The history of Agent Orange and its damaging effects has dominated US information for more than 50 years about molecular war during the National Vietnam War.
During the Vietnam War period, however, another wicked mix called Agent Blue was also used heavily in Vietnam. The general public was unaware of the use of this arsenic-based pesticides, which was used to eliminate rice.
In fact, Arthur H. Westing wrote the second article about this chemical weapon in a plain letter to the editor in 1971 that was published in the New York Times with the headline” ‘ Agent Blue’ in Vietnam.”
This speck of interest to tactical pesticides Agent Blue was n’t followed up until 44 years later, when Loana Hoylman published an article,” Today’s Blue Arsenic in the Environment”, in a 2014 problem of Veteran journal, published by Vietnam Veterans of America.
Lastly, in 2020 Kenneth R. Olson ( one of the authors of the article you are reading now ) and Larry Cihacek published the first professional blog article on the topic,” The Fate of Agent Blue, the Arsenic Based Herbicide, Used in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War”, in the Open Journal of Soil Science.
Using new primary source data, the 2020 article reconstructed the paper trail of those” Made in America” chemical weapons, and developed an updated chemical research framework.
International media advertising started paying attention. Mike Tharp, a part of the Merry Band of Retirees, our group of military soldiers working on this topic, wrote reports that Asia Times published. Mike passed away last year, perhaps as a result of his exposure to pollutants TCDD and/or pollutants while stationed at Bien Hoa Air Force base in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
How come US news organizations have discovered this covert use of Agent Blue to destroy civilian food ( rice ) sources and agricultural production sites for 50 years? It’s an essential issue. This sketch out the current effects of this secret chemical battle.
Before the United States ‘ Vietnam War officially began in 1965, the Republic of Vietnam war spray Agent Blue onto the ground.
Veterans of the Vietnam War, researchers, and scientists have gathered data on how Agent Blue was sprayed onto rice paddocks and mangrove trees in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands. by the Car war with the assistance of the US Army, US Navy, and CIA.
The Institute of Medicine estimated that 3.2 million liters ( containing 468, 000 kilograms of arsenic ) were sprayed during the Republic of Vietnam’s Khai Quang ( food denial ) program.
This was in contrast to US Air Force’s Operation Ranch Hand spray, which was mostly from C-123 plane. The Operation Ranch Hand missions maintained records of the locations and quantities of herbicides sprayed ( over 4, 712, 000 liters containing 664, 392 kilograms of arsenic ) from 1961-1971.
The Institute of Medicine estimated that, in total, 7.8 million liters ( 1, 132, 400 kilograms of arsenic ) of Agent Blue were applied to southern Vietnam landscape from 1962 to 1971. This entire includes both the US Air Force Operation Ranch Hand from 1962 to 1965 and the Car Khai Quang system, which was carried out by the Car war with the support of the CIA, US Army, and US Navy.
This is a mind-boggling quantity of highly toxic substances to be sprayed over the Mekong Delta’s corn fields, which were a perfect grain growing area in Vietnam, for a century. What has happened to all of this chemical battle broker over the past 60 years, then?
The southeastern Vietnam setting and the Asian who live in the Mekong Delta have bio-accumulated pollutants from both natural and anthropogenic sources, which have increased their risk of serious poison over time. Arsenic is ocean liquid, has no half-life, and is dangerous. Put another way,  , its poison keeps on poisoning long.
We’ll be publishing a follow-up research paper,” The Secret Toxic Legacies of Chemical Warfare: Agent Blue Use during the 2nd , Indochina War and the Vietnam War ( 1961-1971 )”, in the November issue of the Open Journal of Soil Science, an open-access publication from Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP ).
The writer’s production and evaluation of magazines and records will examine the impact of the United States military and the South Vietnamese government on arsenic levels and describe the presence of arsenic in the groundwater of the Vietnam Mekong Delta.
As both Asian grain farmers and US military officers who were exposed to Agent Blue you speak, poisoning the local food and water is not a wise idea.
Ken Olson (krolson@illinois .edu ) is a professor emeritus of soil science in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana. Bryan R. Higgins is a recognized company professor emeritus of landscape and arranging at the State University of , New York, Plattsburgh.