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[[File:Defoliation agent spraying.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A UH-1D helicopter from the 336th Aviation Company sprays a defoliation agent on a dense jungle area in the [[Mekong Delta]]. ''26 July 1969/National Archives photograph.'']]

'''Agent Orange''' is the code name for one of the [[herbicide]]s and [[defoliant]]s used by the [[United States armed forces|U.S. military]] in its [[herbicidal warfare]] program during the [[Vietnam War]] from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange was given its name from the color of the orange-striped {{convert|55|USgal|L}} barrels in which it was shipped. It is a roughly 1:1 mixture of two [[phenoxyl herbicide]]s in iso-octyl [[ester]] form, [[2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid]] (2,4-D) and [[2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid]] (2,4,5-T).

Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "[[Rainbow Herbicides]]". Between 1965 and 1970 close to {{convert|12000000|USgal|L|sigfig=2}} of Agent Orange were sprayed in Vietnam, eastern Laos and parts of Cambodia by the US military to defoliate rural/forested land, depriving guerrillas of food and cover, and as part of a general policy of [[forced draft urbanization]] by destroying the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside.<ref>Stellman Jeanne et al. The Extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other Herbicides in Vietnam. Nature Vol 422 (17 April 2003) pp 681-687.</ref>

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.<ref name="'Last Ghost of the Vietnam War'">The Globe and Mail, June 12, 2008. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080711.worange1107/BNStory/Front/home/?pageRequested=all 'Last Ghost of the Vietnam War']</ref>

==Early development==
The earliest form of the compound [[triiodobenzoic acid]] was studied by [[Arthur Galston]] as a plant growth hormone. The research was motivated by the desire to adapt [[soybean]]s for short growing season. Arthur Galston is widely known for the social impact his work had on science. This defoliant was modeled after Galston’s discovery of triiodobenzoic acid in 1943. Galston was especially concerned about the compound’s side effects to humans and the environment.<ref>[http://www.las.illinois.edu/alumni/magazine/articles/2004/galston Arthur W. Galston « 2004 « Articles « LASNews Magazine « Alumni & Friends « College of Liberal Arts & Sciences « University of Illinois<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Galston found that excessive usage of the compound caused catastrophic defoliation&nbsp;— a finding used by his colleague Ian Sussex to develop a family of herbicides<ref>{{cite news|url = http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/23galston.html?ref=us |title = Arthur Galston, Agent Orange Researcher, Is Dead at 88 - Obituary |publisher=New York Times |author=JEREMY PEARCE |date = June 23, 2008 |accessdate=2008-08-18}}</ref> (Galston later campaigned against its use in Vietnam). These herbicides were developed during the 1940s by independent teams in [[England]] and the United States for use in controlling broad-leaf plants.

Phenoxyl agents work by mimicking a plant [[growth hormone]], [[indoleacetic acid]] (IAA). When sprayed on broad-leaf plants they induce rapid, uncontrolled growth, eventually defoliating them. When sprayed on crops such as [[wheat]] or [[maize|corn]], it selectively kills only the broad-leaf weeds in the field, leaving the crop relatively unaffected. First introduced in 1946 in the agricultural farms of [[Aguadilla]], [[Puerto Rico]], these herbicides were in widespread use in [[agriculture]] by the middle of the 1950s.

The US government began to explore the use of tactical herbicides in warfare in the mid 1940s. During the 1950s they began to focus on delivery systems of spray tanks and nozzles. The first large scale test using 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T against foliage to improve visibility took place in June 1959 in [[Fort Drum, NY]] (Camp Drum). Testing of various herbicides and spray systems continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s in Puerto Rico and the US. The first test run of herbicides (Agent Purple) in Vietnam took place on August 10, 1961. Agent Orange became the herbicide of choice for defoliation of forests in Vietnam and Laos in 1965 until the health concerns of 2,4,5-T ended its use by the US military in April 1970.

==Chemical description and toxicology==
[[File:Agent Orange.svg|thumb|right|220px|Iso-octyl 2,4-D and iso-octyl 2,4,5-T]]
[[File:2,4-D.svg|thumb|left|150px|2,4-D]]
[[File:2,4,5-T.svg|thumb|left|150px|2,4,5-T]]

Scientific studies have examined numerous health effects linked to Agent Orange, its component compounds, and its manufacturing byproducts.<ref name="frumkin">{{cite journal |author=Frumkin H |title=Agent Orange and cancer: an overview for clinicians |journal=CA: a cancer journal for clinicians |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=245–55 |year=2003 |pmid=12924777 |url=http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=12924777 |doi=10.3322/canjclin.53.4.245}}</ref> While the two herbicides that make up Agent Orange 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T remain toxic over a short period -- a scale of days or weeks -- they quickly degrade. However, a 1969 report authored by K. Diane Courtney and others found that 2,4,5-T could cause birth defects and still births in mice.<ref>Buckingham, William. ''Operation Ranch Hand: The Airforce and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961-1971. Office of Air Force History''. 1992. Chapter IX - Ranch Hand Ends</ref> It was later discovered that the 2,4,5-T was contaminated with a dioxin, [[tetrachlorodibenzodioxin|2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin]] and it was the TCDD that was causing these adverse health effects. Internal memos from the companies that manufactured 2,4,5-T reveal that they had known as early as 1965 that Agent Orange was sold to the U.S. government for use in Vietnam that 2,4,5-T was contaminated with [[tetrachlorodibenzodioxin|2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin]].<ref>Barlett, Donald P. and James B. Steele (May 2008) [http://www.vanityfair.com/ Vanity Fair] - ''http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805?currentPage=1 Retrieved 2008-12-09</ref> A problem that could have been prevented or at a minimum reduced if the companies avoided manufacturing the 2,4,5-T too quickly at too high a temperature.

TCDD has been comprehensively studied. It has been associated with increased [[neoplasms]] in every animal [[bioassay]] reported in the scientific literature.<ref name="dwyer-flesch">Dwyer and Flesch-Janys, [http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/reprint/85/4/476.pdf "Editorial: Agent Orange in Vietnam"], [[American Journal of Public Health]], April 1995, Vol 85. No. 4, p. 476</ref> The National Toxicology Program has classified TCDD as ''known to be a human [[carcinogen]]'', frequently associated with [[soft tissue sarcoma|soft-tissue sarcoma]], [[non-Hodgkin's lymphoma]], [[Hodgkin's disease]] and [[chronic lymphocytic leukemia]] (CLL).<ref>[http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/index.cfm?objectid=D3D7DB18-F1F6-975E-716813304ED78D8B Committee Recommendations: 2,3,7,8- Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)]</ref><ref>[http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/?objectid=070B69A9-BC89-4234-E4AFAE94C636CC5D Abstract for TR-521 - 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) (CASRN 1746-01-6)], ''Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) (CAS No. 1746-01-6) in Female Harlan Sprague-Dawley Rats (Gavage Studies)'', National Toxicology Program (accessed: 02/19/2010)</ref>

Starting in 1991 the US Congress tasked the [[Institute of Medicine]] to review the scientific literature on Agent Orange and the other herbicides used in Vietnam, including their active ingredients and the dioxin contaminant. The IOM found an association found between dioxin exposure and [[diabetes]].<ref>[http://www.iom.edu/ Institute of Medicine] - ''http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3793/4689/4695.aspx Agent Orange are respiratory cancers, [[prostate cancer]], [[multiple myeloma]], primary [[amyloidosis]].</ref><ref>[http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/default.aspx National Academy of Sciences] - ''[http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11906 Data Suggest a Possible Association Between Agent Orange Exposure and Hypertension: "the report also concluded that there is suggestive but limited evidence that AL amyloidosis is associated with herbicide exposure"]''.Retrieved on 19 May 2008.</ref>

Three studies have suggested that prior exposure to Agent Orange poses an increase in the risk of [[acute myelogenous leukemia]] in the children of Vietnam veterans.<ref name="frumkin" />

Several studies have shown an increase rate of cancer mortality for workers exposed to 2,4,5-T. In one such study, from [[Hamburg, Germany]], the risk of cancer mortality increased by 170% after working for 10 years at the 2,4,5-T producing section of a Hamburg manufacturing plant.<ref name="dwyer-flesch" />

==Use in the Vietnam War==
[[File:'Ranch Hand' run.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Defoliant spray run, part of [[Operation Ranch Hand]], during the Vietnam War by [[C-123 Provider|UC-123B Provider]] aircraft.]]

During the Vietnam war, between 1962 and 1971, the United States military sprayed {{convert|20000000|USgal|L|sigfig=1}} of chemical herbicides and defoliants in South Vietnam as part of the aerial defoliation program known as [[Operation Ranch Hand]].<ref name=pellow>Pellow, David N. ''Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice'', ([http://books.google.com/books?id=dhtco1U2AwYC&pg=PA159&dq=12+million+gallons+of+Agent+Orange Google Books]), MIT Press, 2007, p. 159, (ISBN 0-262-16244-X).</ref><!-- I'm leaving this citation in case it is useful for some other purpose: [http://www.vn-agentorange.org/ Vietnam Agent Orange Campaign] - ''[http://www.vn-agentorange.org/edmaterials/giaodiem_book.html Agent orange and the war in Vietnam]'' Prof Van-Tuan,Nguyen, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and University of New South Wales, Australia. Published by Giao Ðiem, 2005. --> Agent Orange made up about sixty percent of these herbicides. The concentrations used were 20 to 55 times normal agricultural use for killing plants. The campaign destroyed {{convert|5|e6acre|km2|sigfig=1}} of upland and mangrove forests and about {{convert|500000|acre|km2|sigfig=1}} of crops. Overall, more than 20% of South Vietnam's forests were sprayed at least once over a nine year period.<ref name="autogenerated145">''Anatomy of a War'' by [[Gabriel Kolko]], ISBN 1-56584-218-9 pages 145</ref> The first objective was to reduce the dense jungle foliage so that Communist forces might not use it for cover and to deny them use of crops needed for sustenance.

The US began to target food crops in October 1962, primarily using [[Agent Blue]]. In 1965, 42 percent of all herbicide spraying was dedicated to food crops.<ref name="autogenerated145"/> The second objective was spot clearing in sensitive areas such as around base perimeters.<ref>Tucker, Spencer. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: Political, Social and Military History. ABC-CLIO, Inc. Santa Barbara. 1998.</ref> It was also used to drive civilians into [[South Vietnam|RVN]]-controlled areas.<ref>''Anatomy of a War'' by [[Gabriel Kolko]], ISBN 1-56584-218-9 pages 144-145</ref>

===Effects on people===
[[File:Agent-orange-deformities-vietnam.jpg|thumb|250px|Vietnamese woman born with deformed face as a result of prenatal exposure to Agent Orange.]]

According to Vietnam Red Cross as many as 3 million Vietnamese people have been affected by Agent Orange including at least 150,000 children born with birth defects. The issue of whether or not exposure to dioxin has affected the health of the Vietnamese has been debated since the time of the war when the first animal studies were released showing that TCDD causes cancer and birth defects in rodents. Vietnamese scientists have been conducting epidemiological research on the impact of dioxin to human health since the late 1960s. Studies of veterans who served in the south during the war compared to those who did not have found that those who went south have increased rates of cancer, nerve, digestive, skin and respiratory disorders. Among the cancers veterans from the south had higher rates of throat cancer, acute/chronic leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, prostate cancer, lung cancer, soft tissue sarcoma and liver cancer. Other than liver cancer, these are the same conditions that the US Veteran’s Administration has found to be associated with exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin and are on the list of conditions eligible for compensation and treatment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp |title=Agent Orange: Diseases Associated with Agent Orange Exposure |publisher=Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards |date=2010-03-25 |accessdate=2010-05-04}}</ref>

The question of dioxin’s impact on reproductive health and birth outcomes is even more controversial, in part because the research done in Vietnam has not for the most part been peer reviewed or published in scientific journals. Whereas the US Institute of Medicine has found only spina bifida and anencephaly to be associated with paternal exposure to dioxin the Vietnamese researchers have found in studies of both exposed males and females that there is an increased risk of abnormal birth outcomes including infertility, miscarriages, still births, and birth defects compared to those who were not exposed. Among the birth defects, spina bifida, hydrocephaly, malformations of the extremities, musculature issues, developmental disabilities, congenital heart defects and cleft-palate are found. There are also higher rates of children with multiple disabilities among exposed populations. These are many of the same birth defects that the US Veterans Administration allows for compensation for female veterans, though it is due to these birth defects being associated with service in Vietnam and not directly to Agent Orange/dioxin.

The most affected zones are the mountainous area along Truong Son (Long Mountains) and the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. The affected residents are living in sub-standard conditions with many genetic diseases.<ref>[http://www.mofa.gov.vn/ Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs - ''[http://www.mofa.gov.vn/vi/tt_baochi/nr041126171753/ns050118101044 Support Agent Orange Victims]'' in Vietnamese.</ref>

===Perception and information===
The general public perception in Vietnam is that the effects are severe and clearly visible in children of veterans and people in affected areas. Veterans have become increasingly concerned about the effects of Agent Orange to humans. While in Vietnam, the veterans were told not to worry, and were persuaded that the chemical was harmless.<ref>[http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/3299/?PrintableVersion=enabled Killing Me Softly: How Agent Orange Murders Vietnam's Children]</ref> In the last few years, this opinion has changed, and studies show the true effects Agent Orange has on humans.<ref>[http://www.vvvc.org/agntor.htm Agent Orange<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

===Dioxin hotspots===
For more than a decade The Hatfield Group from Vancouver, Canada has been researching the long-term environmental effects of Agent Orange. Their extensive research has found that the areas sprayed by Agent Orange during the war no longer contain measurable amounts of dioxin and do not pose a health threat.<ref>Dwernychuk, Wayne et al. [http://www.warlegacies.org/OsloPaper2006.pdf "The Agent Orange Dioxin Issue in Viet Nam: A Manageable Problem"]. Retrieved 2010-06016</ref> About 28 of the former US military bases in Vietnam where the herbicides were stored and loaded onto airplanes still have high level of dioxins in the soil posing a health threat to the surrounding communities.

These 'hotspots' have dioxin contamination that is up to 350 times higher than international recommendations for action. The contaminated soil and sediment continue to affect the citizens of Vietnam, poisoning their food chain and causing illnesses, serious skin diseases as well as a variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx, and prostate.<ref name="Agent Orange blights Vietnam">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/227467.stm | work=BBC News | title=Agent Orange blights Vietnam | date=December 3, 1998 | accessdate=April 23, 2010}}</ref> The airbases in Bien Hoa, [[Da Nang]] and Phu Cat have been put on a priority list for clean-up or containment by the Vietnamese government.<ref>[http://www.hatfieldgroup.com/services/contaminantagentorange/dandi.aspx The Hatfield Consultants]</ref>

Children in the areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected and have multiple health problems including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, and [[Polydactyly|extra fingers and toes]].<ref name="Agent Orange blights Vietnam"/>

=== U.S. Government: discussion and negotiations===
[[File:Two Vietnameses pose in front of the billboard.jpg|thumb|Handicapped Vietnamese boy posing in front of the billboard denouncing [[Operation Ranch Hand]].]]
In 2002, Vietnam and the US held a joint conference on Human Health and Environmental Impacts of Agent Orange. Following the conference the US [[National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences]] (NIEHS) began scientific exchanges between the US and Vietnam and began discussions for a joint research project on the human health impacts of Agent Orange.

These negotiations broke down in 2005 when neither side could agree on the research protocol and the research project was canceled. However, more progress has been made on the environmental front. In 2003 the first US-Vietnam workshop on remediation of dioxin was held.

Starting in 2005 the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‎]] (EPA) began to work with the Vietnamese government to measure the level of dioxin at the [[Da Nang Airbase]]. Also in 2005 the Joint Advisory Committee on Agent Orange made up of representatives of Vietnamese and US government agencies was established. The committee has been meeting yearly to explore areas of scientific cooperation, technical assistance and environmental remediation of dioxin.

A breakthrough in the diplomatic stalemate on this issue occurred as a result of United States President George W. Bush's state visit to Vietnam in November 2006. In the joint statement, President Bush and [[President Triet]] agreed that "further joint efforts to address the environmental contamination near former dioxin storage sites would make a valuable contribution to the continued development of their bilateral relationship.<ref>Joint Statement Between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United States of America. Pres. George W Bush Whitehouse Press office. Accessed 2008-12-31. (original no longer available PDF available at http://www.warlegacies.org/Bush.pdf.) </ref>

In late May 2007, President Bush signed into law a supplemental spending bill for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan that included an earmark of $3 million specifically for funding for programs for the remediation of dioxin 'hotspots' on former US military bases and for public health programs for the surrounding communities.<ref>[http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34761.pdf ''CRS Report for Congress Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange and US-Vietnam Relations'']</ref> The appropriation was renewed in the fiscal year 2009 and again in FY 2010.

===Efforts to address US veterans concerns===
Shortly after returning home, Vietnam Veterans began to suspect that their ill health or the instances of their wives having miscarriages or children born with birth defects may be related to Agent Orange and the other toxic herbicides they were exposed to in Vietnam. Veterans began to file claims in 1977 to the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability payments or health care for conditions that they believed were associated with exposure Agent Orange, or more specifically dioxin, but their claims were denied unless they could prove that the condition began when they were in the service or within one year of their discharge.

====New Jersey Agent Orange Commission====
In 1980, [[New Jersey]] created the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission, the first state commission created to study its effects. The commission's research project in association with [[Rutgers University]] was called "The Pointman Project". It was disbanded by Governor [[Christine Todd Whitman]] in 1996.<ref>New York Times, 3 July 1996</ref>

During Pointman I, commission researchers devised ways to determine small dioxin levels in blood. Prior to this, such levels could only be found in the [[adipose tissue|adipose (fat) tissue]]. The project compared dioxin levels in a small group of Vietnam veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange with a group of matched veterans who had not served in Vietnam. The results of this project were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1988.<ref>Vol. 259 No. 11, 18 March 1988</ref>

The second phase of the project continued to examine and compare dioxin levels in various groups of Vietnam veterans including [[United States Army|Army]], [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]] and [[Brownwater Navy|brown water riverboat Navy]] personnel.

====US Congress====
In 1991, the US Congress enacted the [[Agent Orange Act]] giving the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Department of Veterans Affairs]] the authority to declare certain conditions 'presumptive' to exposure to Agent Orange/Dioxin enabling these veterans who served in Vietnam eligible to receive treatment and compensation for these conditions.<ref>[http://www1.va.gov/AgentOrange/ Agent Orange - Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards]</ref> The same law required the National Academy of Sciences to periodically review the science on dioxin and herbicides used in Vietnam to inform the Secretary of Veterans Affairs about the strength of the scientific evidence showing association between exposure to Agent Orange/Dioxin and certain conditions.<ref>[http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ocga/laws/PL102-4.asp PL 102-4 and The National Academy of Sciences]</ref>

Through this process, the list of 'presumptive' conditions has grown since 1991 and currently the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has listed prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, multiple myeloma, type II diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, peripheral neuropathy, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and spina bifida in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange as conditions associated with exposure to the herbicide. As of October 2009, this list includes B cell leukemias, such as hairy cell leukemia, Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease.

===Help for those affected in Vietnam===
[[File:A vietnamese Professor is pictured with a group of handicapped children.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Group of handicapped Vietnamese children, most of them victims of Agent Orange]]

In order to assist those who have been impacted by Agent Orange/Dioxin, the Vietnamese have established "Peace villages", which each host between 50 to 100 victims, giving them medical and psychological help. As of 2006, there were 11 such villages, thus granting some social protection to fewer than a thousand victims. U.S. veterans of the war in Vietnam and individuals who are aware and sympathetic to the impacts of Agent Orange have also supported these programs in Vietnam. An international group of Veterans from the U.S. and its allies during the Vietnam war working together with their former enemy&nbsp;— veterans from the Vietnam Veterans Association&nbsp;— established the Vietnam Friendship Village<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.vietnamfriendship.org |title = Vietnam Friendship Village Project |accessdate=2008-08-18}}</ref> located outside of [[Hanoi]].

The center provides medical care, rehabilitation and vocational training for children and veterans from Vietnam who have been impacted by Agent Orange. In 1998, The [[Vietnam Red Cross]] established the Vietnam Agent Orange Victims Fund to provide direct assistance to families throughout Vietnam that have been impacted by Agent Orange. In 2003, the [[Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange]] (VAVA) was formed. In addition to filing the lawsuit against the chemical companies, VAVA also provides medical care, rehabilitation services and financial assistance to those impacted by Agent Orange.

The Vietnamese government provides small monthly stipends to more than 200,000 Vietnamese believed affected by the herbicides; this totaled $40.8 million in 2008 alone. The Vietnam Red Cross has raised more than $22 million to assist the ill or disabled, and several U.S. foundations, United Nations agencies, European governments and non-governmental organizations have given a total of about $23 million for site cleanup, reforestation, and health care and other services to those in need.<ref>Statement by Amb. Ngo Quang Xuan to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of Asia, Pacific and Global Environment, June 2009, p. 3</ref>

===Litigation===
====US Veteran Against the manufacturers====
Since at least 1978, several lawsuits have been filed against the companies which produced Agent Orange, among them [[Dow Chemical Company|Dow Chemical]], [[Monsanto Company|Monsanto]], and [[Diamond Alkali/Shamrock]] (which produced 5%<ref>[http://www.answers.com/ Answers.com] - [http://www.answers.com/topic/ultramar-diamond-shamrock-corporation Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation]. Retrieved on 19 April 2007</ref>).

[[Hy Mayerson]] of the [[law firm]] [[The Mayerson Law Offices, P.C.]] was an early pioneer in Agent Orange litigation, working with renown [[environmentalism|environmental attorney]] [[Victor Yannacone]] in 1980 on the first class-action suits against wartime manufacturers of Agent Orange. In meeting Dr. Ronald A. Codario, one of the first civilian doctors to see afflicted patients, Mayerson, so impressed by the fact that an M.D. would show so much interest in a Vietnam veteran, forwarded more than a thousand pages of information on Agent Orange and the effects of dioxin on animals and humans to Codario's office the day after he was first contacted by the doctor as described in the book ''Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange'' by Fred A. Wilcox.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilcox|first=Fred|title=Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange|isbn=9780932020680}}</ref>

The Mayerson Law Offices, P.C., with Sgt. [[Charles E. Hartz]] as their principal client, filed the first Agent Orange class action lawsuit, in [[Pennsylvania]] in 1980, for the injuries that soldiers in Vietnam suffered through exposure to toxic dioxins in the Agent Orange [[defoliant]].<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1347&dat=19800125&id=ZdMSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0_oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5065,3012612 ''Dying Veteran May Speak From Beyond The Grave In Court: [[Lakeland Ledger]]]</ref> Attorney Hy Mayerson co-wrote the brief that certified the Agent Orange Product Liability action as a [[class action]], the largest ever filed as of its filing.<ref>[http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=270939 CBS Evening News]</ref> Hartz’s [[deposition]] was one of the first ever taken in America, and the first for an Agent Orange trial, for the purpose of preserving [[testimony]] at trial, as it was understood that Hartz would not live to see the trial because of the [[brain tumor]] that began to develop while he was a member of [[Tiger Force]], [[Special Forces]], and [[LRRPs]] in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mayerson.com/html/about.html |title=The Mayerson Law Offices |publisher=The Mayerson Law Offices |accessdate=2010-05-04}}</ref><ref>[http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/view_online.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.astralgia.com%2Fpdf%2F..%2Fpdf%2Fagentorange.pdf ''Earth: The Agent Orange Mystery'']: [[Omni Magazine]]</ref><ref>[http://www.pottsmerc.com/ Pottstown Mercury]</ref> The firm also located and supplied critical research to the Veterans’ lead expert Dr. Ronald A. Codario, M.D., including approximately one hundred articles from toxicology journals dating back more than a decade, as well as data about where herbicides had been sprayed, what the effects of dioxin had been on animals and humans, and every accident in factories where herbicides were produced or dioxin was a contaminant of some chemical reaction.<ref>[http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14086353 Questia: ''Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange'' by Fred A. Wilcox; Seven Locks Press, 1999]</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:WaitingForArmytoDie.jpg|thumb|100px|right|''Waiting for an Army to Die''<ref>
{{cite book|last=Wilcox|first=Fred|title=Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange|isbn=9780932020680}}</ref>]] -->
U.S. veterans obtained a $180 million settlement in a class action lawsuit in 1984, with most affected veterans receiving a one-time lump sum payment of $1,200.

====On behalf of Vietnam War allies====
In [[Australia]], [[Canada]] and [[New Zealand]], veterans who were part of the lawsuit obtained compensation in the settlements that same year.

====South Korean lawsuit====
In 1999, about 20,000 South Koreans filed two separated lawsuits against U.S. companies, seeking more than $5 billion in damages. After losing a decision in 2002, they filed an appeal.

In January 2006, the South Korean Appeals Court ordered Dow Chemical and Monsanto to pay $62 million in compensation to about 6,800 people. The ruling acknowledged that "the [[defendant]]s failed to ensure safety as the defoliants manufactured by the defendants had higher levels of dioxins than standard", and, quoting the U.S. National Academy of Science report, declared that there was a "causal relationship" between Agent Orange and 11 diseases, including cancers of the lung, larynx and prostate. However, the judges failed to acknowledge "the relationship between the chemical and peripheral neuropathy, the disease most widespread among Agent Orange victims" according to the ''[[Mercury News]]''.

====Canada lawsuit====
On July 12, 2005, Merchant Law Group LLP on behalf of over 1,100 Canadian veterans and civilians who were living in and around the CFB Gagetown filed a lawsuit to pursue [[class action]] litigation concerning Agent Orange and Agent Purple with the Federal Court of Canada.<ref>{{cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Agent Orange Class Action | date= | publisher=Merchant Law Group LLP | url =http://www.merchantlaw.com/agentop.html | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | language = }}</ref>

On August 4, 2009, the case was thrown out of court due to [[lack of evidence]]. The ruling was appealed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/search/article/749829 |author=Shawn Berry |title=Moncton judge rules in Agent Orange lawsuit |publisher=The Times and Transcript |date=August 4, 2009 |accessdate=2010-05-04}}</ref><ref>[http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/search/article/749829 timestranscript.com - Moncton judge rules in Agent Orange lawsuit | By SHAWN BERRY - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

====Vietnamese victims class action lawsuit in US Courts====
On January 31, 2004, a [[victim's rights group]], the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), filed a lawsuit in the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York]] in [[Brooklyn]], against several U.S. companies for liability in causing personal injury, by developing and producing the chemical. Dow Chemical and Monsanto were the two largest producers of Agent Orange for the U.S. military and were named in the suit along with the dozens of other companies (Diamond Shamrock, Uniroyal, Thompson Chemicals, Hercules, etc.). On March 10, 2005, Judge [[Jack B. Weinstein]] of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York]] - who had presided over the 1984 US veterans class action lawsuit - dismissed the lawsuit ruling that there was no legal basis for the [[plaintiff|plaintiffs']] claims. He concluded that Agent Orange was not considered a poison under [[international law]] at the time of its use by the U.S.; that the U.S. was not prohibited from using it as a herbicide; and that the companies which produced the substance were not liable for the method of its use by the government. The U.S. government was not a party in the lawsuit, due to [[sovereign immunity]], and the court ruled that the chemical companies, as contractors of the US government, shared the same immunity. The case was appealed and heard by the [[Second Circuit Court of Appeals]] on June 18, 2007. The Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the case stating that the herbicides used during the war were not intended to be used to poison humans and therefore did not violate international law.<ref>[http://www.warlegacies.org/Agent%20Orange/Appealdecision.pdf February 22, 2008 Decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals re: Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange v. Dow Chemical Co.]</ref> The [[US Supreme Court]] declined to consider the case.

Three judges on the [[Second Circuit Court of Appeals]] in Manhattan heard the Appeals case on June 18, 2007. They upheld Weinstein's ruling to dismiss the case. They ruled that though the herbicides contained a dioxin (a known poison) they were not intended to be used as a poison on humans. Therefore they were not considered a chemical weapon and thus not a violation of international law. A further review of the case by the whole panel of judges of the Court of Appeals also confirmed this decision. The lawyers for the Vietnamese filed a petition to the US Supreme Court to hear the case. On March 2, 2009, the Supreme Court denied [[certiorari]] and refused to reconsider the ruling of the Court of Appeals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/030209zor.pdf |title=Order List |format=PDF |date=March 2, 2009 |pages=7 |publisher=The United States Supreme Court |accessdate=2010-05-04}}</ref>

==Use outside of Vietnam==
While 'Agent Orange' was only used between 1965 and 1970, 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T and other herbicides were used by the US Military from the late 1940s through the 1970s.<ref>[http://www.bluewaternavy.org/ Agent Orange information site]</ref><ref>[http://bluewaternavy.org/bases/1Herbicides_Outside_of_Vietnam%5B1%5D.pdf Specifics of Agent Orange use]</ref>

===United States===
In December 2006 a report titled "The History of the US Department of Defense Programs for the Testing, Evaluation, and Storage of Tactical Herbicides," Submitted by Alvin L. Young, Ph. D., for Under Secretary of Defense William Van Houten listed Agent Orange test sites at Fort Gordon (Augusta, Georgia), Fort Chaffee (Fort Smith, Arkansas) and Apalachicola National Forest (Sopchoppy, Florida).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/reading_room/TacticalHerbicides.pdf |author=Alvin L. Young, Ph. D. |title=The History of the US Department of Defense Programs for the Testing, Evaluation, and Storage of Tactical Herbicides |format=PDF |date=December 2006 |accessdate=2010-05-04}}</ref> The Veteran Administration has also acknowledged that Agent Orange was used domestically by U.S. forces in test sites throughout the US. [[Eglin Air Force Base]] in Florida was one of the primary testing sites throughout the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www1.va.gov/agentorange/docs/Report_on_DoD_Herbicides_Outside_of_Vietnam.pdf |title = Report on DoD Herbicides Outside of Vietnam |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-08-18}}</ref>

===Korea===
Agent Orange was used in Korea in the late 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www1.va.gov/agentorange/docs/AOIB10-49JUL03.pdf |title = Agent Orange: Information for Veterans Who Served in Vietnam |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-08-18}}</ref> [[South Korea|Republic of Korea]] troops were the only personnel involved in the spraying, which occurred along the demilitarized zone with [[North Korea]]. "Citing declassified U.S. Department of Defense documents, Korean officials fear thousands of its soldiers may have come into contact with the deadly defoliant in the late 1960s and early 1970s. According to one top government official, as many as '30,000 Korean veterans are suffering from illness related to their exposure'. The exact number of GIs who may have been exposed is unknown. But C. David Benbow, a North Carolina attorney who served as a sergeant with Co. C, 3rd Bn., 23rd Inf. Regt., 2nd Div., along the DMZ in 1968-69, estimates as many as '4,000 soldiers at any given time' could have been affected.".<ref>{{cite web|url = http://cybersarges.tripod.com/aoinkorea.html |title = AGENT ORANGE UNITS SPRAYED OUTSIDE OF VIETNAM (KOREA) |accessdate=2010-07-15}}</ref>

===Canadian Forces Base Gagetown (New Brunswick, Canada)===
The U.S. military, with the permission of the Canadian government<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008367 |title = ''Quiet Complicity: Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War'', by Victor Levant (1986). |publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia |accessdate=2010-07-15}}</ref>, tested herbicides, including Agent Orange, in the forests near the [[Canadian Forces Base Gagetown]] in New Brunswick in 1966 and 1967. On September 12, 2007, [[Greg Thompson]], [[Minister of Veterans Affairs]], announced that the [[government of Canada]] was offering a one-time [[ex gratia]] payment of $20,000 as the compensation package for Agent Orange exposure at CFB Gagetown.<ref>{{cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=People angry with Agent Orange package turn to class-action lawsuit | date=2007-09-13 | publisher=The Canadian Press | url =http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jf86SisH1AAn3uWIlyJPujHxvQhA | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | language = }}{{Dead link|date=October 2009}}</ref>

===Innisfail (Queensland, Australia)===
While it had been speculated that the Australian military may have tested Agent Orange on Innisfail, Queensland, a small town in northern Queensland, between 1964 and 1966, these claims have since been proved false by a Defence Science and Technology Organization investigation. They found that there was a small-scale defoliation trial conducted in the Gregory Falls area near Innisfail in 1966 but it did not involve Agent Orange. Claims the cancer rate was 10 times as high in Innisfail were also proved to be untrue by Queensland Health, who have stated it was caused by media miscalculation. This type of speculation is often used by those who seek compensation as "proof" of the connection between their illness and herbicides, even after the misinformation is revealed.

===Brazil===
The Brazilian government used Agent Orange to defoliate a large section of the [[Amazon rainforest]] so that [[Alcoa]] could build the [[Tucuruí dam]] to power mining operations. Large areas of rainforest were destroyed, along with the homes and livelihoods of thousands of rural peasants and indigenous tribes.<ref name="50-years-enough">{{cite book|first=Multinational Monitor|title=50 Years is Enough|editor=Kevin Danaher|publisher=South End Press|page=45|isbn=978-0896084957|year=1994}}</ref>

===Malayan Emergency===
Small scale defoliation experiments using 2-4-D and 2-4-5-T were conducted by the British during the [[Malayan Emergency]] in 1951. Areas of jungle close to roadways were cleared using chemical defoliation to help prevent ambushes by Communist Terrorists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psywar.org/malaya.php | title=Psychological Warfare during the Malayan Emergency by Herbert A Friedman|accessdate=2010-04-27}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Aftermath: The Remnants of War (film)]]
* [[Depleted uranium]]
* [[Environmental issues with war]]
* [[Gulf War Syndrome]]
* [[Plan Colombia]]
* [[Operation Ranch Hand]]
* [[Teratogen]]
* [[Thalidomide]]
* [[U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories]]
* [[Vietnam Syndrome]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=0ySwQ66XerQC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q=&f=false "3.4 Agent Orange"] from ''HushHush: the dark secrets of scientific research'', ISBN 978-1-55297-608-1
* ''Agent Orange: The Last Battle''. Dir. Stephanie Jobe, Adam Scholl. DVD. 2005
* Graham, Dr. Olga. Autism: The Teratogen Fallout. Toronto: Free Press 777, 2009.
* Weisman, Joan Murray. ''The Effects of Exposure to Agent Orange on the Intellectual Functioning, Academic Achievement, Visual Motor Skill, and Activity Level of the Offspring of Vietnam War Veterans.'' Doctoral thesis. Hofstra University. 1986.
* Klein, Robert. ''Wounded Men, Broken Promises.'' New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1981.
* Uhl, Michael, and Tod Ensign. ''GI Guinea Pigs.'' 1st Ed. New York: Playboy Press, 1981.
* Linedecker, Clifford, Michael Ryan, and Maureen Ryan. ''Kerry: Agent Orange and an American Family.'' New York: St. Martins Press, 1982.
* Wilcox, Fred A. ''Waiting for an Army to Die.'' 1st ed. New York: Random House, 1983.
* Griffiths, Philip Jones. ''Agent Orange: Collatoral Damage in Vietnam'' Trolley Ltd, 2003.
* Nicosia, Gerald, ''Home to War'', New York, Crown Publishers, 2001

==External links==
*[http://www.epa.gov/dioxin U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Dioxin Web site]
*[http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2862 "The Boneyard" by Ben Quick, ''Orion Magazine'' March/April 2008] a personal account of the intergenerational legacy of Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam Veterans
*[http://www.getipm.com/articles/poisonedlives.html Poisoned Lives]
*[http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1983/Jul-Aug/buckingham.html Operation Ranch Hand: Herbicides In Southeast Asia] History of Operation Ranch Hand
* [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-02/05/content_303315.htm Children and the Vietnam War 30-40 years after the use of Agent Orange], article with pictures

* [http://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/en/exe-sum-final.pdf Assessment of the health risk of dioxins 1998] by the [[World Health Organization|WHO]] and the [[International Programme on Chemical Safety|IPCS]] (pdf).

{{Rainbow Herbicides}}

[[Category:Vietnam War military equipment]]
[[Category:Environmental controversies]]
[[Category:Herbicides]]
[[Category:Teratogens]]
[[Category:Defoliants]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses]]
[[Category:Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Environmental issues with war]]
[[Category:Operation Ranch Hand]]

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