This week marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. This is a brutal and devastating conflict that ended when Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell from the Northern government to communist forces. But while the war was over in the past, millions of Vietnamese people still face daily battles against particularly deadly parts of their heritage.
Today, around 3 million people, including many children, suffer from serious health problems related to exposure to chemical weapons used by the US military, spraying around 72 million liters of de-equipment to strip the vegetation used in the cover.
More than half are products known as Agent Orange, a blend of herbicides that are now known to cause serious fetal and childhood developmental difficulties.
One of the people affected is 34-year-old Nguyen Thanh Hai.
Daily tasks like buttoning up a blue shirt, practicing alphabets, drawing shapes, forming simple sentences, etc. that he wears to a special school in Da Nang are not that easy for him.
Hai grew up in Da Nang. Danang is the location of a US Air Force base where soldiers contaminated food and water sources in places like the village of High, leaving behind a massive amount of Agent Orange that had been around for decades.
“The impact on Vietnamese people is largely in the second, third and perhaps fourth generation,” says Charles Bailey, co-author of the book from enemy to partner: Vietnam, the United States, Agent Orange.
“The outcome is a birth defect, followed by a severe disorder, followed by both physical and mental disorders. Agent Orange substances contain dioxin, a type of chemical related to cancer, birth defects, and persistent environmental damage.”
Vietnam has been cleaning up the toxic legacy of war for decades, but the US has begun to contribute partially to the cleaning of the mid-2000s after decades neglecting evidence of its effectiveness. However, these contributions are now at risk.
Concerns about USAID Cuts
The Trump administration has significantly cut US foreign aid agency, USAID, and millions of Vietnamese people are worried as dozens of dioxin hotspots spread across 58 of the 63 states.
In Da Nang, where air force bases were contaminated during the storage and transport of Agent Orange, the US completed a cleanup of 106 million euros in 2018, but areas of 10 soccer fields are still heavily contaminated.
“The Agent Orange disaster has brought pain and misery to about 4 million Vietnamese people,” says Nguyen Van An, chairman of the Agent Orange Victims Association in Da Nang.
“We always believe that the US government and the manufacturers of this toxic chemical must be responsible for supporting the victims.”
For Chuck Sarcy, a veteran of the US Vietnam War who has been working on domestic humanitarian programs since 1995, the trust built over the years can erode very quickly.
“Innocent victims,” he said, are those who benefit from projects funded by the US to address the legacy of war.
“They were hurt twice by the war and the consequences of their suffering, and now by pulling the rug out from under them,” he emphasized.
Contaminated natural defenses
Vietnam lost more than half of its mangrove tree, which protected the coastline from powerful storms. In addition to causing irreversible harm to most tropical forests, herbicides have depleted soils of some of the most climatically hindered regions in the country.
In the decades after the war ended, authorities began fenceting heavily contaminated sites like Da Nang Airport and providing support to affected families.
Today, Vietnam identifies agent orange victims by checking people’s family history and housing history against a list of health issues related to poison.
Officials in southeast Asia believe the health effects will last for generations, threatening the great grandchildren of children, grandchildren and even those exposed to chemicals.
Nevertheless, some scientists have pointed out that there is still uncertainty in science due to the individuals exposed to it and subsequent generations regarding the exact impact of Agent Orange on human health.
