Agent Orange

Guardian Unlimited reports Vietnam is on the upswing with the threat of war fading into history and with an economy that is finally starting to fall into place. However, certain problems have yet to be resolved:

"The biggest outstanding issue between the US and Vietnam is the effect of Agent Orange, according to Vietnamese veterans who blame the defoliant for deformities in hundreds of thousands of children born after the war.

Although American plaintiffs won a £100m out-of-court settlement against the chemical companies that produced the herbicide, US judges recently dismissed a claim for compensation by Vietnamese victims, saying defence contractors are not liable for the use of the herbicide by the US government, which has sovereign immunity. An appeal is expected to be heard in June.

Between 1966 and 1971, at least 10m gallons of Agent Orange, which contains dioxin, were dispersed to clear foliage used as cover by Vietcong guerrillas.

The US government covers medical costs for veterans who develop prostate cancer, but many more problems are blamed on the chemical in Vietnam, where dozens of care centres have been established for veterans and children born with disabilities."

I had a hard time finding an image to put here that wasn't overly gruesome. The effects of Agent Orange are visually horrifying, a side effect of one of the great Cold War-era East Asia power grabs that didn't really amount to anything but a lot of corpses.

Here's some of the other images I found. Be forwarned that they are disturbing and should be viewed with discretion.
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