What was the chemical used in the Vietnam War?

What was the chemical used in the Vietnam War?

Agent Orange was a herbicide mixture used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Much of it contained a dangerous chemical contaminant called dioxin. Production of Agent Orange ended in the 1970s and is no longer in use.

How did chemical warfare impact the Vietnam War?

More than 10 years of U.S. chemical warfare in Vietnam exposed an estimated 2.1 to 4.8 million Vietnamese people to Agent Orange. In the first generation, the impacts were mostly visible in high rates of various forms of cancer among both U.S. soldiers and Vietnam residents. But then the children were born.

How many Vietnamese died from Agent Orange?

According to the Vietnamese, the US program resulted in 400,000 deaths caused due to a range of cancers and other ailments, and that approximately 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange according to census data.

Why was Agent Orange sprayed in Vietnam?

Agent Orange, mixture of herbicides that U.S. military forces sprayed in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 during the Vietnam War for the dual purpose of defoliating forest areas that might conceal Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces and destroying crops that might feed the enemy.

Was chemical warfare banned after the Vietnam War?

The White House announced a partial ban on 2,4,5-T on April 15, 1970, and the Defense Department followed suit, banning all Agent Orange missions in Vietnam.

What are three cancers caused by dioxin?

Respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, trachea, larynx) Prostate cancer. Multiple myeloma. Bladder cancer.

What was Martin Luther King Jr saying about the resources going into the Vietnam War?

Later that year King framed the issue of war in Vietnam as a moral issue: “As a minister of the gospel,” he said, “I consider war an evil. I must cry out when I see war escalated at any point” (“Opposes Vietnam War”).

What chemical warfare was used in the Vietnam War?

Chemical Warfare in the Vietnam War. It is stirred in a mixing plant until the substance becomes a thick jelly (Thompson). This substance was used in flamethrowers to make the flames burn longer and hotter. Napalm can generate temperatures up to 2,200 º F, an unimaginable heat that few people could survive (Lemann).

What chemical weapons were used in the Vietnam War?

During the Vietnam War, the United States military used chemical agents in its fight against Ho Chi Minh’s Army of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. The most important of those chemical weapons were the incendiary napalm and the defoliant Agent Orange.

What chemicals were used in the Vietnam War?

History of Defoliant use in the Vietnam War. Resources state that at least 65 toxic chemicals were used during the Vietnam War. The three main ones were Agent Orange, Agent White, and Agent Blue. Each of these chemicals contains harmful toxins such as dioxin, arsenic, and hexachlorobenzen.

What weapons were used in the Vietnam War?

In the Vietnam War, most of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong’s weapons and equipments came from Soviet Union and China. For instance, AK-47, which was officially used by the Soviet Armed Forces, became the primary infantry weapon of NVA and the Viet Cong.