Brandon El
Sept. 24, 2010
Agent Orange was a chemical the US military dropped on the Vietnam Jungle in the 1960's in an effort to defoliate trees and shrubbery. Agent Orange containing different herbicides denied any enemy cover and brought visiblity in the dense terrain so the enemy could not hid. Although the genesis of the product goes back to the 1940's, serious testing for military applications did not begin until the early 1960's. The product "Agent Orange" (a code name for the orange band that was used to mark the drums it was stored in.
Though in fact the chemical did its job and destroyed many forests the aftermath resulted in many human deformities and an increase in many disease that were traced back to exposure. Patrick Murray a man that had no family medical history of diabetes after serving in the Vietnam War was diagnosed with it at age 32. Now more than ever Vietnam vets are being compensated for diabetes. After recent research now other diseases such as Parkinson's, all chronic B cell leukemia and ischemic heart disease have all been added to the list of diseases that are connected to Agent Orange exposure.
My reaction to this is not much surprise. The same thing happened after WWII. Many different abnormalities were shown in people who survived the blast of the A-bomb due to radiation exposure. Maybe not more diseases appeared to have some sort of connection with it but you get the picture. Sadly it had to come down to war once again and it affected many different individuals and their familes just by being in the midst of it all.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/military/dp-nws-agent-orange-20100919,0,7330982,full.story
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