The Vietnam War, which lasted from 1954 to 1975,
was marked by some of the most horrific moments in history, particularly the use of Agent Orange by the United States in Operation Ranch Hand. The devastating health and environmental consequences of this operation continue to be felt today. The Vietnam War was the second phase of the Indochina Wars and a major conflict of the Cold War. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as their respective allies, the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc. This tension, which began in 1947, contributed to conflicts in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Although the war was officially between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, the North was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other Eastern Bloc countries, while the South was backed by the United States and anti-communist allies. Following the fall of French Indochina and the 1954 Geneva Conference, the country gained independence from France but was divided into two parts: North Vietnam, controlled by the Viet Minh, and South Vietnam, which received financial and military aid from the United States. A communist-led Viet Cong insurgency emerged in the South, leading to a protracted guerrilla war. The People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) engaged in more conventional warfare with the United States and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces. North Vietnam invaded Laos in 1958, establishing the Ho Chi Minh Trail to supply and reinforce the Viet Cong. By 1963, the North had sent 40,000 troops to fight in the South. Under President John F. Kennedy, US involvement escalated from 900 military advisors in late 1960 to 16,300 by late 1963. The Vietnam War was marked by intense brutality. The Viet Cong’s guerrilla tactics posed a significant challenge to the American military. Utilizing a network of tunnels for resupply and planning, the Viet Cong evaded American bombs in underground bases. Bombing campaigns often proved futile as bombs fell on empty jungle, missing their Viet Cong targets. The Viet Cong, intimately familiar with the jungle terrain, employed an extensive network of underground bases and tunnels to evade American bombs and often turned unexploded American ordnance against US troops.
Leveraging the jungle’s cover, the Viet Cong engaged in hit-and-run tactics against inexperienced American soldiers, many of whom were young conscripts. The threat of an invisible enemy and hidden traps, such as punji sticks (sharpened bamboo stakes) planted in the ground, had a demoralizing effect on US troops.
Using small, well-hidden units, the Viet Cong launched surprise attacks on American patrols. They set ambushes where they would lure US soldiers into pre-prepared positions and attack. They carried out night-time hit-and-run attacks on specific targets like camps and bases. US forces suffered increasing casualties, reaching a peak in 1968 with 14,589 soldiers killed. This had a severe impact on troop morale.
In response, the US government,
inspired by the Malayan Emergency, launched a new operation called Operation Ranch Hand. From 1962 to 1971, the US military conducted an aerial herbicide spraying campaign in South Vietnam, known as Operation Ranch Hand. This was purported to be an economic and effective way to deny the Viet Cong cover and food supplies. The program’s motto was “only you can prevent a forest,” a play on the Smokey Bear poster slogan. However, it was a propaganda tool.
A total of 10 types of herbicides were used in this operation, including Pink, Green, Pink-Green mix, Dinoxol, Trinoxol, Purple, Blue, White, Orange, and Super Orange. Purple and Blue were the first to be used, with Blue employed to destroy crops. Approximately 40% of the estimated amount of TCDD was dispersed in South Vietnam, and these agents were sprayed as defoliants on less than 90,000 acres from 1962 to 1964. Ninety percent of all Agent Orange contained 39.3 million pounds of 2,4,5-T and 203 pounds of TCDD. It was used to destroy 2.9 million acres of inland and mangrove forests.
In early 1965,
two more herbicides, code-named Orange and White, were evaluated and introduced into the spray program, and, in the same year, Agent Blue was reformulated to a liquid cacodylic acid formulation, resulting in the elimination of the need for a desiccant mixture. Agent Orange replaced all formulations of Agent Purple and Pink and eventually became the most widely used military herbicide in South Vietnam.
Discussions about the use of herbicides in South Vietnam have been ongoing. Yang (40) noted that an estimated 107 million pounds of herbicides were aerially sprayed over 3 million acres from January 1962 to October 1971. Operation Ranch Hand was a US military program during the Vietnam War (1962-1971) that involved the aerial spraying of approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides, collectively known as “rainbow herbicides” and defoliants, over Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia. The primary goal was to defoliate rural and forested areas, depriving the Viet Cong of food and concealment. This program was also seen as a means of forced urbanization, pushing peasants into US-controlled cities.
Agent Orange was the most widely used herbicide, comprising primarily 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. It was sprayed from helicopters, aircraft, trucks, boats, and backpack sprayers. Over 80 million gallons of Agent Orange were applied, affecting 12% of South Vietnam’s total area.
Environmental and Agricultural Destruction
Agent Orange caused significant environmental damage, destroying 20,000 square kilometers of upland and mangrove forests and impacting 3.2% of South Vietnam’s cultivated land. The herbicide campaign also disrupted the food supply of over 600,000 people. Ninety percent of all Agent Orange containing 39.3 million pounds of 2,4,5-T and 203 pounds of TCDD was used to destroy 2.9 million acres of inland forests and mangrove forests. The methods of handling, transportation, and storage of herbicide drums were generally physically closed with minimal contact with most military personnel. However, the most likely exposed workers were assigned to RANCH HAND Squadrons and to the helicopters responsible for spreading the herbicides.
The most common herbicide used was Herbicide Orange, more commonly referred to as Agent Orange: a fifty-fifty mixture of two herbicides 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and 2,4,5-T (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid) manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. The other most common color-coded Ranch Hand herbicides were Agent Blue (cacodylic acid) that was primarily used against food crops, and Agent White which was often used when Agent Orange was not available. In 1943, the United States Department of the Army contracted botanist Arthur Galston, who discovered the defoliants later used in Agent Orange, and his employer University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to study the effects of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on cereal grains (including rice) and broadleaf crops.[25]