Discuss: Agent Orange: A Chapter from History That Just Won’t End

Lets not limit ourselves to the dumping in the US:
Dumping of toxic waste in the UK
Between 1965 and 1972, Monsanto paid contractors to illegally dump thousands of tons of highly toxic waste in UK landfill sites, knowing that their chemicals were liable to contaminate wildlife and people. The Environment Agency said the chemicals were found to be polluting groundwater and the atmosphere 30 years after they were dumped.[69]

The Brofiscin quarry, near Cardiff, erupted in 2003, spilling fumes over the surrounding area, but the local community was unaware that the quarry housed toxic waste.

A UK government report shows that 67 chemicals, including Agent Orange derivatives, dioxins and PCBs exclusively made by Monsanto, are leaking from one unlined porous quarry that was not authorized to take chemical wastes. It emerged that the groundwater has been polluted since the 1970s. The government was criticized for failing to publish information about the scale and exact nature of this contamination. According to the Environment Agency it could cost £100m to clean up the site in south Wales, called “one of the most contaminated” in the UK.
...and lets not forget Nitro, WV in the US:
In 1949, an explosion occurred at a Monsanto chemical factory in Nitro, West Virginia; as a result, many workers in the plant were exposed to the herbicide 2,4,5-T, which was contaminated with dioxin. (This herbicide was later the principal component of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant used by the U.S. in Viet Nam.) In subsequent years, two Monsanto scientists, J.A. Zack and R. W. Gaffey, studied the exposed workers, comparing their health against the health of a similar group of workers who were not exposed to dioxin or 2,4,5-T.
Regarding AO and Vietnam, Monsanto knew very well of the dangers, and continued to profit from it for years - as THE largest producer of AO during the war.
Great article, Ben…keep up your great work.
-Chuck

Dr Singmaster:  To allow Monsanto, Dow Chemicals and the other companies avoid being blamed for the horrendous crimes done by Agent Orange, would be to excuse the companies that made the Gas used by the Nazis in the extermination camps of WWII.

Nor does the argument used by Monsanto, Dow etc that they were ordered by the government to make Agent Orange.  This was the same argument used by the Nazis and rejected at the Nuremburg trials.

Yes, the US.DOD knew of the danger of Agent Orange as did the Kennedy Government at the time – if the latter did not know, their crime is even bigger. 
Monsanto, Dow etc knew well the dangers but kept quiet, their aim was to speed up production of Agent Orange and so increase their profits, and to hell with the consequences.

Well today there are near to four million Vietnamese suffering from the consequences of Agent Orange and I and many others in a number of countries, including I am pleased to state, the US are not prepared to allow Monsanto, Dow etc to get away with the crimes they committed on the people and land of Vietnam.

I would hope that you and many others will give your support to the tragic victims affected and demand of the US Government, AND Monsanto etc to accept their responsibilities and make payment to the victims and their families.

For many thousands it is too late.  We must not betray those still living.

@ Len
Just wondering: would that include Boeing for building B-52 bombers? And Colt for supplying the M-16? And the ordnance suppliers as well?

I read that scientists in government also knew the Agents were ‘hazardous’ - who is going after those people? And the military? And oh, Congress and ultimately the Presidents (although dead, just like McNamara)?

You can’t compare it with the German companies: though they profited from gas production, they most likely didn’t have any other choice: the Nazis were not really ‘suited’ to negotiate… Even if Nuremberg blamed them (which rather sounds like finding a scapegoat).

Ultimately the ‘users’ are to blame.

Trois,

I would not blame Boeing and Colt etc.  I understand that in war many weapons are used.  A bomb is dropped a shot is fired and a person is killed or injured.  However, with chemicals such as Agent Orange and Cluster munitions, these continue to kill, and maim long after the war has ended.  As is happening in Vietnam where people, in particular children are being killed etc by Clusters and Agent Orange and they were born long after the war ended. That, in my view is where the crime has been committed. And the makers – Monsanto - and the government have to accept responsibility.

Pursuant to my many comments here, I again say that we need to get attention to possibly worse problems with dioxins here in the USA.  The principal site, where 2,3,7,8-TCDD gets formed, is in the making of precursor chemical needed for the 2,4,5-T herbicide that went to make AO. Plants that made that precursor chemical, 2,4,5-TCP, had wastes loaded with dioxins.  Love Canal mess was caused by wastes from making the precursor chemical, which the company and several others sold as a disinfecting chemical. That Love Canal co. never listed any 2,4,5-T products for sale just the disinfecting chemical. It was claimed to be the most widely used such product for hospitals and food operations from 1938-78.  But Love Canal company and Dow in Michigan seem to be the only companies that have got much attention from EPA for dioxin wastes.
    That precursor chemical and several others closely related to it were used for wood treatment especially for rots, and perhaps 40 or more rail tie treatment plants may have buried wastes contaminated with dioxins that can get into drinking water supplies.  That goes along with perhaps 20 companies below EPA’s purview that made the herbicide, the disinfecting 2,4,5-TCP or wood treatment products.  Some companies making various 2,4,5 T products never sold them to DOD to make AO.  Several cos. including the one with wastes causing the Times Beach mess in MO were trying to or were making the skin cleansing, hexachlorophene via the 2,4,5TCP that easily got dioxins in the mix of product.
  I hope that people reading this will call for action to get possible dioxin hot spots from old wastes here in the USA identified and cleaned-up before some drinking water supply gets contaminated. 
Dr. J. Singmaster, Fremont, CA

This is a link to a case in Arkansas. When i read this, I wondered how many superfund & potential superfund sites there could be. I think also Dr. Sing has a big point about the creosote on railroad ties, etc. as well.

It speaks of a dioxin extraction process which could only mean the toxins are out there…(I am not sure if I am repeating myself or not in an earlier comment if so, I apologize.) Surely you all see what I mean.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/8401b8750376e55085257359003d4806/018c01599b51b0ef852566ab005a945a!OpenDocument

To all,

Update: The C-123s mentioned in the article have been sliced up and melted down by the Air Force as a direct result of fear of publicity from the essay. I’ll be writing a new piece about this shortly. for now, to take a look at the details of the Air Force decision making process, check out the internal memos, photos, and even videos acquired by Wes Carter, C-123 pilot from 1972-1982—yep, that’s right, the planes were kept in use as transporters and even hired out for Disney movies after the end of Ranch Hand—through his diligent use of the FOIA. Go Wes!

Ben

my dad was in danang from 66-67 on the ranchhand crews and today 7-11-2011 he passed away a.o. gave him als and after 2 years of declining health it finally caught up with him