The Vietnam War is not over
by Rick Weidman, peoplesworld.org
April 13th 2011
When I served as an Army medic in Vietnam, I often saw a 19-year-old solider
whose job was to spray an herbicide called Agent Orange on anything green
inside my base. The same was true around the perimeter, to deny cover to any
enemy intruders and to ensure a clear line of fire in case of enemy attack.
As I visited numerous American military bases in Vietnam during the war, they
all looked like moonscapes. They were stripped of grass and foliage by the same
chemical for the same reasons.
Now, more than 40 years after the war, we know that Agent Orange contained
dioxin, which is among the world's most lethal toxins. American veterans of
Vietnam fought a long, hard postwar struggle to get our Veterans Administration
to compensate troops for a dozen diseases associated with Agent Orange/dioxin.
But what about the Vietnamese who were also exposed? And what about the
leftover "hot spots" of dioxin that still exist there and continue to harm
people to this very day?
The U.S. military shipped, stored, and sprayed millions of gallons of Agent
Orange/dioxin over a quarter of the former South Vietnam, both for crop
destruction and to deny cover to the enemy. In this country we know from our
own experiences with dioxin at Love Canal and Times Beach that these toxic hot
spots can cause death and disease to those who come in contact with the
chemical. The diseases range from spina bifida to Parkinson's and certain forms
of cancer.
However, the political battle still rages in Washington. VA Secretary Shinseki
has classified three additional diseases as associated with Agent
Orange/dioxin, thereby making veterans with those conditions eligible for
compensation. In addition, women who served in Vietnam can receive compensation
if their children are disabled with any of 14 birth anomalies. That's because
Agent Orange/dioxin can cause DNA damage for generations.
The struggle is far from over. We have reason to believe that many additional
adverse medical conditions in Vietnam veterans of both sexes also are caused by
these exposures, including possible genetic problems in grandchildren and
great-grandchildren.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, Agent Orange/dioxin damage also lingers. While we have
made some progress for Americans harmed by these exposures, our friends in
Vietnam have a long way to go to match our modest gains. The Vietnamese Red
Cross estimates that 3 million people, including more than 150,000 of today's
children, are disabled because of the chemical. Former airbases like Da Nang
contain dangerous toxic hot spots where Agent Orange was stored and handled and
spilled into the ground. Dioxin is hard to break up in the soil and it lasts in
human body tissue for years.
Unlike the United States government, the Vietnamese recognized that Agent
Orange/dioxin might cause chromosomal damage in the second and third
generations of original victims. My own experience is that families of American
veterans also suffer. But the VA recognizes no health consequences from Agent
Orange/dioxin in disabled daughters and sons of male veterans who served in
Vietnam.
It's time to put this legacy of the war in Vietnam to rest once and for all. A
blue-ribbon commission of prominent Americans and Vietnamese has called for a
10-year, $300 million cleanup of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam. The resources
would eliminate the hot spots, restore damaged ecosystems and provide
humanitarian assistance to the Vietnamese disabled population, including those
second- and third-generation children affected by the chemical.
It seems to me that $30 million a year for 10 years, from government,
foundation and private sources, is a small price to pay to help remedy the
damage caused.
This is a humanitarian concern we can do something about. Recent progress in
methods of treating contaminated soils and helping Vietnam's disabled
population shows that America is at its best when it steps up to heal past
wounds.
If we make progress on nothing else regarding the ravages of Agent Orange and
other toxic substances used in Vietnam, we must properly care for our future
generations-on both sides of the Pacific.
Rick Weidman served as an Army Medic with the AMERICAL Division in I-Corps
Vietnam in 1969. He currently serves as Executive Director for Policy &
Government Affairs on the national staff of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA).
Source: Distributed by American Forum. Photo: Nguyen Tuan Tu, a second
generation Agent Orange victim who was born without eyes, at the Center of
Nurturing Disabled Children at Ba Vi, outside Hanoi, Vietnam, May 10, 2010.
(Nick Ut/AP)
Original Page: http://www.peoplesworld.org/the-vietnam-war-is-not-over/
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