Why Is Agent Orange Bad

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Agent Orange was an herbicide used along with Agent Blue, Agent Purple, Agent White, Agent Pink, and Agent Green. Agent Orange created many health issues, which caused long term effects like cancer and brain tumors. Despite the post-war problems, Agent Orange was effective for what was necessary at the time. Agent Orange was an Arsenic-Laced Herbicide that was used to help see the enemy better during the time of the Vietnam War. Arsenic is a chemical that has the possibility of being used for many types of poisons.
The original use for Agent Orange was to kill foliage. “‘Agent Orange’ refers to a blend of tactical herbicides the U.S. military sprayed in the jungles of Vietnam and around the Korean demilitarized zone to remove trees and dense …show more content…
“In addition to the massive environmental impact of the U.S. defoliation program in Vietnam, that nation has reported that some 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange” (“Agent Orange”). The use of Agent Orange also killed our enemy by poisoning the Vietnamese food crops and giving the Vietcong diseases. The Vietcong’s traps were just as bad as the illness brought on later by Agent Orange. “Traps and mines also accounted for 15% of the total injuries. That’s a total of 4,813 total deaths and a total of 7,103 injuries in the war” (Schneider). Vietcong traps caused an equal amount and sometimes more damage to our soldiers than Agent Orange. Agent Orange was not the “Agent” used. “While all of the Rainbow Agents were used in defoliation, only Agent Blue targeted food crops. It was used to destroy bamboo cover, but its main purpose was to kill rice and other grains. The rice paddies couldn’t be burned, and the phenoxy herbicides only worked on broad-leafed plants” (Hoylman). Each of the different Agents had its own use to either destroy plants, or poison food crops. Dioxin is the primary contaminant in Agent Orange, and because it is fat soluble it would bind to the food. Pregnant women were passing on the sicknesses to their unborn babies but nobody knew that was possible at the
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