Agent Orange and Vietnam's Environmental Costs

By Mary Waller

The Vietnam war was one of, if not the most, controversial war in American history. Even with much of the nation turning against the war, scientists were concerned about the chemical warfare used during the war. Agent Orange was a weapon that scientists knew was dangerous but was still used anyways. Even though the Vietnam War was decades ago, the environment is still damaging from the devastating mark the chemical onslaught left behind.

What exactly is Agent Orange? Agent Orange contains dioxin, a contaminant that has detrimental health implications for humans, such as cancer, birth defects, psychological and neurological effects on those who were exposed to it. Agent Orange has hurt countless people both inside and outside of Vietnam, but how has this deadly chemical affected the environment? 

Poor soil quality, water contamination, loss of timber, and heavier flooding and erosion are just a few things that Vietnam was left with in the wake of defoliation from Agent Orange and other herbicides. Vietnam’s woodlands and wetlands covered about 25 million acres, equivalent to the size of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts combined. During the war, about 20,000 herbicide spray missions were conducted with the intention to destroy these lands and the US Air Force reached approximately 10% of the land area of Southern Vietnam and about 20% of the forests, according to the Agent Orange Record website.

After just two weeks of spraying, about 10% of the trees died from a single spray. The goal of the spray missions were to destroy the forests and agricultural lands with the hope to deny food to the enemy, also damaging civilian food sources.  The destruction was so great in the area that two new terms were coined; “ecological warfare” and “ecocide.”

The environment was not the only thing that was hurt but so was the wildlife who rely on the environment. Tigers, elephants, leopards and bear among others were hurting because of the spray missions. The damage to crops led to the spread of disease among these and other species. Post-war human activities threatened extinction of many types of animals.

To add insult to injury, other sustainable agricultural harvesting of forest products were no longer viable.

Over the years there have been many attempts to help restore the forests but it has been an uphill battle. The Ma Da forest north of Ho Chi Minh City has undergone heavy reforestation and Vietnamese scientists have restored much of the habitat and some wildlife have been returning.

The Vietnamese have planted single species of acacia and eucalyptus in upland forests and defoliated regions as a local source of renewable energy. Every 4 to 5 years the trees are harvested and sold, but it’s only a temporary measure; the long term goal is to increase biodiversity and quality of the forest as much as possible. Yet there has been rising wholesale destruction of forests, pollution in rivers and lakes for short-term economic gain.

It’s important not to forget the devastating effects Agent Orange has left in Vietnam, including dioxin leaching into surrounding areas and lakes that make the toxic chemical spread much faster and more widespread. Scientists are still cleaning up the mess Agent Orange left behind, but the struggles people face on a daily basis is an ongoing challenge.