Health and Environmental Impacts of Agent\nOrange. These negotiations broke down in 2005, when neither side could\nagree on the research protocol and the research project was canceled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the use of Agent\nOrange in Vietnam resulted in massive legal consequences with lawsuits filed\nagainst the USA.  Since  1978, several lawsuits have been filed\nagainst USA companies which produced Agent Orange, among them Dow\nChemical<\/a>, Monsanto<\/a>, and Diamond\nShamrock<\/a>. The chemical companies involved denied\nthat there was a link between Agent Orange and the veterans’ medical problems.\nHowever, in 1984, some chemical companies settled the class-action suit out of\ncourt agreeing to pay $180 million as compensation if the veterans dropped all\nclaims against them. Many veterans who were victims of Agent Orange\nexposure were outraged the case had been settled instead of going to court and\nfelt they had been betrayed by the lawyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n2004, a victim’s\nrights group<\/a>, the Vietnam\nAssociation for Victims of Agent Orange\/dioxin (VAVA), filed a lawsuit in\nthe United States District Court for the\nEastern District of New York<\/a> in Brooklyn<\/a>,\nagainst several U.S. companies for liability in causing personal injury, by\ndeveloping, and producing the chemical, and claimed that the use of Agent\nOrange violated the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare<\/a>,\n1925 Geneva Protocol<\/a>,\nand the 1949 Geneva\nConventions<\/a>. Dow Chemical and\nMonsanto were the two largest producers of Agent Orange for the U.S. military\nand were named in the suit, along with the dozens of other companies (Diamond\nShamrock, Uniroyal, Thompson Chemicals, Hercules, etc.). On March 10, 2005,\nJudge Jack B. Weinstein<\/a> of\nthe Eastern District \u2013 who had presided over the 1984 U.S. veterans class-action\nlawsuit \u2013 dismissed the lawsuit, ruling there was no legal basis for the\nplaintiffs’ claims. He concluded Agent Orange was not considered a poison\nunder international law<\/a> at\nthe time of its use by the U.S.; the U.S. was not prohibited from using it as a\nherbicide; and the companies which produced the substance were not liable for\nthe method of its use by the government. \nIt was argued that “if the Americans were guilty of war crimes for using\nAgent Orange in Vietnam, then the British would be also guilty of war crimes as\nwell since they were the first nation to deploy the use of herbicides and\ndefoliants in warfare and used them on a large scale throughout the Malayan\nEmergency. Not only was there no outcry by other states in response to\nBritain’s use, but the U.S. viewed it as establishing a precedent for the use\nof herbicides and defoliants in jungle\nwarfare<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HELP FOR THOSE AFFECTED IN VIETNAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nassist those who have been affected by Agent Orange\/dioxin, the Vietnamese have\nestablished “peace villages”, which each host between 50 and 100\nvictims, giving them medical and psychological help. As of 2006, there were 11\nsuch villages, thus granting some social protection to fewer than a thousand\nvictims. U.S. veterans of the war in Vietnam and individuals who are aware and\nsympathetic to the impacts of Agent Orange have supported these programs in\nVietnam. An international group of veterans from the U.S. and its allies during\nthe Vietnam War working with their former enemy\u2014veterans from the Vietnam\nVeterans Association\u2014established the Vietnam Friendship Village outside\nof Hanoi<\/a>.\nThe center provides medical care, rehabilitation and vocational training for\nchildren and veterans from Vietnam who have been affected by Agent Orange. In\n1998, The Vietnam Red Cross<\/a> established\nthe Vietnam Agent Orange Victims Fund to provide direct assistance to families\nthroughout Vietnam that have been affected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane AGENT ORANGE is the best known highly toxic herbicide and defoliant chemical, developed by Americans and used by the U.S. military as part of its chemical warfare program in Vietnam and neighboring countries. Between 1962 and 1971, during the Vietnam war, the United States military sprayed nearly 20 million gallons of various […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}