View source for Agent Orange

{{Short description|Chemical herbicide and defoliant}}
{{other uses}}
{{good article}}
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{{use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
[[File:US-Huey-helicopter-spraying-Agent-Orange-in-Vietnam.jpg|upright=1.35|[[U.S. Army]] [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois|Huey helicopter]] spraying Agent Orange over agricultural land during the [[Vietnam War]] in its herbicidal warfare campaign|thumb]]
{{Pollution sidebar|War}}

'''Agent Orange''' is a chemical [[herbicide]] and [[defoliant]], one of the tactical uses of [[Rainbow Herbicides]]. It was used by the [[U.S. military]] as part of its [[herbicidal warfare]] program, [[Operation Ranch Hand]],{{sfn|Buckingham|1982}} during the [[Vietnam War]] from 1962 to 1971.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.science20.com/news_articles/agent_orange_linked_skin_cancer_risk-128602 |title=Agent Orange Linked To Skin Cancer Risk |date=January 29, 2014 |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023230836/https://www.science20.com/news_articles/agent_orange_linked_skin_cancer_risk-128602 |work=Science 2.0 |archive-date=October 23, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The U.S. was strongly influenced by the British who used Agent Orange during the [[Malayan Emergency]]. It is a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides, [[2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid|2,4,5-T]] and [[2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid|2,4-D]].

Agent Orange was produced in the United States beginning in the late 1940s and was used in industrial agriculture, and was also sprayed along railroads and power lines to control undergrowth in forests. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military procured over {{convert|20,000,000|U.S.gal|abbr=on}}, consisting of a fifty-fifty mixture of 2,4-D and dioxin-contaminated 2,4,5-T. Nine chemical companies produced it: [[Dow Chemical Company]], [[Monsanto Company]], [[Diamond Shamrock|Diamond Shamrock Corporation]], [[Hercules Inc.]], [[Thompson Hayward Chemical]] Co., [[United States Rubber Company]] (Uniroyal), [[Thompson Chemical Co.]], [[Hoffman-Taff]] Chemicals, Inc., and [[Agriselect]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://agentorangerecord.com/manufacturing-sites/ |title=Manufacturing Sites |publisher=Agentorangerecord.com |date=2010-12-28 |access-date=2022-02-11 |archive-date=February 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205103348/https://agentorangerecord.com/manufacturing-sites/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The government of Vietnam says that up to four million people in Vietnam were exposed to the defoliant, and as many as three million people have suffered illness because of Agent Orange,<ref name="The Washington Post">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061401077_4.html |last=Stocking |first=Ben |title=Agent Orange Still Haunts Vietnam, US|date=2007-06-14 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=2017-03-29 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330083914/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061401077_4.html |archive-date=2017-03-30|url-status=live}}</ref>{{refn|The government of Vietnam defined victims of Agent Orange by looking at where they live, their family history, and if the health problems have been linked to Agent Orange.<ref name="50 years">{{Cite web |date=2025-04-28 |title=The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago, but the battle with Agent Orange continues |url=https://apnews.com/article/vietnam-war-anniversary-agent-orange-0829caefe48cc11fb88ab27982da922b |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> |group=note}} while the [[Vietnamese Red Cross]] estimates that up to one million people were disabled or have health problems as a result of exposure to Agent Orange.<ref name="Jessica King">{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/vietnam-us-agent-orange/ |title=U.S. in first effort to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam |first=Jessica |last=King |date=2012-08-10 |access-date=2012-08-11 |work=[[CNN]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303060725/http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/vietnam-us-agent-orange |archive-date=2013-03-03 |url-status=live}}</ref> While the United States government has described these figures as unreliable,<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Defoliation |editor-last=Tucker|editor-first=Spencer C.|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War : a Political, Social, and Military History|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-961-0|edition=2nd}}</ref> it has documented cases of [[leukemia]], [[Hodgkin's lymphoma]], and various kinds of cancer in exposed U.S. military veterans. The U.S. Government has not conclusively found either a causal relationship or a plausible biological carcinogenic mechanism for cancers.<ref>{{cite journal|title=TCDD and cancer: A critical review of epidemiologic studies |date=2011 |publisher=Taylor and Francis|doi=10.3109/10408444.2011.560141 |journal=Critical Reviews in Toxicology |volume=41 |issue=7 |pages=622–636 |pmid=21718216 |pmc=3154583 | vauthors = Boffetta P, Mundt KA, Adami H, Cole P, Mandel JS }}</ref> An epidemiological study done by the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] showed that there was an increase in the rate of [[birth defects]] of the children of military personnel who were exposed to Agent Orange.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3969152|title = Agent Orange and Birth Defects Risk|last1 = Raloff|first1 = J.|journal = Science News|volume = 126|issue = 8|page = 117|year = 1984|doi = 10.2307/3969152}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> The science on the causality between exposure and health problems remains incomplete.<ref name="50 years" /> Agent Orange has also caused enormous environmental damage in Vietnam. Over {{convert|3,100,000|ha|abbr=on}} or {{convert|31,000|sqkm|abbr=on}} of forest were defoliated. Defoliants eroded tree cover and seedling forest stock, making [[reforestation]] difficult in numerous areas. Animal [[species diversity]] is sharply reduced in contrast with unsprayed areas.<ref name="Vallero" />{{sfn|Furukawa|2004|p=215}} The environmental destruction caused by this defoliation has been described by Swedish Prime Minister [[Olof Palme]], lawyers, historians and other academics as an [[ecocide]].<ref name="Zierler 2011">{{Cite book |last=Zierler |first=David |title=The invention of ecocide: agent orange, Vietnam, and the scientists who changed the way we think about the environment |date=2011 |publisher=Univ. of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-3827-9 |location=Athens, Ga.}}</ref><ref name="ijllr.com">{{Cite web |date=2022-12-18 |title=How Imperative Is It To Consider Ecocide As An International Crime? |url=https://www.ijllr.com/post/how-imperative-is-it-to-consider-ecocide-as-an-international-crime |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=IJLLR |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Falk 1973 80–96">{{Cite journal |last=Falk |first=Richard A. |date=1973 |title=Environmental Warfare and Ecocide—Facts, Appraisal, and Proposals |journal=Bulletin of Peace Proposals |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=80–96 |doi=10.1177/096701067300400105 |jstor=44480206 |s2cid=144885326 |issn=0007-5035}}</ref><ref name="theleaflet.in">{{Cite web |date=2022-02-17 |title=Industrial disasters from Bhopal to present day: why the proposal to make 'ecocide' an international offence is persuasive – The Leaflet |url=https://theleaflet.in/industrial-disasters-from-bhopal-to-present-day-why-the-proposal-to-make-ecocide-an-international-offence-is-persuasive/ |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=theleaflet.in |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Giovanni">{{Cite SSRN |last=Giovanni |first=Chiarini |date=2022-04-01 |title=Ecocide: From the Vietnam War to International Criminal Jurisdiction? Procedural Issues In-Between Environmental Science, Climate Change, and Law |ssrn=4072727 |language=en}}</ref>

The use of Agent Orange in Vietnam resulted in numerous legal actions. The [[United Nations]] ratified [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 31/72]] and the [[Environmental Modification Convention]]. Lawsuits filed on behalf of both U.S. and Vietnamese veterans sought compensation for damages.

Agent Orange was first used by [[British Commonwealth]] forces in [[British Malaya|Malaya]] during the [[Malayan Emergency]]. It was also used by the U.S. military in [[Laos]] and [[Cambodia]] during the Vietnam War because forests near the border with Vietnam were used by the [[Viet Cong]].
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==Chemical composition==
[[File:2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo(b,e)(1,4)dioxine 200.svg|thumb|[[2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin|2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin]] (TCDD)]]
[[File:2,4-D.svg|thumb|[[2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid]] (2,4-D)]]
[[File:2,4,5-T.svg|thumb|[[2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid]] (2,4,5-T)]]

The active ingredient of Agent Orange was an equal mixture of two [[phenoxy herbicide]]s – [[2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid]] (2,4-D) and [[2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid]] (2,4,5-T) – in iso-octyl [[ester]] form, which contained traces of the [[Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds|dioxin]] [[2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin|2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-''p''-dioxin]] (TCDD).{{sfn|IOM|1994|p=90}} TCDD was a trace (typically 2–3 [[Parts-per notation|ppm]], ranging from 50 ppb to 50 ppm)<ref>{{cite tech report |vauthors=Young AL, Thalken CE, Arnold EL, Cupello JM, Cockerham LG |title=Fate of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-''p''-dioxin (TCDD) in the Environment: Summary and Decontamination Recommendations |year=1976 |publisher=United States Air Force Academy |id=TR 76 18}}</ref> - but significant - contaminant of Agent Orange.

===Toxicology===
TCDD is the most toxic of the dioxins and is classified as a human [[carcinogen]] by the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=12 |title=Dioxins |website=Tox Town |publisher=United States National Library of Medicine |access-date=2017-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313042937/https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=12 |archive-date=2017-03-13}}</ref> The fat-soluble nature of TCDD causes it to accumulate easily in the food chain, and can enter the body readily through physical contact or ingestion.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yonemoto |first= Junzo |title=The Effects of Dioxin on Reproduction and Development |journal=Industrial Health |volume=28 |issue=3 |date=2000 |pages=259–268|doi=10.2486/indhealth.38.259 |pmid=10943072 |doi-access=free|bibcode= 2000IndHe..38..259Y }}</ref> When TCDD binds to cytoplasmic [[aryl hydrocarbon receptor]] (AhR), a transcription factor, the protein translocates to the [[cell nucleus]], where it influences gene expression.{{sfn|Ngo|Taylor|Roberts|Nguyen|2006}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Palmer |first=Michael |title=The Case of Agent Orange |journal=Contemporary Southeast Asia |date=2007 |volume=29 |pages=172–195 |article-number=CS29-1H |doi=10.1355/cs29-1h|doi-broken-date=July 6, 2025 }}</ref>

According to U.S. government reports, if not bound chemically to a biological surface such as soil, leaves or grass, Agent Orange dries quickly after spraying and breaks down within hours to days when exposed to sunlight and is no longer harmful, but trees didn't grow in numerous areas before the Vietnamese government replaced the soil.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/basics.asp |title=Facts About Herbicides – Public Health |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |access-date=2017-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218184604/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/basics.asp |archive-date=2017-02-18 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Development==
Several herbicides were developed as part of efforts by the United States and the United Kingdom to create herbicidal weapons for use during [[World War II]]. These included 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, [[MCPA]] (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid, 1414B and 1414A, recoded LN-8 and LN-32), and [[isopropyl phenylcarbamate]] (1313, recoded LN-33).<ref name="FAB">{{cite magazine |last1=Perera |first1=Judith |last2=Thomas |first2=Andy |date=April 18, 1985 |title=This horrible natural experiment |journal=New Scientist |pages=34–36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7v_rDK0uOgC&pg=PA34 |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126094940/https://books.google.com/books?id=q7v_rDK0uOgC&pg=PA34 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1943, the [[United States Department of the Army]] contracted botanist (and later bioethicist) [[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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.yale.edu/2008/07/18/memoriam-arthur-galston-plant-biologist-fought-use-agent-orange |title=In Memoriam: Arthur Galston, Plant Biologist, Fought Use of Agent Orange |website=Yale News |access-date=2017-03-10 |date=2008-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312070110/http://news.yale.edu/2008/07/18/memoriam-arthur-galston-plant-biologist-fought-use-agent-orange |archive-date=2017-03-12 |url-status=live}}</ref> While a graduate and post-graduate student at the University of Illinois, Galston's research and [[dissertation]] focused on finding a chemical means to make soybeans flower and fruit earlier.<ref name="Schneider2003">{{cite journal|last=Schneider |first=Brandon |date=2003 |title=Agent Orange: A deadly member of the rainbow |url=http://research.yale.edu/ysm/article.jsp?articleID=48 |journal=[[Yale Scientific]] |volume=77 |issue=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125154522/http://research.yale.edu/ysm/article.jsp?articleID=48 |archive-date=2009-01-25}}</ref> He discovered both that 2,3,5-[[triiodobenzoic acid]] (TIBA) would speed up the flowering of soybeans and that in higher concentrations it would defoliate the soybeans.<ref name="Schneider2003" /> From these studies arose the concept of using aerial applications of herbicides to destroy enemy crops to disrupt their food supply. In early 1945, the U.S. Army ran tests of various 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T mixtures at the [[Bushnell Army Airfield]] in Florida. As a result, the U.S. began a full-scale production of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and would have used it against Japan in 1946 during [[Operation Downfall]] if the war had continued.{{sfn|Young|2009}}{{sfn|Verwey|1977|p=111}}

In the years after the war, the U.S. tested 1,100 compounds, and field trials of the more promising ones were done at British stations in India and Australia, in order to establish their effects in tropical conditions, as well as at the U.S. testing ground in Florida.<ref name="FAB" /> Between 1950 and 1952, trials were conducted in [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]], at [[Kikore]] and Stunyansa, to test arboricides and defoliants under tropical conditions. The chemicals involved were 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, and [[endothall]] (3,6-endoxohexahydrophthalic acid). During 1952–53, the unit supervised the aerial spraying of 2,4,5-T in [[Kenya]] to assess the value of defoliants in the eradication of [[tsetse fly]].<ref name="FAB" />

==Early use==
In [[Federation of Malaya|Malaya]], the local unit of [[Imperial Chemical Industries]] researched defoliants as [[weed killer]]s for [[rubber plantation]]s. Roadside ambushes by the [[Malayan National Liberation Army]] were a danger to the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] forces during the [[Malayan Emergency]], several trials were made to defoliate vegetation that might hide ambush sites, but hand removal was found cheaper. A detailed account of how the British experimented with the spraying of herbicides was written by two scientists, E. K. Woodford of [[Agricultural and Food Research Council|Agricultural Research Council]]'s Unit of Experimental Agronomy and H. G. H. Kearns of the [[University of Bristol]].<ref>''New Scientist'', 19 April 1985, p. 34, https://books.google.com/books?id=q7v_rDK0uOgC&pg=PA34 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121222130/https://books.google.ca/books?id=q7v_rDK0uOgC&pg=PA34&redir_esc=y |date=November 21, 2021}}</ref>

After the Malayan Emergency ended in 1960, the U.S. considered the British precedent in deciding that the use of defoliants was a [[Law of war|legal tactic of warfare]]. [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Dean Rusk]] advised [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] that the British had established a precedent for warfare with herbicides in Malaya.<ref name="Haberman">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/us/agent-oranges-long-legacy-for-vietnam-and-veterans.html |title=Agent Orange's Long Legacy, for Vietnam and Veterans |last=Haberman |first=Clyde |date=2014-05-11 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2017-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724205114/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/us/agent-oranges-long-legacy-for-vietnam-and-veterans.html |archive-date=2017-07-24 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="MAY">{{cite book |title=The Global Politics of Pesticides: Forging Consensus from Conflicting Interests |page=61 |first=Peter |last=Hough |year=1998 |publisher=[[Earthscan]] |isbn=978-1-84407-987-2}}</ref>

==Use in the Vietnam War==
[[File:Aerial-herbicide-spray-missions-in-Southern-Vietnam--1965-1971.jpg|thumb|Map showing locations of U.S. Army aerial herbicide spray missions in [[South Vietnam]] taking place from 1965 to 1971]]
In mid-1961, President [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] of South Vietnam asked the United States to help defoliate the lush jungle that was providing cover to his enemies.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-04-13|title=Why Hasn't The Government Learned Anything From The Agent Orange Health Crisis?|url=https://taskandpurpose.com/health-fitness/hasnt-government-learned-anything-agent-orange-health-crisis/|access-date=2022-02-12|website=Task & Purpose|language=en-US}}</ref>{{sfn|Buckingham|1982|p=11–12}} In August of that year, the [[Republic of Vietnam Air Force]] conducted herbicide operations with American help. Diem's request launched a policy debate in the [[White House]] and the [[State Department|State]] and [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Departments]]. Many U.S. officials supported herbicide operations, pointing out that the British had already used herbicides and defoliants in Malaya during the 1950s. In November 1961, Kennedy authorized the start of [[Operation Ranch Hand]], the codename for the [[United States Air Force]]'s herbicide program in Vietnam. The herbicide operations were formally directed by the government of South Vietnam.<ref name="Lewy"/>

During the Vietnam War, between 1962 and 1971, the United States military sprayed nearly {{convert|20,000,000|U.S.gal|abbr=on}} of various chemicals – the "[[rainbow herbicides]]" and defoliants – in Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia as part of Operation Ranch Hand, reaching its peak from 1967 to 1969. For comparison purposes, an olympic size pool holds approximately {{convert|660,000|U.S.gal|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Pellow|2007|p=159}}{{sfn|Stellman|Stellman|Christian|Weber|2003}}<ref name="Haberman"/> As the British did in Malaya, the goal of the U.S. was to defoliate rural/forested land, depriving guerrillas of food and concealment and clearing sensitive areas such as around base perimeters and possible ambush sites along roads and canals.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Tucker |editor-first=Spencer C. |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=1997 |title=Agent Orange}}</ref><ref name="Lewy"/> [[Samuel P. Huntington]] argued that the program was also part of a policy of [[forced draft urbanization]], which aimed to destroy the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside, forcing them to flee to the U.S.-dominated cities, depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base.<ref name="foreign-affairs-article">{{cite journal|last=Huntington|first=Samuel P.|date=July 1968|title=The Bases of Accommodation|journal=Foreign Affairs|volume=46|issue=4|pages=642–656 |doi=10.2307/20039333|jstor=20039333}}</ref>

[[File:US-troops-spray-Agent-Orange-from-riverboat-Vietnam.ogv|thumbtime=16|thumb|left|alt=Video of U.S. troops spraying Agent Orange from a riverboat in Vietnam|Military film footage of U.S. troops spraying Agent Orange from a riverboat in Vietnam in February 1969]]
Agent Orange was usually sprayed from helicopters or from low-flying [[C-123 Provider]] aircraft, fitted with sprayers and "MC-1 Hourglass" pump systems and {{convert|1,000|U.S.gal|abbr=on}} chemical tanks. Spray runs were also conducted from trucks, boats, and backpack sprayers.{{sfn|Schuck|1987|p=16}}<ref name="acs">{{cite web |url=https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/agent-orange-and-cancer.html |title=Agent Orange and Cancer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191201080707/http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/agent-orange-and-cancer.html |archive-date=2019-12-01 |url-status=live |publisher=American Cancer Society |date=2019-02-11}}</ref>{{sfn|Young|2009|p=26}} Altogether, over {{convert|80,000,000|L|abbr=on}} of Agent Orange were applied.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55795651 Vietnam War: French court to hear landmark Agent Orange case] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503131409/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55795651 |date=May 3, 2021}}, ''BBC News'', January 25, 2021</ref>

The first batch of herbicides was unloaded at [[Tan Son Nhut Air Base]] in South Vietnam on January 9, 1962.{{sfn|Hay|1982|p=151}} U.S. Air Force records show that at least 6,542 spraying missions took place throughout Operation Ranch Hand.{{sfn|Furukawa|2004|p=143}} By 1971, 12 percent of the total area of South Vietnam had been sprayed with defoliating chemicals, at an average concentration of 13 times the recommended [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]] application rate for domestic use.{{sfn|Stanford Biology Study Group|1971|p=36}} In South Vietnam alone, an estimated {{convert|39,000|sqmi|abbr=on}} of agricultural land was ultimately destroyed.{{sfn|Luong|2003|p=3}} In some areas, TCDD concentrations in soil and water were hundreds of times greater than the levels considered safe by the EPA.<ref name="fawthrop-war-against">{{cite news |last=Fawthrop |first=Tom |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3798581.stm |title=Vietnam's war against Agent Orange |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110092114/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3798581.stm |archive-date=2019-11-10 |work=BBC News |date=June 14, 2004}}</ref><ref name="fawthrop-suffering">{{cite news |last=Fawthrop |first=Tom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/feb/10/agentofsuffering |title=Agent of Suffering |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830050406/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/feb/10/agentofsuffering |archive-date=2019-08-30 |work=The Guardian |date=February 10, 2008}}</ref>

The campaign destroyed {{convert|20,000|sqkm|abbr=on}} of upland and mangrove forests and thousands of square kilometres of crops.<ref name="The New York Times" /> Overall, more than 20% of South Vietnam's forests were sprayed at least once over the nine years.{{sfn|Kolko|1994|p=144–145}}{{sfn|Verwey|1977|p=113}} 3.2% of South Vietnam's cultivated land was sprayed at least once between 1965 and 1971. 90% of herbicide use was directed at defoliation.<ref name="Lewy"/>

The U.S. military began targeting food crops in October 1962, primarily using [[Agent Blue]]; the American public was not made aware of the crop destruction programs until 1965 (and it was then believed that crop spraying had begun that spring). In 1965, 42% of all herbicide spraying was dedicated to food crops. In 1965, members of the [[U.S. Congress]] were told, "crop destruction is understood to be the more important purpose&nbsp;... but the emphasis is usually given to the jungle defoliation in public mention of the program." The first official acknowledgment of the programs came from the State Department in March 1966.{{sfn|Kolko|1994|p=144–145}}{{sfn|Verwey|1977|p=111–113}}

When crops were destroyed, the Viet Cong would compensate for the loss of food by confiscating more food from local villages.<ref name="Lewy"/> Some military personnel reported being told they were destroying crops used to feed guerrillas, only to later discover, most of the destroyed food was actually produced to support the local civilian population. Wil Verwey wrote in 1977 that ecologist [[Arthur H. Westing]], during a 1969 visit to Quang Ngai province, had been told that 15 crop destruction missions had been approved in the province for 1970. According Verwey, these missions would have been enough to cover 85% of crop lands in the province and would have caused famine and left hundreds of thousands of people without food or malnourished although it was unclear if all the approved missions were actually carried out.{{sfn|Verwey|1977|p=116-117}} According to a report by the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]], the herbicide campaign had disrupted the food supply of more than 600,000 people by 1970.<ref name="Turse"/>

Many experts at the time, including [[plant physiologist]] and [[Bioethics|bioethicist]] [[Arthur Galston]], opposed herbicidal warfare because of concerns about the side effects to humans and the environment from indiscriminately spraying the chemical over a wide area. As early as 1966, resolutions were introduced to the [[United Nations]] charging that the U.S. was violating the 1925 [[Geneva Protocol]], which regulated the use of [[chemical weapon|chemical]] and [[biological agent|biological weapons]] in international conflicts. The U.S. defeated most of the resolutions,<ref name="galston-light">{{cite magazine |last=Peterson |first=Doug |url=http://www.las.illinois.edu/alumni/magazine/articles/2004/galston |title=Matters of Light: Arthur W. Galston |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618152658/http://www.las.illinois.edu/alumni/magazine/articles/2004/galston/ |archive-date=2010-06-18 |magazine=LASNews Magazine |publisher=[[University of Illinois]] |date=Spring 2005}}</ref>{{sfn|Schuck|1987|p=19}} arguing that Agent Orange was not a chemical or a biological weapon as it was considered a herbicide and a defoliant and it was used in effort to destroy plant crops and to deprive the enemy of concealment and not meant to target human beings. The U.S. delegation argued that a weapon, by definition, is any device used to injure, defeat, or destroy living beings, structures, or systems, and Agent Orange did not qualify under that definition. It also argued that if the U.S. were to be charged for using Agent Orange, then the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth nations should be charged since they also used it widely during the [[Malayan Emergency]] in the 1950s.<ref>{{cite book |title=When Technology Fails: Significant Technological Disasters, Accidents, and Failures of the Twentieth Century |year=1994 |page=104 |last=Schlager |first=Neil |publisher=Gale Research}}</ref> In 1969, the United Kingdom commented on the draft Resolution 2603 (XXIV):<blockquote>The evidence seems to us to be notably inadequate for the assertion that the use in war of chemical substances specifically toxic to plants is prohibited by [[international law]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_gb_rule76|title=United States of America: Practice Relating to Rule 76. Herbicides|website=Customary IHL Database |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]|access-date=2017-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301101751/http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_gb_rule76|archive-date=2014-03-01|url-status=live}}</ref> </blockquote>The [[environmental destruction]] caused by this defoliation has been described by Swedish Prime Minister [[Olof Palme]], lawyers, historians and other academics as an [[ecocide]].<ref name="Zierler 2011"/><ref name="ijllr.com"/><ref name="Falk 1973 80–96"/><ref name="theleaflet.in"/><ref name="Giovanni"/>

A study carried out by the Bionetic Research Laboratories between 1965 and 1968 found malformations in test animals caused by 2,4,5-T, a component of Agent Orange. The study was later brought to the attention of the White House in October 1969. Other studies reported similar results and the Department of Defense began to reduce the herbicide operation. On April 15, 1970, it was announced that the use of Agent Orange was suspended. Two brigades of the [[Americal Division]] in the summer of 1970 continued to use Agent Orange for crop destruction in violation of the suspension. An investigation led to disciplinary action against the brigade and division commanders because they had falsified reports to hide its use. Defoliation and crop destruction were completely stopped by June 30, 1971.<ref name="Lewy">Lewy, Guenter (1978), ''America in Vietnam'', New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 263</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Gallery">
File:Agent-Orange--stack-of-55-gallon-drums.jpg|Stacks of {{convert|200|L|abbr=on}} drums containing Agent Orange.
File:'Ranch Hand' run.jpg|Defoliant spray run, part of [[Operation Ranch Hand]], during the [[Vietnam War]] by [[C-123 Provider|UC-123B Provider]] aircraft.
File:US-Army-APC-spraying-Agent-Orange-in-Vietnam.jpg|U.S. Army [[armored personnel carrier]] (APC) spraying Agent Orange over Vietnamese rice fields during the [[Vietnam War]].
File:Defoliation agent spraying.jpg|A [[UH-1D]] helicopter from the [[336th Aviation Company]] sprays a defoliation agent over farmland in the [[Mekong Delta]].
File:VA042083 River Bank Defoliation.jpg|U.S. Army Operations In Vietnam: River bank defoliation
File:Agent Orange Cropdusting.jpg|A U.S. Air Force [[Fairchild C-123 Provider]] aircraft crop-dusting in Vietnam during [[Operation Ranch Hand]].
File:UC-123B Ranch Hand spraying 1962.jpg|A [[Fairchild C-123 Provider]] aircraft spraying defoliant in South Vietnam in 1962.
File:Ranch Hand UC-123 clearing a roadside in central South Vietnam in 1966.JPG|Ranch Hand UC-123 clearing a roadside in central South Vietnam in 1966.
File:110303-F-XN622-007 U.S. Air Force aircraft spraying defoliant.JPG|U.S. Air Force aircraft spraying defoliant
File:VA002930 Spraying Agent Orange in Mekong Delta near Can Tho.jpg|Spraying Agent Orange in Mekong Delta near Can Tho, 1969
</gallery>

==Health effects==
There are various types of cancer associated with Agent Orange, including chronic B-cell leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prostate cancer, respiratory cancer, lung cancer, and soft tissue sarcomas.<ref>{{cite web|title=What Is Agent Orange? What Types of Cancer Does It Cause?|url=https://www.roswellpark.org/cancertalk/202003/what-agent-orange-what-types-cancer-does-it-cause|access-date=2021-12-07|website=Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center|date=March 24, 2020 |language=en|archive-date=December 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207222310/https://www.roswellpark.org/cancertalk/202003/what-agent-orange-what-types-cancer-does-it-cause|url-status=live}}</ref> Some literature claims that neither Agent Orange nor its contaminants are carcinogenic in humans.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Dioxin and cancer: a critical review|date=2003 |doi=10.1016/j.yrtph.2003.08.002 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027323000300103X|access-date=2025-01-09 |journal=Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=378–388 |pmid=14623487 | vauthors = Cole P, Trichopoulos D, Pastides H, Starr T, Mandel JS |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Vietnamese people===
{{main|Impact of Agent Orange in Vietnam}}
The government of Vietnam states that 4 million of its citizens were exposed to Agent Orange, and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses because of it; these figures include their children who were exposed.<ref name="The Washington Post"/> The [[Red Cross of Vietnam]] estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent Orange contamination.<ref name="Jessica King"/> The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

According to a study by Dr. [[Nguyen Viet Nhan]], children in the areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected and have multiple health problems, including [[cleft palate]], mental disabilities, [[hernia]]s, and [[Polydactyly|extra fingers and toes]].<ref name="Agent Orange blights Vietnam"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gaiadiscovery.com/latest-people/professor-nguyen-viet-nhan-helping-child-victims-of-agent-or.html|title=Professor Nguyen Viet Nhan: Helping Child Victims of Agent Orange Defoliation |website=Gaia Discovery |date=December 13, 2010 |language=en|access-date=2017-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225210710/http://www.gaiadiscovery.com/latest-people/professor-nguyen-viet-nhan-helping-child-victims-of-agent-or.html|archive-date=2017-02-25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fox |first=Diane Niblack |title=Living with Agent Orange: conversations in postwar Viet Nam |date=2024 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1-68575-033-6 |series=Culture and politics in the Cold War and beyond |location=Amherst}}</ref> In the 1970s, high levels of dioxin were found in the [[breast milk]] of South Vietnamese women, and in the blood of U.S. military personnel who had served in Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thornton|first=Joe|title=Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy|publisher=MIT Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-262-70084-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/pandoraspoison00joet/page/190 190]|url=https://archive.org/details/pandoraspoison00joet|url-access=registration}}</ref> The most affected zones are the mountainous area along [[Truong Son Mountains|Truong Son]] (Long Mountains) and the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. The affected residents are living in substandard conditions with many [[genetic diseases]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs |url=http://www.mofa.gov.vn/vi/tt_baochi/nr041126171753/ns050118101044 |title=Ủng hộ nạn nhân chất độc da cam/Đi-ô-xin |trans-title=Support for victims of Agent Orange / Dioxin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080407084743/http://www.mofa.gov.vn/vi/tt_baochi/nr041126171753/ns050118101044 |archive-date=2008-04-07 |language=vi}}</ref>{{sfn|IOM|1994|p=iii}}

In 2006, [[Anh Duc Ngo]] and colleagues of the [[University of Texas Health Science Center]] published a [[meta-analysis]] that exposed a large amount of heterogeneity (different findings) between studies, a finding consistent with a lack of consensus on the issue.<ref name="1940-5030">{{cite journal|url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/birth-defects-caused-agent-orange|last=King|first=Jesse|title=Birth Defects Caused by Agent Orange|journal=Embryo Project Encyclopedia|date=2012-11-08|hdl=10776/4202|issn=1940-5030|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801042017/http://embryo.asu.edu/pages/birth-defects-caused-agent-orange|archive-date=August 1, 2013|access-date=February 6, 2021}}</ref> Despite this, statistical analysis of the studies they examined resulted in data that the increase in birth defects/[[relative risk]] (RR) from exposure to agent orange/dioxin "appears" to be on the order of 3 in Vietnamese-funded studies, but 1.29 in the rest of the world. There is data near the threshold of [[statistical significance]] suggesting Agent Orange contributes to stillbirths, cleft palate, and [[neural tube defects]], with [[spina bifida]] being the most statistically significant defect.{{sfn|Ngo|Taylor|Roberts|Nguyen|2006}} The large discrepancy in RR between Vietnamese studies and those in the rest of the world has been ascribed to bias in the Vietnamese studies.<ref name="1940-5030"/>

Twenty-eight of the former U.S. military bases in Vietnam, where the herbicides were stored and loaded onto airplanes, may still have high levels of dioxins in the soil, posing a health threat to the surrounding communities. Extensive testing for dioxin contamination has been conducted at the former U.S. airbases in [[Da Nang Air Base|Da Nang]], [[Phù Cát Air Base|Phù Cát District]] and [[Bien Hoa Air Base|Biên Hòa]]. Some of the soil and sediment on the bases have extremely high levels of dioxin, requiring remediation. The Da Nang Air Base has dioxin contamination up to 350 times higher than international recommendations for action.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://www.hatfieldgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/AgentOrangeReports/UNDP1391/UNDP1391_Final_VRT_%20Report_and_Appendices.pdf |title=Evaluation of Contamination at the Agent Orange Dioxin Hot Spots in Bien Hoa, Phu Cat and Vicinity, Vietnam |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425050941/https://www.hatfieldgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/AgentOrangeReports/UNDP1391/UNDP1391_Final_VRT_%20Report_and_Appendices.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-25 |publisher=Office of the National Committee 33, Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment |location=Hanoi, Vietnam |author=Viet Nam – Russia Tropical Centre |date=June 2009 |id=UNDP1391.2}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |author=((Hatfield Consultants Office of the National Steering Committee 33)) |url=http://www.hatfieldgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/AgentOrangeReports/DANDI1283/DANDI1283_Final_Report.pdf |title=Assessment of dioxin contamination in the environment and human population in the vicinity of Da Nang Airbase, Viet Nam. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425053450/https://www.hatfieldgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/AgentOrangeReports/DANDI1283/DANDI1283_Final_Report.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-25 |id=DANDI1283.4 |location=Vancouver, Canada |publisher=Hatfield Consultants |date=2007 |type=Final Report}}</ref> The contaminated soil and sediment continue to affect the citizens of Vietnam, poisoning their food chain and causing illnesses, serious skin diseases and a variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx, and prostate.<ref name="Agent Orange blights Vietnam">{{Cite news|last=Denselow |first=Robin |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/227467.stm|work=BBC News|title=Agent Orange blights Vietnam|date=December 3, 1998|access-date=April 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125013903/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/227467.stm|archive-date=January 25, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" widths="200">
File:Agent Orange Deformities (3786919757).jpg|A person with [[birth deformities]] associated with prenatal exposure to Agent Orange
File:Agent-Orange-dioxin-skin-damage-Vietnam.jpg|Major Tự Đức Phang was exposed to dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange.
File:A vietnamese Professor is pictured with a group of handicapped children.jpg|A group of handicapped children in Ho Chi Minh, some of them affected by Agent Orange
File:Two Vietnameses pose in front of the billboard.jpg|Kan Lay, 55 years old, and her son, Ke Van Bec, 14 years old, ''A Luoi'' Valley, Vietnam, December 2004.
</gallery>

===Vietnam veterans===
[[File:U.S. propaganda for agent orange 1.jpg|thumb|474x474px|A United States disinformation [[propaganda]] poster in Vietnamese describing how 'safe' Agent Orange is, intended to refute the "communist's propaganda". However, scientists within the United States had been protesting the use of Agent Orange since 1966, on the basis that it was a chemical weapon used indiscriminately, even before its toxic effects to humans were established in print.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Herbicides |first1=Institute of Medicine (US) Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to |title=History of the Controversy Over the Use of Herbicides |journal=Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam |date=1994 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236351/ |publisher=National Academies Press (US) |language=en}}</ref>]]
While in Vietnam, U.S. and [[Free World Military Assistance Forces]] soldiers were told not to worry about Agent Orange and were persuaded that the chemical was harmless.<ref name="Hermann">{{cite web |last=Hermann |first=Kenneth J. |url=http://politicalaffairs.net/killing-me-softly-how-agent-orange-murders-vietnam-s-children/ |title=Killing Me Softly: How Agent Orange Murders Vietnam's Children |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140917092644/http://politicalaffairs.net/killing-me-softly-how-agent-orange-murders-vietnam-s-children/ |archive-date=2014-09-17 |work=Political Affairs |date=April 25, 2006}}</ref> After returning home, Vietnam veterans from all countries that served began to suspect their ill health or the instances of their wives having miscarriages or children born with birth defects might be related to Agent Orange and the other toxic herbicides to which they had been exposed in Vietnam.

====U.S veterans====
U.S. Veterans began to file claims in 1977 to the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Department of Veterans Affairs]] for disability payments for health care for conditions they believed were associated with exposure to Agent Orange, or more specifically, dioxin, but their claims were denied unless they could prove the condition began when they were in the service or within one year of their discharge.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43790.pdf |title=Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange: Legislative History, Litigation, and Current Issues |last1=Sidath |first1=Viranga Panangala |last2=Shedd |first2=Daniel |date=November 18, 2014 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |id=R43790 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321170713/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43790.pdf |archive-date=March 21, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In order to qualify for compensation, U.S. veterans must have served on or near the perimeters of military bases in Thailand during the Vietnam Era, where herbicides were tested and stored outside of Vietnam, veterans who were crew members on C-123 planes flown after the Vietnam War, or were associated with Department of Defense (DoD) projects to test, dispose of, or store herbicides in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/claims-postservice-agent_orange.asp |title=Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange |date=January 19, 2018 |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |access-date=February 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203125103/https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/claims-postservice-agent_orange.asp |archive-date=February 3, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

By April 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs had compensated only 486 victims, although it had received disability claims from 39,419 soldiers who had been exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleischer |first1=Doris Zames |last2=Zames |first2=Freida |title=The disability rights movement: from charity to confrontation |publisher=Temple University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-56639-812-1 |page=178 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3t84d8tLEVcC&pg=PA178 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228092239/https://books.google.com/books?id=3t84d8tLEVcC&pg=PA178 |archive-date=2017-02-28 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In a November 2004 [[Zogby International]] poll of 987 people, 79% of respondents thought the U.S. chemical companies that produced Agent Orange defoliant should compensate U.S. soldiers who were affected by the toxic chemical used during the war in Vietnam, and 51% said they supported compensation for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vietnamembassy-usa.org/relations/most-americans-favor-compensation-agent-orange-victims |first=Ha |last=Nguyen |title=Most Americans favor compensation for Agent Orange victims |publisher=Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States |date=November 19, 2004 |access-date=2017-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331115923/http://vietnamembassy-usa.org/relations/most-americans-favor-compensation-agent-orange-victims|archive-date=March 31, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Australian and New Zealand veterans====
Several official investigations in Australia failed to prove otherwise<ref>From the archives: Royal Commission findings clear Agent Orange | https://www.smh.com.au/national/from-the-archives-royal-commission-findings-clear-agent-orange-20190805-p52e0d.html</ref> even though extant American investigations had already established that defoliants were sprayed at U.S. airbases including [[Bien Hoa Air Base]] where Australian and New Zealand forces first served before being given their own [[Tactical area of responsibility]] (TAOR.) Even then, Australian and New Zealand non-military and military contributions saw personnel from both countries spread over Vietnam such as the hospitals at [[Bong Son]] and [[Qui Nhon]], on secondments at various bases, and as flight crew and ground crew for flights into and out of [[Da Nang Air Base]] - all areas that were well-documented as having been sprayed.<ref>Maps of Heavily Sprayed Areas and Dioxin Hot Spots | https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/agent-orange-in-vietnam-program/maps-of-heavily-sprayed-areas-and-dioxin-hot-spots/</ref><ref>' Nurse in Vietnam - Frances Palmer ', URL: https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/nurse-vietnam-frances-palmer, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 16-Nov-2022</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vietnamwar.govt.nz/nz-vietnam-war/surgical-and-medical-support|title=Surgical and medical support|work=VietnamWar.govt.nz, New Zealand and the Vietnam War|access-date=2014-08-05|archive-date=29 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429150937/http://www.vietnamwar.govt.nz/nz-vietnam-war/surgical-and-medical-support|url-status=live}}</ref>

It wasn't until a group of Australian veterans produced official military records, maps, and mission data as proof that the TAOR controlled by Australian and New Zealand forces in Vietnam had been sprayed with the chemicals in the presence of personnel that the Australian government was forced to change its stance. Only in 1994 did the Australian government finally admit that it was true that defoliants had been used in areas of Vietnam where Australian forces operated, and the effects of these may have been detrimental to some Vietnam veterans and their children.<ref name=":3">DVA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) (2023 ), Agent Orange and other chemicals in the Vietnam War, DVA Anzac Portal, accessed 24 January 2024, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/vietnam-war-1962-1975/events/aftermath/agent-orange</ref>

It was only in 2015 that the official [[Australian War Memorial]] accepted rewriting the official history of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War to acknowledge that Australian soldiers were exposed to defoliants used in Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/win-for-vietnam-vets-with-agent-orange-war-history-to-be-rewritten-20140502-zr2fl.html|title=Win for Vietnam vets with Agent Orange war history to be rewritten|first=Gregory|last=Pemberton|date=May 1, 2014|website=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>

New Zealand was even slower to correct its error, with the government going as far as to deny the legitimacy of the Australian reports in a report called the "McLeod Report," published by Veterans Affairs NZ in 2001, thus infuriating New Zealand veterans and those associated with their cause.<ref>'Observing Agent Orange ', URL: https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/observing-agent-orange, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 20-May-2020</ref><ref>' Agent Orange spraying - Ian Thorpe ', URL: https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/audio/agent-orange-spraying-ian-thorpe, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 10-Sep-2013</ref>

In 2006 progress was made in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the New Zealand government, representatives of New Zealand Vietnam veterans, and the [[Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association]] (RSA) for monetary compensation for New Zealand Vietnam veterans who have conditions as evidence of association with exposure to Agent Orange, as determined by the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, the New Zealand government finally admitted that New Zealanders had been exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam, and the experience was responsible for detrimental health conditions in veterans and their children.<ref>Māori war veteran's skin still peeling 50 years after Agent Orange exposure | URL=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/443953/maori-war-veteran-s-skin-still-peeling-50-years-after-agent-orange-exposure (New Zealand Herald)</ref> Amendments to the memorandum made in 2021 meant that more veterans were eligible for an ex gratia payment of NZ$40,000.<ref>'More Vietnam Veterans to receive compensation for Agent Orange Exposure' | https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/more-vietnam-veterans-receive-compensation-agent-orange-exposure | (New Zealand Government)</ref>

====National Academy of Medicine (Institute of Medicine)====
Starting in the early 1990s, the federal government directed the Institute of Medicine (IOM), renamed the [[National Academy of Medicine]], to issue reports every 2 years on the health effects of Agent Orange and similar herbicides. First published in 1994 and titled ''Veterans and Agent Orange'', the IOM reports assess the risk of both cancer and non-cancer health effects. Each health effect is categorized by evidence of association based on available research data.<ref name="acs"/> The last update was published in 2016, entitled ''Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2014''.

The report shows sufficient evidence of an association with soft tissue sarcoma; non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); Hodgkin disease; Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); including hairy cell leukemia and other chronic B-cell leukemias.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Agent Orange and Cancer Risk {{!}} American Cancer Society |url=https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/agent-orange-and-cancer.html |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=www.cancer.org |language=en}}</ref> Limited or suggested evidence of an association was linked with respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, trachea, larynx); prostate cancer; multiple myeloma; and bladder cancer. Numerous other cancers were determined to have inadequate or insufficient evidence of links to Agent Orange.<ref name=":0" />

The National Academy of Medicine has repeatedly concluded that any evidence suggestive of an association between Agent Orange and prostate cancer is "limited because chance, bias, and confounding could not be ruled out with confidence."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Institute of Medicine |title=Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam: Update 11 |date=2018 |publisher=The National Academies Press |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-309-47716-1 |url=http://nap.edu/25137 |access-date=25 December 2018 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225043448/https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25137/veterans-and-agent-orange-update-11-2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

At the request of the Veterans Administration, the Institute of Medicine evaluated whether service in these C-123 aircraft could have plausibly exposed soldiers and been detrimental to their health. Their report ''Post-Vietnam Dioxin Exposure in Agent Orange-Contaminated C-123 Aircraft'' confirmed it.<ref name="c-123">{{cite report|author=((Committee to Evaluate the Potential Exposure of Agent Orange/TCDD Residue and Level of Risk of Adverse Health Effects for Aircrew of Post-Vietnam C-123 Aircraft; Board on the Health of Select Populations))|title=Post-Vietnam Dioxin Exposure in Agent Orange-Contaminated C-123 Aircraft|url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/18848/post-vietnam-dioxin-exposure-in-agent-orange-contaminated-c-123-aircraft|access-date=2015-09-03|work=Institute of Medicine|date=|archive-date=May 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501153932/https://www.nap.edu/catalog/18848/post-vietnam-dioxin-exposure-in-agent-orange-contaminated-c-123-aircraft|url-status=live}}</ref>

====U.S. Public Health Service====
Publications by the [[United States Public Health Service]] have shown that Vietnam veterans, overall, have increased rates of cancer, and nerve, digestive, skin, and respiratory disorders. The [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] notes that in particular, there are higher rates of acute/chronic leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, throat cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, [[Ischemic heart disease]], soft tissue sarcoma, and liver cancer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/epidemiology/studies/heroes/index.asp|title=Vietnam Era Health Retrospective Observational Study |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |language=en|access-date=2017-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225131928/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/epidemiology/studies/heroes/index.asp|archive-date=2017-02-25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">{{Cite journal |date=1987-02-13 |title=Postservice mortality among Vietnam veterans. The Centers for Disease Control Vietnam Experience Study |journal=JAMA |volume=257 |issue=6 |pages=790–795 |pmid=3027422 |doi=10.1001/jama.1987.03390060080028|hdl=2027/ucbk.ark:/28722/h27w6770k |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Except liver cancer, these are the same conditions the [[U.S. Veterans Administration]] has determined may be associated with exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin and are on the list of conditions eligible for compensation and treatment.<ref name="ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"/><ref name="va-03-2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp |title=Agent Orange: Diseases Associated with Agent Orange Exposure |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |date=March 25, 2010 |access-date=May 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509191150/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp |archive-date=May 9, 2010}}</ref>

Military personnel who were involved in storage, mixture and transportation (including aircraft mechanics), and actual use of the chemicals were probably among those who received the heaviest exposures.{{sfn|Frumkin|2003|p=257}} Military members who served on Okinawa also claim to have been exposed to the chemical, but there is no verifiable evidence to corroborate these claims.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Jon |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110412zg.html |title=Evidence for Agent Orange on Okinawa |newspaper=[[Japan Times]] |date=April 12, 2011 |page=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011091450/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110412zg.html |archive-date=October 11, 2011}}</ref>

Some studies have suggested that veterans exposed to Agent Orange may be more at risk of developing prostate cancer<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chamie |first1=Karim |last2=deVere White |first2=Ralph W. |last3=Lee |first3=Denis |last4=Ok |first4=Joonha |last5=Ellison |first5=Lars M. |title=Agent Orange exposure, Vietnam War veterans, and the risk of prostate cancer |journal=Cancer |date=17 October 2008 |volume=113 |issue=9 |pages=2464–2470 |doi=10.1002/cncr.23695 |pmid=18666213 |s2cid=7623342 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and potentially more than twice as likely to develop higher-grade, more lethal prostate cancers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ansbaugh |first1=Nathan |last2=Shannon |first2=Jackilen |last3=Mori |first3=Motomi |last4=Farris |first4=Paige E. |last5=Garzotto |first5=Mark |title=Agent Orange as a risk factor for high-grade prostate cancer |journal=Cancer |date=1 July 2013 |volume=119 |issue=13 |pages=2399–2404 |doi=10.1002/cncr.27941 |pmid=23670242 |pmc=4090241 |ref=Garzotto, 2013}}</ref> However, a critical analysis of these studies and 35 others consistently found that there was no significant increase in prostate cancer incidence or mortality in those exposed to Agent Orange or 2,3,7,8-tetracholorodibenzo-''p''-dioxin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chang |first1=ET |last2=Boffetta |first2=P |last3=Adami |first3=HO |last4=Cole |first4=P |last5=Mandel |first5=JS |title=A critical review of the epidemiology of Agent Orange/TCDD and prostate cancer |journal=Eur J Epidemiol |date=2014 |volume=29 |issue=10 |pages=667–723 |doi=10.1007/s10654-014-9931-2 |pmid=25064616 |pmc=4197347 |ref=Chang, 2014}}</ref>

====U.S. Veterans of Laos and Cambodia====
During the Vietnam War, the United States fought the [[North Vietnamese]], and their allies, in [[Laotian Civil War|Laos]] and [[Operation Menu|Cambodia]], including heavy bombing campaigns. They also sprayed large quantities of Agent Orange in each of those countries. According to one estimate, the U.S. dropped {{convert|475,500|U.S.gal|abbr=on}} in Laos and {{convert|40,900|U.S.gal|abbr=on}} in Cambodia.{{sfn|Stellman|Stellman|Christian|Weber|2003}}<ref name="theatlantic.com">{{cite magazine |last=Dunst |first=Charles |magazine=The Atlantic |date=20 July 2019 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/agent-orange-cambodia-laos-vietnam/591412/ |title=The U.S.'s Toxic Agent Orange Legacy: Washington Has Admitted to the Long-Lasting Effects of Dioxin Use in Vietnam, But Has Largely Sidestepped the Issue in Neighboring Cambodia and Laos |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014202833/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/agent-orange-cambodia-laos-vietnam/591412/ |archive-date=2019-10-14}}</ref><ref name="Agent Orange's Legacy">{{cite news |last1=Ana |first1=Phann |last2=Doyle |first2=Kevin |title=Agent Orange's Legacy |date=March 20, 2004 |work=The Cambodia Daily |url=http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/agent-oranges-legacy-884/ |access-date=May 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505104932/http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/agent-oranges-legacy-884/ |archive-date=May 5, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Because Laos and Cambodia were both officially neutral during the Vietnam War, the U.S. attempted to keep secret its military operations in those countries, from the American population and has largely avoided compensating American veterans and CIA personnel stationed in Cambodia and Laos who suffered permanent injuries as a result of exposure to Agent Orange there.<ref name="theatlantic.com"/><ref name="The New York Times">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/us-moves-to-address-agent-orange-contamination-in-vietnam.html |title=4 Decades on, U.S. Starts Cleanup of Agent Orange in Vietnam |access-date=May 5, 2014 |location=New York |work=The New York Times |date=August 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415012709/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/us-moves-to-address-agent-orange-contamination-in-vietnam.html |archive-date=April 15, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

One noteworthy exception, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, is a claim filed with the CIA by an employee of "a self-insured contractor to the CIA that was no longer in business." The CIA advised the Department of Labor that it "had no objections" to paying the claim and Labor accepted the claim for payment:{{blockquote|Civilian Exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam: GAO-05-371 April 2005.Figure 3: Overview of the Workers' Compensation Claims Process for Contract Employees: " ... Of the 20 claims filed by contract employees [of the United States government], 9 were initially denied by the insurance carriers and 1 was approved for payment. ... The claim that was approved by Labor for payment involved a self-insured contractor to the CIA that was no longer in business. Absent an employer or insurance carrier, the CIA--acting in the role of the employer and the insurance carrier--stated that it "had no objections" to paying the claim. Labor reviewed the claim and accepted it for payment."<ref>[https://www.gao.gov/htext/d05371.html 'Agent Orange: Limited Information Is Available on the Number of Civilians Exposed in Vietnam and Their Workers' Compensation Claims,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226193512/https://www.gao.gov/htext/d05371.html |date=February 26, 2021}} ''GAO report number GAO-05-371'', April 22, 2005.</ref>}}

==Ecological impact==
{{see also|Environmental impact of war}}
About 17.8% or {{convert|3100000|ha|sqkm sqmi}} of the total forested area of Vietnam was sprayed during the war, which disrupted the ecological equilibrium. The persistent nature of dioxins, erosion caused by loss of tree cover, and loss of seedling forest stock meant that reforestation was difficult (or impossible) in many areas.{{sfn|Furukawa|2004|p=215}} Many defoliated forest areas were quickly invaded by aggressive pioneer species (such as [[bamboo]] and [[cogon grass]]), making forest regeneration difficult and unlikely. Animal species [[biodiversity|diversity]] was also impacted; in one study a [[Harvard University|Harvard]] biologist found 24 species of birds and 5 species of mammals in a sprayed forest, while in two adjacent sections of unsprayed forest there were, respectively, 145 and 170 species of birds and 30 and 55 species of mammals.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chiras |first= Daniel D.|title=Environmental science|year=2010|edition=8th|publisher=Jones & Bartlett|isbn=978-0-7637-5925-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/environmentalsci8thechir/page/499 499]|url=https://archive.org/details/environmentalsci8thechir|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Dioxins from Agent Orange have persisted in the Vietnamese environment since the war, settling in the soil and sediment and entering the [[food chain]] through animals and fish that feed in the contaminated areas. The movement of dioxins through the [[food web]] has resulted in [[bioconcentration]] and [[biomagnification]].<ref name="Vallero">{{cite book|last=Vallero |first= Daniel A.|title=Biomedical ethics for engineers: ethics and decision making in biomedical and biosystem engineering|year=2007|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-7506-8227-5|page=73|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeT56Pi8LFYC&pg=PA73|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331131023/https://books.google.com/books?id=AeT56Pi8LFYC&pg=PA73|archive-date=2017-03-31|url-status=live}}</ref> The areas most heavily contaminated with dioxins are former U.S. air bases.{{sfn|Furukawa|2004|pages=221–222}}

==Sociopolitical impact==
American policy during the Vietnam War was to destroy crops, accepting the sociopolitical impact that that would have.<ref name=Turse/> The [[RAND Corporation]]'s ''Memorandum 5446-ISA/ARPA'' states: "the fact that the VC [the Vietcong] obtain most of their food from the neutral rural population dictates the destruction of civilian crops&nbsp;... if they are to be hampered by the crop destruction program, it will be necessary to destroy large portions of the rural economy – probably 50% or more".{{sfn|Verwey|1977|p=115}} Crops were deliberately sprayed with Agent Orange and areas were bulldozed clear of vegetation forcing many rural civilians to cities.<ref name=Turse>{{cite book |last=Turse |first=Nick |title=Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PeFK5dkYZsEC&pg=PT95 |date=2013 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-0-8050-9547-0 |pages=95–99 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331041154/https://books.google.com/books?id=PeFK5dkYZsEC&pg=PT95 |archive-date=2017-03-31 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Legal and diplomatic proceedings==
===International===
The extensive environmental damage that resulted from usage of the herbicide prompted the [[United Nations]] to pass [[United Nations Convention on Environmental Modification|Resolution 31/72]] and ratify the [[Environmental Modification Convention]]. Many states do not regard this as a complete ban on the use of herbicides and defoliants in warfare, but it does require case-by-case consideration.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cpmhuemt/cpmhuemt.html |title=Convention on the Prohibition of the Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques |publisher=Audiovisual Library of International Law |date=December 10, 1976 |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111230644/http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cpmhuemt/cpmhuemt.html |archive-date=November 11, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule76 |title=Practice Relating to Rule 76. Herbicides |year=2013 |website=Customary IHL Database |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross |access-date=24 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922212319/http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule76 |archive-date=22 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Article 2(4) of Protocol III of the [[Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons]] contains the "Jungle Exception", which prohibits states from attacking forests or jungles "except if such natural elements are used to cover, conceal or camouflage combatants or military objectives or are military objectives themselves".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://geneva-s3.unoda.org/static-unoda-site/pages/templates/the-convention-on-certain-conventional-weapons/PROTOCOL%2BIII.pdf |title=Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons |publisher=United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs
 |date=April 10, 1981}}</ref> This exception voids any protection of any military and civilian personnel from a [[napalm]] attack or something like Agent Orange, and it has been argued that it was clearly designed to cover situations like U.S. tactics in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Detter |first= Ingrid |title=The Law of War |publisher=Ashgate |date=2013 |page=255 |isbn=978-1-4094-6495-2}}</ref>

=== Class action lawsuit ===
Since at least 1978, several lawsuits have been filed against the companies which produced Agent Orange, among them [[Dow Chemical Company|Dow Chemical]], [[Monsanto Company|Monsanto]], and [[Diamond Shamrock]].<ref name=EncNatSec>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Agent Orange |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of United States National Security |editor-first=Richard J. |editor-last=Samuel |publisher=SAGE Publications |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-4522-6535-3 |page=6}}</ref> In 1978, army veteran Paul Reutershan sued Dow Chemical for $10 million, after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer that he believed was a result of Agent Orange exposure. After Reutershan died in December 1978, his attorneys added additional plaintiffs and refiled the lawsuit as a class action.<ref name="SCHUCKPH19880315">{{cite book | author-last=Schuck |author-first=Peter H. | date=15 March 1988 | title=Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts | publisher=Belknap Press | url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674010260 | isbn=978-0-674-01026-0}}</ref><ref name="SILLSP20140215">{{cite book | author-last=Sills |author-first=Peter | date=15 February 2014 | title=Toxic War: The Story of Agent Orange | publisher=Vanderbilt University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1675571 |jstor=j.ctv1675571 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1675571 | isbn=978-0-8265-1964-1}}</ref> That lawsuit would eventually represent thousands of veterans, and was considered one of the largest and most complex lawsuits ever brought in the US at that time.{{r|n=BLUMENTHALR19840506|r={{Cite news | author-last=Blumenthal |author-first=Ralph | date=6 May 1984 | newspaper=The New York Times | title=Vietnam Agent Orange Suit By Veterans Is Going To Trial | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/06/nyregion/vietnam-agent-orange-suit-by-veterans-is-going-to-trial.html | access-date=11 December 2024 | quote=The vast product-liability case, a civil class action embodying potential damage claims in the billions of dollars, is viewed as the biggest and most complicated case of its kind ever undertaken.}}}}

Attorney Hy Mayerson was an early pioneer in Agent Orange litigation, working with [[environmentalism|environmental attorney]] [[Victor Yannacone]] in 1980 on the first [[class-action suit]]s against wartime manufacturers of Agent Orange. In meeting Dr. Ronald A. Codario, one of the first civilian doctors to see affected patients, Mayerson, so impressed by the fact a physician would show so much interest in a Vietnam veteran, forwarded more than a thousand pages of information on Agent Orange and the effects of dioxin on animals and humans to Codario's office the day after he was first contacted by the doctor.{{sfn|Wilcox|1983}} The corporate defendants sought to escape culpability by blaming everything on the U.S. government.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Scott|first=Wilbur J.|title=The Politics of Readjustment: Vietnam Veterans Since the War|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=1993|isbn=978-0-202-30406-9|page=130|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YLg8rVfYO9EC&pg=PA130|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228024316/https://books.google.com/books?id=YLg8rVfYO9EC&pg=PA130|archive-date=2017-02-28|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1980, Mayerson, with Sgt. Charles E. Hartz, as their principal client, filed the first U.S. Agent Orange class-action lawsuit in Pennsylvania, for the injuries military personnel in Vietnam suffered through exposure to toxic dioxins in the defoliant.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1347&dat=19800125&id=ZdMSAAAAIBAJ&pg=5065,3012612 |title=Dying Veteran May Speak From Beyond The Grave In Court |work=Lakeland Ledger |date=1980-01-25 |access-date=2012-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606050816/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1347&dat=19800125&id=ZdMSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0_oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5065,3012612 |archive-date=2013-06-06 |url-status=live}}</ref> Attorney Mayerson co-wrote the brief that certified the Agent Orange Product Liability action as a class action, the largest ever filed as of its filing.<ref>{{cite news |last=Croft |first=Steve |url=http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=270939 |title=Agent Orange |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321165559/http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=270939 |archive-date=2012-03-21 |work=CBS Evening News |date=May 7, 1980}}</ref> Hartz's [[Deposition (law)|deposition]] was one of the first ever taken in America, and the first for an Agent Orange trial, for the purpose of preserving [[testimony]] at trial, as it was understood that Hartz would not live to see the trial because of a brain tumor that began to develop while he was a member of [[Tiger Force]], [[special forces]], and [[LRRPs]] in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mayerson.com/html/about.html |title=About the Firm |publisher=The Mayerson Law Offices |access-date=May 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924024336/http://www.mayerson.com/html/about.html |archive-date=September 24, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> The firm also located and supplied critical research to the veterans' lead expert, Dr. Codario, including about 100 articles from toxicology journals dating back more than a decade, as well as data about where herbicides had been sprayed, what the effects of dioxin had been on animals and humans, and every accident in factories where herbicides were produced or dioxin was a contaminant of some chemical reaction.{{sfn|Wilcox|1983}}

The chemical companies involved denied that there was a link between Agent Orange and the veterans' medical problems. However, on May 7, 1984, seven chemical companies settled the class-action suit out of court just hours before jury selection was to begin. The companies agreed to pay $180 million as compensation if the veterans dropped all claims against them.<ref>{{Cite book|editor=Stanley, Jay|editor2=Blair, John D.|title=Challenges in military health care: perspectives on health status and the provision of care|publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=1993|isbn=978-1-56000-650-3|page=164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8k-WIJYwIF4C&pg=PA164|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228022008/https://books.google.com/books?id=8k-WIJYwIF4C&pg=PA164|archive-date=2017-02-28|url-status=live}}</ref> Slightly over 45% of the sum was ordered to be paid by Monsanto alone.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Harrington|first=John C.|title=The challenge to power: money, investing, and democracy|publisher=Chelsea Green Publisher|year=2005|isbn=978-1-931498-97-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/challengetopower00harr_0/page/260 260]|url=https://archive.org/details/challengetopower00harr_0|url-access=registration}}</ref> Many veterans who were victims of Agent Orange exposure were outraged the case had been settled instead of going to court and felt they had been betrayed by the lawyers. "Fairness Hearings" were held in five major American cities, where veterans and their families discussed their reactions to the settlement and condemned the actions of the lawyers and courts, demanding the case be heard before a jury of their peers. Federal Judge [[Jack B. Weinstein]] refused the appeals, claiming the settlement was "fair and just". By 1989, the veterans' fears were confirmed when it was decided how the money from the settlement would be paid out. A totally disabled Vietnam veteran would receive a maximum of $12,000 spread out over the course of 10 years. Furthermore, by accepting the settlement payments, disabled veterans would become ineligible for many state benefits that provided far more monetary support than the settlement, such as [[Food Stamps|food stamps]], [[public assistance]], and [[government pension]]s. A widow of a Vietnam veteran who died of Agent Orange exposure would receive $3,700.<ref name="oxford-milhist-725">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Wilcox |first=Fred A. |editor1-last=Chambers |editor1-first=John Whiteclay|editor2-last=Anderson |editor2-first=Fred|encyclopedia=The Oxford companion to American military history|title=Toxic Agents|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-19-507198-6|page=725|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00cham/page/725}}</ref>

In 2004, Monsanto spokesman Jill Montgomery said Monsanto should not be liable at all for injuries or deaths caused by Agent Orange, saying: "We are sympathetic with people who believe they have been injured and understand their concern to find the cause, but reliable scientific evidence indicates that Agent Orange is not the cause of serious long-term health effects."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Agent Orange Victims Sue Monsanto|last=Fawthrop|first=Tom|work=CorpWatch|date=November 4, 2004|url=http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11638|access-date=February 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126185411/http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11638|archive-date=January 26, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 22 August 2024, the Court of Appeal of Paris dismissed an appeal filed by [[Tran To Nga]] against 14 US corporations that supplied Agent Orange for the US army during the war in Vietnam.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2024-08-22 |title=French court rejects appeal in Agent Orange lawsuit by French-Vietnamese ex-journalist |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240822-french-court-dismisses-appeal-in-agent-orange-case |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-08-22 |title=French court dismisses appeal in Agent Orange case |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/police-and-justice/article/2024/08/22/french-court-dismisses-appeal-in-agent-orange-case_6720003_105.html# |access-date=2024-08-28 |language=en}}</ref> The lawyers said that Nga will take her case to France's highest appeals court.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2024-08-22 |title=Paris court rejects appeal against chemicals giant over Vietnam War use of Agent Orange |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/paris-court-rejects-agent-orange-appeal-against-bayer-monsanto/ |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}}</ref> Only military veterans from the United States and its allies in the war have won compensation so far.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-17 |title=The Vietnamese octogenarian fighting for Agent Orange victims |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/06/17/asia-pacific/vietnamese-woman-agent-orange-lawsuits/ |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=The Japan Times |language=en}}</ref> Some of the agrochemical companies in the U.S. have compensated U.S. veterans, but not to Vietnamese victims.<ref name=":2" />

===New Jersey Agent Orange Commission===
In 1980, New Jersey created the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission, the first state commission created to study its effects. The commission's research project in association with [[Rutgers University]] was called "The Pointman Project". It was disbanded by Governor [[Christine Todd Whitman]] in 1996.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Prestin|first1=Terry|title=Agent Orange Panel Closes|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/03/nyregion/new-jersey-daily-briefing-agent-orange-panel-closes.html|access-date=13 September 2014|work=The New York Times|at=Section B; page 1; column 1|date=July 3, 1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913214450/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/03/nyregion/new-jersey-daily-briefing-agent-orange-panel-closes.html|archive-date=13 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> During the first phase of the project, commission researchers devised ways to determine trace dioxin levels in blood. Before this, such levels could only be found in the [[adipose tissue|adipose (fat) tissue]]. The project studied dioxin (TCDD) levels in blood as well as in adipose tissue in a small group of Vietnam veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange and compared them to those of a matched control group; the levels were found to be higher in the exposed group.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Peter C. |last1=Kahn |first2=Michael |last2=Gochfeld |first3=Martin |last3=Nygren |first4=Marianne |last4=Hansson |first5=Christoffer |last5=Rappe |first6=Henry |last6=Velez |first7=Therese |last7=Ghent-Guenther |first8=Wayne P. |last8=Wilson |title=Dioxins and Dibenzofurans in Blood and Adipose Tissue of Agent Orange—Exposed Vietnam Veterans and Matched Controls |journal=JAMA |volume=259 |issue=11 |date=March 18, 1988 |pages=1661–7 |doi=10.1001/jama.1988.03720110023029|pmid=3343772}}</ref> The second phase of the project continued to examine and compare dioxin levels in various groups of Vietnam veterans, including [[United States Army|Soldiers]], [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]], and [[Brownwater Navy|Brownwater Naval]] personnel.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yyvmcMsNnB4C&q=The+Pointman+Project+rutgers&pg=PA30|title=Encyclopedia of the Veteran in America|last=Pencak|first=William|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2009|isbn=978-0-313-08759-2|page=30|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=November 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126071609/https://books.google.com/books?id=yyvmcMsNnB4C&q=The+Pointman+Project+rutgers&pg=PA30|url-status=live}}</ref>

===U.S. Congress===
In 1991, Congress enacted the [[Agent Orange Act of 1991|Agent Orange Act]], giving the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Department of Veterans Affairs]] the authority to declare certain conditions "presumptive" to exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin, making these veterans who served in Vietnam eligible to receive treatment and compensation for these conditions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/ |author=Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards |title=Agent Orange |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |date=2009-11-11 |access-date=2012-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091101154548/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/ |archive-date=2009-11-01}}</ref> The same law required the [[National Academy of Sciences]] to periodically review the science on dioxin and herbicides used in Vietnam to inform the [[Secretary of Veterans Affairs]] about the strength of the scientific evidence showing association between exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin and certain conditions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ocga/laws/PL102-4.asp |title=PL 102-4 and The National Academy of Sciences |publisher=The National Academies |date=1981-11-03 |access-date=2012-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803022853/http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ocga/laws/PL102-4.asp |archive-date=2012-08-03}}</ref> The authority for the National Academy of Sciences reviews and addition of any new diseases to the presumptive list by the VA expired in 2015 under the sunset clause of the Agent Orange Act of 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet3/brief3.gfr/tab_g/br3g1f.txt |title=Agent Orange Act of 1991 |publisher=[[George Washington University]] |access-date=2017-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201132816/http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet3/brief3.gfr/tab_g/br3g1f.txt |archive-date=2017-02-01}}</ref> Through this process, the list of 'presumptive' conditions has grown since 1991, and currently the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has listed [[prostate cancer]], respiratory cancers, [[multiple myeloma]], [[type II diabetes mellitus]], [[Hodgkin's disease]], [[non-Hodgkin's lymphoma]], soft tissue sarcoma, [[chloracne]], [[porphyria cutanea tarda]], [[peripheral neuropathy]], [[chronic lymphocytic leukemia]], and [[spina bifida]] in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange as conditions associated with exposure to the herbicide. This list now includes B cell leukemias, such as [[hairy cell leukemia]], [[Parkinson's disease]] and [[ischemic heart disease]], these last three having been added on August 31, 2010. Several highly placed individuals in government are voicing concerns about whether some of the diseases on the list should, in fact, actually have been included.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/08/31/aging_vets_costs_concern_obamas_deficit_co_chair|first=Mike |last=Baker|title=Aging vets' costs concern Obama's deficit co-chair|work=Boston.com|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=2010-08-31|access-date=2017-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521144122/http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/08/31/aging_vets_costs_concern_obamas_deficit_co_chair/|archive-date=2017-05-21|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2011, an appraisal of the 20-year long ''Air Force Health Study'' that began in 1982 indicates that the results of the AFHS as they pertain to Agent Orange, do not provide evidence of disease in the Operation Ranch Hand veterans caused by "their elevated levels of exposure to Agent Orange".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Buffler|first1=Patricia A.|last2=Ginevan|first2=Michael E.|last3=Mandel|first3=Jack S.|last4=Watkins|first4=Deborah K.|date=2011-09-01|title=The Air Force Health Study: An Epidemiologic Retrospective|journal=Annals of Epidemiology|language=en|volume=21|issue=9|pages=673–687|doi=10.1016/j.annepidem.2011.02.001|pmid=21441038|issn=1047-2797}}</ref>

The VA initially denied the applications of post-Vietnam C-123 aircrew veterans because, as veterans without "boots on the ground" service in Vietnam, they were not covered under VA's interpretation of "exposed". In June 2015, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs issued an Interim final rule providing presumptive service connection for post-Vietnam C-123 aircrews, maintenance staff and aeromedical evacuation crews. The VA now provides medical care and disability compensation for the recognized list of Agent Orange illnesses.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/includes/viewPDF.cfm?id=2714|title=VA Expands Disability Benefits for Air Force Personnel Exposed to Contaminated C-123 Aircraft|publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs|date=2015-06-18|access-date=2017-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228123649/http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/includes/viewPDF.cfm?id=2714|archive-date=2016-12-28|url-status=live}}</ref>

===U.S.–Vietnamese government negotiations===
In 2002, Vietnam and the U.S. held a joint conference on Human Health and Environmental Impacts of Agent Orange. Following the conference, the U.S. [[National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences]] (NIEHS) began scientific exchanges between the U.S. and Vietnam, and began discussions for a joint research project on the human health impacts of Agent Orange.{{sfn|Young|2009|p=310}} These negotiations broke down in 2005, when neither side could agree on the research protocol, and the research project was canceled. More progress has been made on the environmental front. In 2005, the first U.S.-Vietnam workshop on remediation of dioxin was held.{{sfn|Young|2009|p=310}}

Starting in 2005, the EPA began to work with the Vietnamese government to measure the level of dioxin at the Da Nang Air Base. Also in 2005, the Joint Advisory Committee on Agent Orange, made up of representatives of Vietnamese and U.S. government agencies, was established. The committee has been meeting yearly to explore areas of scientific cooperation, technical assistance and [[environmental remediation]] of dioxin.<ref>{{cite press release |url = http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/pr081209.html |title = US, Vietnam to Hold Fourth Joint Advisory Meeting on Agent Orange/Dioxin |publisher=Embassy of the United States, Hanoi |access-date = August 11, 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111015102640/http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/pr081209.html|archive-date = October 15, 2011}}</ref>

A breakthrough in the diplomatic stalemate on this issue occurred as a result of United States President [[George W. Bush]]'s state visit to Vietnam in November 2006. In the joint statement, President Bush and [[President Triet]] agreed "further joint efforts to address the environmental contamination near former dioxin storage sites would make a valuable contribution to the continued development of their bilateral relationship."<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eap/rls/prs/76322.htm|title=Joint Statement Between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United States of America |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=2017-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330081119/https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eap/rls/prs/76322.htm|archive-date=2017-03-30|url-status=live}}</ref> On May 25, 2007, President Bush signed the [[U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007]] into law for the [[Iraq War|wars in Iraq]] and [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]] that included an earmark of $3 million specifically for funding for programs for the remediation of dioxin 'hotspots' on former U.S. [[military bases]], and for public health programs for the surrounding communities;{{sfn|Martin|2009|p=2}} some authors consider this to be completely inadequate, pointing out that the Da Nang Airbase alone will cost $14 million to clean up, and that three others are estimated to require $60 million for cleanup.<ref name="fawthrop-suffering" /> The appropriation was renewed in the fiscal year 2009 and again in FY 2010. An additional $12 million was appropriated in the fiscal year 2010 in the Supplemental Appropriations Act and a total of $18.5 million appropriated for fiscal year 2011.<ref>{{cite press release |last=Leahy |first=Patrick |url = http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=aaea045d-2239-4e5d-bc0e-87575d887daa |title = Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy on the Legacy of Agent Orange |access-date = August 11, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120325221817/http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=aaea045d-2239-4e5d-bc0e-87575d887daa |archive-date = March 25, 2012 |url-status = live}}</ref>

Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] stated during a visit to Hanoi in October 2010 that the U.S. government would begin work on the clean-up of dioxin contamination at the Da Nang Airbase.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072200713.html|title=In Hanoi, Clinton highlights closer ties with Vietnam, pushes for human rights|last=DeYoung|first=Karen|date=2010-07-22|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2017-03-29|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330174330/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072200713.html|archive-date=2017-03-30|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2011, a ceremony was held at Da Nang airport to mark the start of U.S.-funded decontamination of dioxin hotspots in Vietnam. Thirty-two million dollars has so far been allocated by the U.S. Congress to fund the program.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13808753|title=US helps Vietnam to eradicate deadly Agent Orange|date=2011-06-17|work=BBC News|access-date=2017-03-29|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701222125/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13808753|archive-date=2017-07-01|url-status=live}}</ref> A $43 million project began in the summer of 2012, as Vietnam and the U.S. forge closer ties to boost trade and counter China's rising influence in the disputed [[South China Sea]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Ives|first=Mike|title=US starts landmark Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam|url=https://news.yahoo.com/us-starts-landmark-agent-orange-cleanup-vietnam-100542424.html|work=Yahoo! News|access-date=8 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810080122/http://news.yahoo.com/us-starts-landmark-agent-orange-cleanup-vietnam-100542424.html|archive-date=10 August 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Vietnamese victims class action lawsuit in U.S. courts===
On January 31, 2004, a [[victim's rights group]], the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), filed a lawsuit in the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York]] in [[Brooklyn]], against several U.S. companies for liability in causing personal injury, by developing, and producing the chemical, and claimed that the use of Agent Orange violated the [[Hague Convention of 1907|1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare]], 1925 [[Geneva Protocol]], and the 1949 [[Geneva Conventions]]. Dow Chemical and Monsanto were the two largest producers of Agent Orange for the U.S. military and were named in the suit, along with the dozens of other companies (Diamond Shamrock, Uniroyal, Thompson Chemicals, Hercules, etc.). On March 10, 2005, Judge [[Jack B. Weinstein]] of the Eastern District – who had presided over the 1984 U.S. veterans class-action lawsuit – dismissed the lawsuit, ruling there was no legal basis for the plaintiffs' claims. He concluded Agent Orange was not considered a poison under [[international humanitarian law]] at the time of its use by the U.S.; the U.S. was not prohibited from using it as a herbicide; and the companies that produced the substance were not liable for the method of its use by the government.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_us_rule76|title=United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Practice Relating to Rule 76. Herbicides |website=Customary IHL Database |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=2020-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307030911/https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_us_rule76|archive-date=2016-03-07|url-status=live}}</ref> In the dismissal statement issued by Weinstein, he wrote "The prohibition extended only to gases deployed for their asphyxiating or toxic effects on man, not to herbicides designed to affect plants that may have unintended harmful side-effects on people."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/nyregion/agent-orange-case-for-millions-of-vietnamese-is-dismissed.html|title=Agent Orange Case for Millions of Vietnamese Is Dismissed|date=2005-03-10|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-03-29|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420095400/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/nyregion/agent-orange-case-for-millions-of-vietnamese-is-dismissed.html|archive-date=2017-04-20|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite court|url=http://www.vn-agentorange.org/10_03_05_agentorange.pdf |litigants=MDL No. 381 |date=2005 |court=E.D.N.Y. |opinion=No. 04-CV-400 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014195438/http://www.vn-agentorange.org/10_03_05_agentorange.pdf|archive-date=14 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The [[U.S. Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]'s [[DARPA|Advanced Research Project Agency]]'s (ARPA) [[Project AGILE]] was instrumental in the United States' development of herbicides as a military weapon, an undertaking inspired by the British use of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T to destroy jungle-grown crops and bushes during the Malayan emergency. The United States considered British precedent in deciding that the use of defoliants was a legally accepted tactic of war. On November 24, 1961, [[U.S. Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Dean Rusk]] advised [[U.S. President|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] that herbicide use in Vietnam would be lawful, saying that "[t]he use of defoliant does not violate any rule of international law concerning the conduct of chemical warfare and is an accepted tactic of war. Precedent has been established by the British during the emergency in Malaya in their use of helicopters for destroying crops by chemical spraying."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Literary Cold War, 1945 to Vietnam |url=https://archive.org/details/literarycoldwarv00piet |url-access=limited |first=Adam |last=Piette |date=May 25, 2009 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/literarycoldwarv00piet/page/n209 201]–202 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7486-3527-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rusk |first=Dean |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d275 |section=Memorandum From the Secretary of State to the President |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963 |volume=I, Vietnam, 1961 |publisher=United States Department of State |date=November 24, 1961 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211050023/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v01/d275|archive-date=2018-12-11|url-status=live |oclc=220954388}}</ref>}}

Author and activist [[George Jackson (activist)|George Jackson]] had written previously that:<blockquote>If the Americans were guilty of war crimes for using Agent Orange in Vietnam, then the British would be also guilty of war crimes as well since they were the first nation to deploy the use of herbicides and defoliants in warfare and used them on a large scale throughout the Malayan Emergency. Not only was there no outcry by other states in response to the United Kingdom's use, but the U.S. viewed it as establishing a precedent for the use of herbicides and defoliants in [[jungle warfare]].</blockquote>The U.S. government was also not a party in the lawsuit because of [[sovereign immunity]], and the court ruled the chemical companies, as contractors of the U.S. government, shared the same immunity. The case was appealed and heard by the [[Second Circuit Court of Appeals]] in [[Manhattan]] on June 18, 2007. Three judges on the court upheld Weinstein's ruling to dismiss the case. They ruled that, though the herbicides contained a [[Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins|dioxin]] (a known poison), they were not intended to be used as a poison on humans. Therefore, they were not considered a [[chemical weapon]] and thus not a violation of international law. A further review of the case by the entire panel of judges of the Court of Appeals also confirmed this decision. The lawyers for the Vietnamese filed a petition to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] to hear the case. On March 2, 2009, the Supreme Court denied [[certiorari]] and declined to reconsider the ruling of the Court of Appeals.<ref>{{cite court |url=https://www.asser.nl/upload/documents/DomCLIC/Docs/NLP/US/AgentOrange_AppealsJudgement_22-2-2008.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.asser.nl/upload/documents/DomCLIC/Docs/NLP/US/AgentOrange_AppealsJudgement_22-2-2008.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |litigants=Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin v. Dow Chemical |date=2008 |court=2d Cir. |opinion=No. 05-1953-cv}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docketfiles/08-470.htm |title=Docket No. 08-470 |date=March 2, 2009 |publisher=Supreme Court of the United States |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308181023/https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=%2Fdocketfiles%2F08-470.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Help for those affected in Vietnam===
To assist those who have been affected by Agent Orange/dioxin, the Vietnamese have established "peace villages", which each host between 50 and 100 victims, giving them medical and psychological help. As of 2006, there were 11 such villages, thus granting some social protection to fewer than a thousand victims. U.S. veterans of the war in Vietnam and individuals who are aware and sympathetic to the impacts of Agent Orange have supported these programs in Vietnam. An international group of veterans from the U.S. and its allies during the Vietnam War working with their former enemy—veterans from the Vietnam Veterans Association—established the Vietnam Friendship Village outside of [[Hanoi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vietnamfriendship.org|title=Vietnam Friendship Village Project|access-date=August 18, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917012142/http://www.vietnamfriendship.org/|archive-date=17 September 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The center provides medical care, rehabilitation and vocational training for children and veterans from Vietnam who have been affected by Agent Orange. In 1998, The [[Vietnam Red Cross]] established the Vietnam Agent Orange Victims Fund to provide direct assistance to families throughout Vietnam that have been affected. In 2004, the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) was formed. In addition to filing the lawsuit against the chemical companies, VAVA provides medical care, rehabilitation services and financial assistance to those injured by Agent Orange.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vava.org.vn/|title=Hội Nạn nhân chất độc da cam/dioxin Việt Nam|trans-title=Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin |website=vava.org.vn|language=vi-VN|access-date=2017-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326221003/http://vava.org.vn/|archive-date=2017-03-26|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=50 years of agent orange/dioxin disaster in Vietnam |url=https://mod.gov.vn/en/intro/detail/!ut/p/z0/dYqxDoIwFEW_xvHltVigHWFwMMZEYwx0MYUWqEIr2Bg-X6KTMU73nJOLEguUTj1tq4L1TvWLlzK5bLL9kec0I-S0i8ghZ-dYiHTNRIpblG3vq8_VXsdRZihr74KZAxaD1yvyULAsGPdG48CHzkxfAn5qfwJo62fr_nWoOzPYWvUrIlTc0CihYCreAIspAy60Al3phpCUC0YTvN9k-QLs57D7/ |website=Socialist Republic of Vietnam - Ministry of National Defence |access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref>

The Vietnamese government provides small monthly stipends to more than 200,000 Vietnamese people believed to be affected by the herbicides; this totaled $40.8 million in 2008. The Vietnam Red Cross has raised more than $22 million to assist the ill or disabled, and several U.S. foundations, United Nations agencies, European governments and nongovernmental organizations have given a total of about $23 million for site cleanup, reforestation, health care and other services to those in need.<ref>{{cite report |author=Ngô Quang Xuân |title=Statement to the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of Asia, Pacific and Global Environment |date=June 2009 |page=3}}</ref>

Vuong Mo of the Vietnam News Agency described one of the centers:<ref>{{cite web|title=Living with the sufferings|url=https://vietnam.vnanet.vn/english/living-with-the-sufferings/17917.html|website=vietnam.vnanet.vn|date=2005-12-07|access-date=2021-01-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103181452/https://vietnam.vnanet.vn/english/living-with-the-sufferings/17917.html|archive-date=2021-01-03|url-status=live}}</ref>

<blockquote>May is 13, but she knows nothing, is unable to talk fluently, nor walk with ease due to for her bandy legs. Her father is dead and she has four elder brothers, all mentally retarded&nbsp;... The students are all disabled, retarded and of different ages. Teaching them is a hard job. They are of the 3rd grade but many of them find it hard to do the reading. Only a few of them can. Their pronunciation is distorted due to their twisted lips and their memory is quite short. They easily forget what they've learned&nbsp;... In the Village, it is quite hard to tell the kids' exact ages. Some in their twenties have a physical statures as small as the 7- or 8-years-old. They find it difficult to feed themselves, much less have mental ability or physical capacity for work. No one can hold back the tears when seeing the heads turning round unconsciously, the bandy arms managing to push the spoon of food into the mouths with awful difficulty&nbsp;... Yet they still keep smiling, singing in their great innocence, at the presence of some visitors, craving for something beautiful.</blockquote>

On June 16, 2010, members of [[the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin]] unveiled a comprehensive 10-year Declaration and Plan of Action to address the toxic legacy of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam. The Plan of Action was released as an Aspen Institute publication and calls upon the U.S. and Vietnamese governments to join with other governments, foundations, businesses, and nonprofits in a partnership to clean up dioxin "hot spots" in Vietnam and to expand humanitarian services for people with disabilities there.<ref name="chicagotribune.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/agentorange/chi-agent-orange-actionplandec08,0,7945266.story |title=Public-private group has plan in the works to resolve issue |work=Chicago Tribune |first=Jason |last=Grotto |date=2009-12-08 |access-date=2012-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522082810/http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/agentorange/chi-agent-orange-actionplandec08,0,7945266.story |archive-date=2013-05-22 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Margie |last=Mason |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna37735860 |title=Plan addresses Agent Orange legacy in Vietnam |work=NBC News |date=2010-06-16 |access-date=2012-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305083530/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37735860/ |archive-date=2016-03-05 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1001.spc-rep.html |title=Special Report: Agent Orange |magazine=Washington Monthly |date=January–February 2010 |access-date=2012-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901175643/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1001.spc-rep.html |archive-date=2012-09-01 |pages=22–40}}</ref> On September 16, 2010, Senator [[Patrick Leahy]] acknowledged the work of the Dialogue Group by releasing a statement on the floor of the United States Senate. The statement urges the U.S. government to take the Plan of Action's recommendations into account in developing a multi-year plan of activities to address the Agent Orange/dioxin legacy.<ref>{{cite book |title=Congressional Record—Senate |page=S7168 |date=September 16, 2010 |url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2010-09-16/pdf/CREC-2010-09-16-pt1-PgS7168-3.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312201512/https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2010-09-16/pdf/CREC-2010-09-16-pt1-PgS7168-3.pdf |archive-date=2017-03-12 |publisher=United States Government Publishing Office}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

==Use outside of Vietnam==
===Australia===
In 2008, Australian researcher Jean Williams claimed that cancer rates in [[Innisfail, Queensland]], were 10 times higher than the state average because of secret testing of Agent Orange by the Australian military scientists during the Vietnam War. Williams, who had won the [[Order of Australia]] medal for her research on the effects of chemicals on U.S. war veterans, based her allegations on Australian government reports found in the Australian War Memorial's archives. A former soldier, Ted Bosworth, backed up the claims, saying that he had been involved in the secret testing. Neither Williams nor Bosworth has produced verifiable evidence to support their claims. The Queensland health department determined that cancer rates in Innisfail were no higher than those in other parts of the state.<ref>{{cite news |last=McMahon |first= Barbara |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/19/australia |title=Australia cancer deaths linked to Agent Orange |newspaper=The Guardian |date=May 19, 2008 |access-date=March 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330180951/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/19/australia |archive-date=March 30, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Canada===
The U.S. military, with the permission of the Canadian government, tested herbicides, including Agent Orange, in the forests near [[Canadian Forces Base Gagetown]] in New Brunswick.<!-- for three days in 1966 and four days in 1967.--><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vietnam-war |title=Vietnam War |first=Victor |last=Levant |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=November 13, 2011 |publisher=Historica Canada |access-date=April 18, 2011 |archive-date=November 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120175727/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vietnam-war |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2007, the [[government of Canada]] offered a one-time [[ex gratia]] payment of $20,000 as compensation for Agent Orange exposure at CFB Gagetown.<ref>{{Cite news |title=People angry with Agent Orange package turn to class-action lawsuit |date=September 13, 2007 |work=Amherst Daily News |url=http://www.amherstdaily.com/Living/Health/2007-09-14/article-385472/People-angry-with-Agent-Orange-package-turn-to-class-action-lawsuit/1 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729043648/http://www.amherstdaily.com/Living/Health/2007-09-14/article-385472/People-angry-with-Agent-Orange-package-turn-to-class-action-lawsuit/1 |archive-date=July 29, 2012 |url-status=usurped |access-date=October 1, 2007}}</ref> On July 12, 2005, Merchant Law Group, on behalf of over 1,100 Canadian veterans and civilians who were living in and around CFB Gagetown, filed a lawsuit to pursue class action litigation concerning Agent Orange and [[Agent Purple]] with the [[Federal Court of Canada]].<ref>{{Cite news| title=Agent Orange Class Action| publisher=Merchant Law Group |url=http://www.merchantlaw.com/agentop.html| access-date=October 1, 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002150348/http://www.merchantlaw.com/agentop.html| archive-date= 2 October 2007}}</ref> On August 4, 2009, the case was rejected by the court, citing lack of evidence.<ref>{{cite news |last=Berry |first=Shawn |title=Moncton judge rules in Agent Orange lawsuit |work=Times & Transcript |location=Moncton |date=August 4, 2009}}</ref>
In 2007, the Canadian government announced that a research and fact-finding program initiated in 2005 had found the base was safe.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/78220517/Veterans-Affairs-Canada-Agent-Orange-Benefits-Rev-1-0 |title=Veterans Affairs Canada Agent Orange Benefits Rev 1.0 |access-date=6 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901034332/http://www.scribd.com/doc/78220517/Veterans-Affairs-Canada-Agent-Orange-Benefits-Rev-1-0 |archive-date=1 September 2012}}</ref> A legislative commission in the State of Maine found in 2024 that the Canadian investigation was "incorrect, biased, and based upon, in some cases, incomplete data and poor study design—at times exacerbated by the rapid period in which these reports were required to be conducted and issued."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-03-02 |title=Canadian study into Agent Orange use at Gagetown base was incorrect, biased, says U.S. inquiry |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-gagetown-base-agent-orange-herbicides/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |work=The Globe and Mail |language=en-CA}}</ref>

On February 17, 2011, the ''[[Toronto Star]]'' revealed that Agent Orange had been employed to clear extensive plots of [[Crown land]] in [[Northern Ontario]].<ref name="StarExclusive">{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940243--star-exclusive-agent-orange-soaked-ontario-teens |title=Agent Orange "soaked" Ontario teens |first=Diana |last=Zlomislic |access-date=February 17, 2011 |location=Toronto |work=The Star |date=February 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218153326/http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940243--star-exclusive-agent-orange-soaked-ontario-teens |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Toronto Star'' reported that, "records from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s show forestry workers, often students and junior rangers, spent weeks at a time as human markers holding red, helium-filled balloons on fishing lines while low-flying planes sprayed toxic herbicides including an infamous chemical mixture known as Agent Orange on the brush and the boys below."<ref name="StarExclusive" /> In response to the ''Toronto Star'' article, the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario|Ontario provincial government]] launched a probe into the use of Agent Orange.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940878--ontario-probes-agent-orange-poisoning|title=Ontario probes Agent Orange poisoning |first=Diana |last=Zlomislic|access-date=February 17, 2011|location=Toronto|work=The Star|date=February 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219015755/http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/940878--ontario-probes-agent-orange-poisoning|archive-date=February 19, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Guam===
An analysis of chemicals present in the island's soil, together with resolutions passed by [[Legislature of Guam|Guam's legislature]], suggest that Agent Orange was among the herbicides routinely used on and around [[Anderson Air Force Base|Andersen Air Force Base]] and [[Naval Air Station Agana]]. Despite the evidence, the Department of Defense continues to deny that Agent Orange was stored or used on Guam. Several Guam veterans have collected evidence to assist in their disability claims for direct exposure to dioxin-containing herbicides, such as 2,4,5-T, which are similar to the illness associations and disability coverage that has become standard for those who were harmed by the same chemical contaminant of Agent Orange used in Vietnam.<ref name="Dimond2013">{{cite web |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hero-project/articles/2013/09/25/were-vets-who-served-in-guam-exposed-to-agent-orange-and-denied-benefits.html |title=Were Vets Who Served in Guam Exposed to Agent Orange and Denied Benefits? |last1=Dimond |first1=Diane |date=September 25, 2013 |work=The Daily Beast |access-date=September 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928223244/http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hero-project/articles/2013/09/25/were-vets-who-served-in-guam-exposed-to-agent-orange-and-denied-benefits.html |archive-date=September 28, 2013}}</ref>

===South Korea===
Agent Orange was used in South Korea in the late 1960s<ref>{{cite web |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |title=Agent Orange: Information for Veterans Who Served in Vietnam |url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/agentorange/reviews/ao_newsletter_jul06.pdf |access-date=August 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090723222329/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/agentorange/reviews/ao_newsletter_jul06.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1999, about 20,000 South Koreans filed two separated lawsuits against U.S. companies, seeking more than $5 billion in damages. After losing a decision in 2002, they filed an appeal.<ref name="AlfanoCBS2006">{{cite web |last1=Alfano |first1=Sean |title=Agent Orange Makers Lose S. Korea Suit |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/agent-orange-makers-lose-s-korea-suit/ |website=CBS News |access-date=11 August 2016 |date=26 January 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821073352/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/agent-orange-makers-lose-s-korea-suit/ |archive-date=21 August 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2006, the South Korean Appeals Court ordered Dow Chemical and Monsanto to pay $62 million in compensation to about 6,800 people. The ruling acknowledged that "the defendants failed to ensure safety as the defoliants manufactured by the defendants had higher levels of dioxins than standard", and, quoting the U.S. National Academy of Science report, declared that there was a "causal relationship" between Agent Orange and a range of diseases, including several cancers. The judges failed to acknowledge "the relationship between the chemical and peripheral neuropathy, the disease most widespread among Agent Orange victims".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-01-26-agent-orange-damages_x.htm |title=Korea orders Agent Orange payments |website=USA Today |date=2006-01-26 |access-date=2017-03-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226131319/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-01-26-agent-orange-damages_x.htm |archive-date=2017-02-26 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2011, the United States local press KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, alleged that in 1978 that the United States Army had buried 250 55-gallon drums ({{convert|13,750|U.S.gal|abbr=on}}) of Agent Orange in [[Camp Carroll, South Korea|Camp Carroll]], the U.S. Army base located in [[Gyeongsangbuk-do]], South Korea.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.kpho.com/news/27892124/detail.html |title=Military Secrets Exposed |work=KPHO-TV |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514170728/http://www.kpho.com/news/27892124/detail.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |date=May 13, 2011}}</ref>

Currently, veterans who provide evidence meeting VA requirements for service in Vietnam and who can medically establish that anytime after this 'presumptive exposure' they developed any medical problems on the list of presumptive diseases, may receive compensation from the VA. Certain veterans who served in South Korea and can prove they were assigned to certain specified areas around the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone]], during a specific time frame, are afforded similar presumption.<ref>[[Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations|38 CFR]] [https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=017bd13585179c730649591e5a2c5a9b&mc=true&node=se38.1.3_1307&rgn=div8 § 3.307(a)(6)(iv)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519002814/https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=2860bbfc07cb48ce7b1a57605477646e&mc=true&node=se38.1.3_1307&rgn=div8 |date=May 19, 2021}}</ref>

===New Zealand===
[[File:Ivon Watkins Dow factory, New Plymouth.jpg|thumb|The Ivon Watkins-Dow factory in [[New Plymouth]], [[New Zealand]], 1968]]
{{further|New Zealand in the Vietnam War#Agent Orange}}
The use of Agent Orange has been controversial in New Zealand, because of the exposure of New Zealand troops in Vietnam and because of the production of herbicide used in Agent Orange which has been alleged at various times to have been exported for use in the Vietnam War and to other users by the Ivon Watkins-Dow chemical plant in Paritutu, [[New Plymouth]]. What is fact is that from 1962 until 1987, 2,4,5T herbicide was manufactured at the Ivon Watkins-Dow plant for domestic use in New Zealand. It was widely used by farmers and in New Zealand agriculture as a [[weed killer]]. This fact was the basis of a 2005 New Zealand Media story that claimed that the herbicide had been allegedly exported to U.S. military bases in [[South East Asia]]. However the claim was not proven, a fact which the Media did not subsequently report.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Benefield |first1=Noel |title=At a price: manufacturing Agent Orange in NZ? |url=https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/price-manufacturing-agent-orange-nz |website=vietnamwar.govt.nz |access-date=2 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209005521/https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/price-manufacturing-agent-orange-nz |archive-date=9 February 2022 |date=4 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> There have been continuing claims, as yet unproven, that the suburb of Paritutu has also been polluted.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/dioxin/news/article.cfm?c_id=675&objectid=10412402 |title=Concern prompts review of Dioxin study |newspaper=New Zealand Herald |date=November 25, 2006 |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624211354/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/dioxin/news/article.cfm?c_id=675&objectid=10412402 |archive-date=June 24, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, the agriscience company Corteva (which split from DowDupont in 2019) agreed to clean up the Paritutu site in September 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McLean |first1=Glenn |title=Chemical giant Corteva commits to total clean-up of controversial New Plymouth site |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/129905030/chemical-giant-corteva-commits-to-total-cleanup-of-controversial-new-plymouth-site |website=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |access-date=2 August 2025 |date=18 September 2022}}</ref>

===Philippines===
Herbicide persistence studies of Agents Orange and White were conducted in the Philippines.<ref>{{cite report |title=Preliminary Proposals for the Study of Persistence of Herbicides in Forest and Mangrove Soil |last1=Fryer |first1=J. D. |last2=Blackman |first2=G. E. |date=January 1972 |publisher=Committee on the Effect of Herbicides in Vietnam, National Academy of Sciences}}</ref>

===Johnston Atoll===
[[File:Leaking Agent Orange Barrels at Johnston Atoll.jpg|thumb|Leaking Agent Orange barrels at [[Johnston Atoll]] circa 1973.]]
[[File:Agent Orange at Johnston Atoll 1976.jpg|thumb|Rusting Agent Orange barrels at [[Johnston Atoll]], circa 1976.]]
The U.S. Air Force operation to remove Herbicide Orange from Vietnam in 1972 was named [[Operation Pacer IVY]], while the operation to destroy the Agent Orange stored at [[Johnston Atoll]] in 1977 was named [[Operation Pacer HO]]. Operation Pacer IVY collected Agent Orange in South Vietnam and removed it in 1972 aboard the ship [[Transpacific (ships)|MV Transpacific]] for storage on Johnston Atoll.<ref name="Young">{{cite web |url=https://www.jonmitchellinjapan.com/uploads/4/0/4/0/4040871/okinawa_report_package_2013_pdf.pdf |title=Investigations into Allegations of Herbicide Orange on Okinawa, Japan |last=Young |first=Alvin L. |publisher=United States Department of Defence |date=January 2013 |access-date=March 14, 2013 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308172145/https://www.jonmitchellinjapan.com/uploads/4/0/4/0/4040871/okinawa_report_package_2013_pdf.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The EPA reports that {{cvt|1800000|U.S.gal|L|order=flip}} of Herbicide Orange was stored at Johnston Island in the Pacific and {{cvt|480000|U.S.gal|L|order=flip}} at [[Gulfport, Mississippi]].<ref name=Sierra>{{cite web |url=https://nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/910096MY.PDF |title=Final report of the Federal Task Force for Hazardous Materials Management of the Western Federal Regional Council Region IX, August 1, 1973 to June 30, 1977 |last1=Bourns |first1=Charles T. |date=March 1, 1978 |publisher=US Environmental Protection Agency |access-date=16 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110002238/http://nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/910096MY.PDF |archive-date=10 January 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Research and studies were initiated to find a safe method to destroy the materials, and it was discovered that they could be incinerated safely under special conditions of temperature and dwell time.<ref name=Sierra /> However, these herbicides were expensive, and the Air Force wanted to resell its surplus instead of dumping it at sea.<ref name="Guam" /> Among many methods tested, a possibility of salvaging the herbicides by reprocessing and filtering out the TCDD contaminant with carbonized (charcoaled) coconut fibers. This concept was then tested in 1976, and a pilot plant constructed at Gulfport.<ref name=Sierra />

From July to September 1977, during Operation Pacer HO, the entire stock of Agent Orange from both Herbicide Orange storage sites at Gulfport and Johnston Atoll was subsequently incinerated in four separate burns in the vicinity of Johnston Island aboard the Dutch-owned waste incineration ship {{ship|MT|Vulcanus}}.<ref name="Guam">{{cite report |title=Phase II Environmental Baseline Survey, Johnston Atoll |date=April 2005 |author=EarthTech |chapter=Appendix B |page=B19-B20 |chapter-url=http://www.guamagentorange.info/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Johnston_Atoll_History.261114404.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421032235/http://www.guamagentorange.info/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Johnston_Atoll_History.261114404.pdf |archive-date=April 21, 2013 |access-date=August 19, 2012}}</ref>
As of 2004, some records of the storage and disposition of Agent Orange at Johnston Atoll have been associated with the historical records of [[Operation Red Hat]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.va.gov/vetapp14/Files1/1403511.txt|title=Entitlement to service connection for diabetes mellitus, claimed as due to herbicide exposure or ionizing radiation.|date=February 10, 2014|publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs|access-date=March 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331025728/https://www.va.gov/vetapp14/Files1/1403511.txt|archive-date=March 31, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Okinawa, Japan===
There have been dozens of reports in the press about the use and/or storage of military-formulated herbicides on Okinawa that are based upon statements by former U.S. service members that had been stationed on the island, photographs, government records, and unearthed storage barrels. The U.S. Department of Defense has denied these allegations with statements by military officials and spokespersons, as well as a January 2013 report authored by Dr. Alvin Young that was released in April 2013.<ref name="Young"/><ref name="blanket2013">{{cite news |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/06/04/issues/as-evidence-of-agent-orange-in-okinawa-stacks-up-u-s-sticks-with-blanket-denial/ |last=Mitchell |first=Jon |title=As evidence of agent orange in Okinawa stacks up US sticks with blanket denial |date=June 4, 2013 |newspaper=Japan Times |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416223910/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/06/04/issues/as-evidence-of-agent-orange-in-okinawa-stacks-up-u-s-sticks-with-blanket-denial/ |archive-date=April 16, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:An Ecological Assessment of Johnston Atoll cover.png|thumb|left|A scientific study of the effects military contamination at [[Johnston Atoll]] included a statement confirming records of Agent Orange storage in [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]].<ref name="Ecological" />]]

In particular, the 2013 report rebuts articles written by journalist Jon Mitchell as well as a statement from "An Ecological Assessment of Johnston Atoll" a 2003 publication produced by the [[United States Army Chemical Materials Agency]] that states, "in 1972, the U.S. Air Force also brought about 25,000 200L drums ({{convert|5,000,000|L|abbr=on}}) of the chemical, Herbicide Orange (HO) to Johnston Island that originated from Vietnam and was stored on Okinawa."<ref name="Ecological">{{cite report |last1=Lobel |first1=Phillip |last2=Schreiber |first2=Elizabeth A. |last3=McCloskey |first3=Gary |last4=O'Shea |first4=Leo |date=2003 |publisher=Chemical Materials Agency, United States Department of the Army |title=An Ecological Assessment of Johnston Atoll |page=4 |url=http://www.cma.army.mil/fndocumentviewer.aspx?docid=003673775 |access-date=July 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915235915/http://www.cma.army.mil/fndocumentviewer.aspx?docid=003673775 |archive-date=September 15, 2012}}</ref> The 2013 report states: "The authors of the [2003] report were not DoD employees, nor were they likely familiar with the issues surrounding Herbicide Orange or its actual history of transport to the Island." and detailed the transport phases and routes of Agent Orange from Vietnam to Johnston Atoll, none of which included Okinawa.<ref name="Young"/>

[[File:Herbicide Stockpile Kadena AFB.png|thumb|300px|right|Excerpt of [[U.S. Army]] 1971 [[Fort Detrick]] report describes Tactical Herbicide stockpiles of [[U.S. Government]] restricted materials on [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] at [[Kadena AFB]], in [[Thailand]], and [[Vietnam]].<ref name="Stockpile" /><ref name="Detrick1971">{{Cite report |last=Darrow |first=Robert A. |date=September 1971 |title=Historical, Logistical, Political and Technical Aspects of the Herbicide/Defoliant Program, 1967–1971 |publisher=Plant Sciences Laboratories, United States Army Chemical Corps |location=[[Fort Detrick]] |page=49 |docket=A Resume of the Activities of the Subcommittee on Defoliation/Anticrop Systems (Vegetation Control Subcommittee) for the Joint Technical Coordinating Group/Chemical-Biological}}</ref>]]

Further official confirmation of restricted (dioxin containing) herbicide storage on Okinawa appeared in a 1971 Fort Detrick report titled "Historical, Logistical, Political and Technical Aspects of the Herbicide/Defoliant Program", which mentions that the environmental statement should consider "Herbicide stockpiles elsewhere in PACOM (Pacific Command) U.S. Government restricted materials Thailand and Okinawa ([[Kadena AFB]])."<ref name="Stockpile">{{cite journal |title='Herbicide Stockpile' at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa: 1971 U.S. Army report on Agent Orange |first=Jon |last=Mitchell |url=https://apjjf.org/2013/11/1/Jon-Mitchell/3883/article.html |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |volume=11 |issue=1 No. 5 |date=January 14, 2012 |access-date=February 2, 2013 |archive-date=August 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200816141552/https://apjjf.org/2013/11/1/Jon-Mitchell/3883/article.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The 2013 DoD report says that the environmental statement urged by the 1971 report was published in 1974 as "The Department of Air Force Final Environmental Statement", and that the latter did not find Agent Orange was held in either Thailand or Okinawa.<ref name="Young"/><ref name="blanket2013"/>

===Thailand===
Agent Orange was tested by the United States in Thailand during the Vietnam War. In 1999, buried drums were uncovered and confirmed to be Agent Orange.<ref>{{cite news |title=Agent Orange Found Under Resort Airport |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/05/26/agent-orange-found-under-resort-airport/ |work=Chicago Tribune |location=Chicago, Illinois |date=May 26, 1999 |agency=Tribune News Services |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105085210/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-05-26/news/9905260083_1_agent-orange-chemical-birth-defects |archive-date=January 5, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Workers who uncovered the drums fell ill while upgrading the airport near [[Hua Hin District]], 100&nbsp;km south of Bangkok.<ref>{{cite news |first=Boonthan |last=Sakanond |title=Thailand: Toxic Legacy of the Vietnam War |url=http://www.ipsnews.net/1999/05/thailand-toxic-legacy-of-the-vietnam-war/ |location=Bangkok, Thailand |date=May 19, 1999 |agency=Inter Press Service |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707064407/http://www.ipsnews.net/1999/05/thailand-toxic-legacy-of-the-vietnam-war/ |archive-date=July 7, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Vietnam-era veterans whose service involved duty on or near the perimeters of military bases in Thailand anytime between February 28, 1961, and May 7, 1975, may have been exposed to herbicides and may qualify for VA benefits.<ref name="VA.gov">{{citation-attribution|1={{cite web |url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/thailand.asp |title=Thailand Military Bases and Agent Orange Exposure – Public Health |publisher=[[United States Department of Veterans Affairs]] |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227062320/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/thailand.asp |archive-date=27 February 2017 |url-status=live}} }}</ref>
A declassified Department of Defense report written in 1973, suggests that there was a significant use of herbicides on the fenced-in perimeters of military bases in Thailand to remove foliage that provided cover for enemy forces.<ref name="VA.gov"/> In 2013, the VA determined that herbicides used on the Thailand base perimeters may have been tactical and procured from Vietnam, or a strong, commercial type resembling tactical herbicides.<ref name="VA.gov"/>

===United States===
The [[University of Hawaiʻi]] has acknowledged extensive testing of Agent Orange on behalf of the United States Department of Defense in Hawaii along with mixtures of Agent Orange on [[Hawaii Island]] in 1966 and on [[Kauaʻi|Kaua'i Island]] in 1967–1968; testing and storage in other U.S. locations has been documented by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keever |first1=Beverly Deepe |title=University vulnerable to pitfalls of secret experiments |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/03/27/editorial/special2.html |access-date=30 March 2017 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=March 27, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325150042/http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/03/27/editorial/special2.html |archive-date=25 March 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Public Health. Herbicide Tests and Storage Outside Vietnam |url=https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/tests-storage/index.asp |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |access-date=30 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331024515/https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/tests-storage/index.asp |archive-date=31 March 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1971, the C-123 aircraft used for spraying Agent Orange were returned to the United States and assigned various East Coast USAF Reserve squadrons, and then employed in traditional airlift missions between 1972 and 1982. In 1994, testing by the Air Force identified some former spray aircraft as "heavily contaminated" with dioxin residue. Inquiries by aircrew veterans in 2011 brought a decision by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs opining that not enough dioxin residue remained to injure these post-Vietnam War veterans. On 26 January 2012, the U.S. Center For Disease Control's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry challenged this with their finding that former spray aircraft were indeed contaminated and the aircrews exposed to harmful levels of dioxin. In response to veterans' concerns, the VA in February 2014 referred the C-123 issue to the Institute of Medicine for a special study, with results released on January 9, 2015.<ref>{{cite web |title=Agent Orange Residue on Post-Vietnam War Airplanes |url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/residue-c123-aircraft/index.asp |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |access-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401063001/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/residue-c123-aircraft/index.asp |archive-date=April 1, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="c-123"/>

In 1978, the EPA suspended spraying of Agent Orange in [[U.S. National Forest|national forests]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nicosia |first=Gerald |title=Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hq2_JFvV0kC&pg=PA446 |year=2004 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |isbn=978-0-7867-1403-2 |page=446 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330183525/https://books.google.com/books?id=5hq2_JFvV0kC&pg=PA446 |archive-date=2017-03-30 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Agent Orange was sprayed on thousands of acres of brush in the [[Tennessee Valley]] for 15 years before scientists discovered the herbicide was dangerous. [[Monroe County, Tennessee]], is one of the locations known to have been sprayed according to the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]]. Forty-four remote acres were sprayed with Agent Orange along power lines throughout the National Forest.<ref>{{cite news |title=The defoliant Agent Orange, which contains dioxin, was sprayed... |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/12/The-defoliant-Agent-Orange-which-contains-dioxin-was-sprayed/8912421560000/ |work=United Press International |access-date=2020-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822110845/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/12/The-defoliant-Agent-Orange-which-contains-dioxin-was-sprayed/8912421560000/ |archive-date=2019-08-22 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1983, New Jersey declared a [[Passaic River]] production site to be a state of emergency. The dioxin pollution in the Passaic River dates back to the Vietnam era, when [[Diamond Alkali]] manufactured it in a factory along the river. The tidal river carried dioxin upstream and down, contaminating a {{convert|17|mi|abbr=on}} stretch of riverbed in one of New Jersey's most populous areas.<ref name="wsj.com">{{Cite Q|Q114385850|access-date=2022-10-03}}</ref>

A December 2006 Department of Defense report listed Agent Orange testing, storage, and disposal sites at 32 locations throughout the United States, Canada, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Korea, and in the Pacific Ocean.{{sfn|Young|2006|p=5–6}} The Veteran Administration has also acknowledged that Agent Orange was used domestically by U.S. forces in test sites throughout the United States. [[Eglin Air Force Base]] in Florida was one of the primary testing sites throughout the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Report on DoD Herbicides Outside of Vietnam |url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/agentorange/dod_herbicides_outside_vietnam.pdf |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |access-date=September 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611133859/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/agentorange/dod_herbicides_outside_vietnam.pdf |archive-date=June 11, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Cleanup programs==
In February 2012, Monsanto agreed to settle a case covering dioxin contamination around a plant in [[Nitro, West Virginia]], that had manufactured Agent Orange. Monsanto agreed to pay up to $9 million for cleanup of affected homes, $84 million for medical monitoring of people affected, and the community's legal fees.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-02-24/monsanto-says-it-settled-west-virginia-lawsuits-over-nitro-plant |title=Monsanto Settles West Virginia Lawsuits Over Nitro Plant |last=Kaskey |first=Jack |date=February 24, 2012 |publisher=Bloomburg |access-date=26 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150302023817/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-02-24/monsanto-says-it-settled-west-virginia-lawsuits-over-nitro-plant |archive-date=2 March 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.wvgazettemail.com/News/201311220094|title=Supreme Court affirms Monsanto pollution settlement in Nitro|date=November 22, 2013|work=Charleston Gazette-Mail|last1=Ward|first1=Ken Jr. |access-date=30 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205022132/http://www.wvgazettemail.com/News/201311220094|archive-date=5 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 9 August 2012, the United States and Vietnam began a cooperative cleaning up of the toxic chemical on part of [[Da Nang International Airport]], marking the first time the U.S. government has been involved in cleaning up Agent Orange in Vietnam. Danang was the primary storage site of the chemical. Two other cleanup sites the United States and Vietnam are looking at is [[Biên Hòa]], in the southern province of [[Đồng Nai Province|Đồng Nai]] is a hotspot for dioxin and so is [[Phù Cát]] airport in the central province of [[Bình Định]], says U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam [[David Shear]]. According to the Vietnamese newspaper ''[[Nhân Dân]]'', the U.S. government provided $41 million to the project. As of 2017, some {{convert|110,000|m3|abbr=on}} of soil have been cleaned.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://phys.org/news/2016-10-vietnam-danang-dioxin-clean-up.html|title=Vietnam, US launch Danang dioxin clean-up|date=October 18, 2016|work=Phys.org|access-date=2017-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301160741/https://phys.org/news/2016-10-vietnam-danang-dioxin-clean-up.html|archive-date=2017-03-01|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-usa-agentorange-idUSBRE87803K20120809|title=U.S. starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam|last=Ho|first=Binh Minh|date=August 9, 2012|access-date=March 30, 2017|work=Reuters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016051735/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-vietnam-usa-agentorange-idUSBRE87803K20120809|archive-date=October 16, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Naval Construction Battalion Center (Gulfport, Mississippi)|Naval Construction Battalion Center]] at Gulfport, Mississippi was the largest storage site in the United States for Agent Orange.<ref name="WLOX"/> It was about {{convert|30|acre|abbr=on}} in size and was still being cleaned up in 2013.<ref name="WLOX">{{cite news |title=Agent Orange clean at Navy Seabee base is the focus at public meeting |first=Natalie |last=Campen |work=WLOX |location=Gulfport, Mississippi |date=July 9, 2013 |url=http://www.wlox.com/story/22793893/agent-orange-clean-at-navy-seabee-base-is-the-focus-at-public-meeting/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228191918/http://www.wlox.com/story/22793893/agent-orange-clean-at-navy-seabee-base-is-the-focus-at-public-meeting/ |archive-date=2019-02-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |title=Public Health Assessment, Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Mississippi, Facility No. MS2170022626 |date=April 2005 |author=((Federal Facilities Assessment Branch, Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry)) |url=https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/navalconstructionbattalioncentergulfport/ncbcgulfportfinalrelease041205.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504173628/https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/NavalConstructionBattalionCenterGulfport/NCBCGulfportFinalRelease041205.pdf |archive-date=2017-05-04}}</ref>

In 2016, the EPA laid out its plan for cleaning up an {{convert|8|mi|abbr=on}} stretch of the Passaic River in New Jersey, with an estimated cost of $1.4 billion. The contaminants reached to Newark Bay and other waterways, according to the EPA, which has designated the area a [[Superfund]] site.<ref name="wsj.com"/> Since destruction of the dioxin requires high temperatures over {{convert|1,000|C|abbr=on}}, the destruction process is energy intensive.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/|title=Dioxins and their effects on human health|website=World Health Organization|date=October 4, 2016|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409235849/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/|archive-date=2017-04-09|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Environmental impact of war]]
* [[Orange Crush (song)]]
* [[Rainbow herbicides]]
* [[Scorched earth]]
* [[Teratology]]
* [[Vietnam Syndrome]]

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== General and cited references ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite report|last=Buckingham|first=William H. Jr. |title=Operation Ranch Hand: The Airforce and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961–1971|publisher=Office of Air Force History, [[United States Air Force]]|year=1982|url=http://www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100928-054.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123145823/http://www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100928-054.pdf|archive-date=November 23, 2016}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Butler|first=David A.|title=The early history of scientific and medical research on agent orange|journal=Brooklyn Journal of Law and Policy|year=2005|volume=13|issue=2|page=527|url=http://www.bluewaternavy.org/History%20of%20Agent%20Orange_butler.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923050959/http://bluewaternavy.org/History%20of%20Agent%20Orange_butler.pdf|archive-date=2010-09-23}}
* {{Cite journal|doi=10.3322/canjclin.53.4.245|last=Frumkin |first=H. |title=Agent Orange and cancer: an overview for clinicians |journal=CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=245–55 |year=2003 |pmid=12924777 |citeseerx=10.1.1.522.4715 |s2cid=33647665}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Furukawa|first1=Hisao|title=Ecological Destruction, Health, and Development: Advancing Asian Paradigms|year=2004|publisher=Trans Pacific Press|isbn=978-1-920901-01-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPL4wSfgan4C|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=November 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124233036/https://books.google.com/books?id=jPL4wSfgan4C|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hay |first=Alastair|title=The chemical scythe: lessons of 2,4,5-T, and dioxin|publisher=Springer|year=1982|isbn=978-0-306-40973-8}}
* {{cite book |ref=CITEREFIOM1994 |author=Institute of Medicine, Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides |title=Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YQTHJlt5l4C |year=1994 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-04887-3 |doi=10.17226/2141 |pmid=25144022 |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-date=November 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124233039/https://books.google.com/books?id=2YQTHJlt5l4C |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|author=Institute of Medicine|title=Veterans and Agent Orange: Herbicide/Dioxin Exposure and Type 2 Diabetes|publisher=National Academies Press|date=October 11, 2000|url=http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2000/Veterans-and-Agent-Orange-HerbicideDioxin-Exposure-and-Type-2-Diabetes.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207030802/http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2000/Veterans-and-Agent-Orange-HerbicideDioxin-Exposure-and-Type-2-Diabetes.aspx|archive-date=December 7, 2013}}
* {{Cite book|last=Kolko |first=Gabriel |title=Anatomy of a war: Vietnam, the United States, and the modern historical experience |location=New York |publisher=The New Press |date=1994 |isbn=978-1-56584-218-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Luong|first=Hy V.|title=Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8476-9865-3}}
* {{cite report |last=Martin |first=Michael F. |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34761.pdf |title=Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange and US-Vietnam Relations |publisher=Congressional Research Service |date=May 28, 2009 |id=RL34761 |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-date=July 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704100221/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34761.pdf |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Ngo|first1=Anh D.|last2=Taylor|first2=Richard|last3=Roberts|first3=Christine L.|last4=Nguyen|first4=Tuan V.|title=Association between Agent Orange and birth defects: systematic review and meta-analysis|journal=International Journal of Epidemiology|date=March 16, 2006|url=http://www.vn-agentorange.org/edmaterials/ije_paper.pdf|doi=10.1093/ije/dyl038|volume=35|issue=5|pages=1220–1230|pmid=16543362|doi-access=free|access-date=September 6, 2010|archive-date=June 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617005958/http://www.vn-agentorange.org/edmaterials/ije_paper.pdf|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Nicosia|first1=Gerald|last2=Swofford|first2=Anthony|title=Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans Movement|publisher=Carroll & Graf|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7867-1403-2}}
* NTP (National Toxicology Program); [https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/sites/default/files/ntp/htdocs/lt_rpts/tr521.pdf "Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in Female Harlan Sprague-Dawley Rats (Gavage Studies)"], CASRN 1746–01–6, April 2006.
* {{Cite book|last=Pellow |first=David N. |title=Resisting global toxics: transnational movements for environmental justice |date=2007 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-16244-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Schuck|first=Peter|title=Agent Orange on trial: mass toxic disasters in the courts|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1987|isbn=978-0-674-01026-0|url=https://archive.org/details/agentorangeontri00schu}}
* {{Cite journal|author=Stanford Biology Study Group|title=The Destruction of Indochina|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|volume=27|issue=5|date=May 1971|issn=0096-3402|pages=36–40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agsAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36|doi=10.1080/00963402.1971.11455366|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=February 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227232156/https://books.google.com/books?id=agsAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Stellman|first1=Jeanne Mager|last2=Stellman|first2=Steven D.|last3=Christian|first3=Richard|last4=Weber|first4=Tracy|last5=Tomasallo|first5=Carrie|title=The Extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other Herbicides in Vietnam|journal=Nature|volume=422|issue=6933|date=April 17, 2003|pages=681–687|url=http://www.vn-agentorange.org/edmaterials/nature01537.pdf|doi=10.1038/nature01537|pmid=12700752|bibcode=2003Natur.422..681S|s2cid=4419223|access-date=September 6, 2010|archive-date=July 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728164756/http://www.vn-agentorange.org/edmaterials/nature01537.pdf|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|last=Verwey|first=Wil D.|title=Riot control agents and herbicides in war: their humanitarian, toxicological, ecological, military, polemological, and legal aspects|publisher=Sijthoff|location=Leyden|year=1977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QgmHOdIjITsC|isbn=978-90-286-0336-3|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=November 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124233027/https://books.google.com/books?id=QgmHOdIjITsC|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wilcox|first=Fred|title=Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange|publisher=Random House |year=1983|edition=1st|isbn=978-0-932020-68-0}}
* {{cite web|last=Young|first=Alvin L.|title=The History of the US Department of Defense Programs for the Testing, Evaluation, and Storage of Tactical Herbicides|date=December 2006|url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/reading_room/TacticalHerbicides.pdf|access-date=September 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805100647/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/reading_room/TacticalHerbicides.pdf|archive-date=5 August 2010}}
* {{Cite book|last=Young|first=Alvin L.|title=The History, Use, Disposition and Environmental Fate of Agent Orange|publisher=Springer|year=2009|isbn=978-0-387-87485-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1iCHpk2fZksC|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=November 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124233029/https://books.google.com/books?id=1iCHpk2fZksC|url-status=live}} – both of Young's books [https://books.google.com/books?id=1iCHpk2fZksC were commissioned] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124233029/https://books.google.com/books?id=1iCHpk2fZksC |date=November 24, 2021}} by the [[U.S. Department of Defense]], Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment)
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
===Books===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Jason Ross |title=Secrecy in the Sunshine Era: The Promise and Failures of U.S. Open Government Laws |publisher=University Press of Kansas |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7006-1992-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780700619924}} see pages 245–252.
* {{Cite book |last=Bouny |first=André |title=Agent Orange: Apocalypse Viêt Nam |publisher=Demi-Lune editions |year=2010 |isbn=978-2-917112-11-3 |language=fr}} with a foreword by Howard Zinn.
* {{Cite book |editor=Capdeville, Y |editor2=Gendreau, F. |editor3=Meynard, J. |title=L'agent orange au Viet-nam: Crime d'hier, tragédie d'aujourd'hui |publisher=Tiresias editions |year=2005 |isbn=978-2-915293-23-4 |language=fr}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cecil |first=Paul Frederick |title=Herbicidal warfare: the Ranch Hand Project in Vietnam |publisher=Praeger |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-275-92007-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dai |first=Le Cao |title=Agent Orange in the Vietnam War: History and Consequences |publisher=Vietnam Red Cross Society |year=2000}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fox |first=Diane Niblack |title=Living with Agent Orange |publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Press]] |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-62534-747-3 |location=Amherst and Boston |pages=}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gibbs |first=Lois Marie |title=Dying From Dioxins |publisher=[[South End Press]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-89608-525-1 |chapter=Agent Orange and Vietnam Veterans |pages=14–20 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MuMFYQ8CbEgC&pg=PA14 |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-date=November 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124234652/https://books.google.com/books?id=MuMFYQ8CbEgC&pg=PA14 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Philip Jones |title=Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam |publisher=Alpen Editions |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-904563-05-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/agentorangecolla0000grif}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Linedecker |first1=Clifford |last2=Ryan |first2=Michael |last3=Ryan |first3=Maureen |title=Kerry: Agent Orange and an American Family |publisher=St. Martins Press |year=1982 |edition=1st |isbn=978-0-312-45112-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Martini |first1=Edwin A. |title=Agent Orange: History, Science, and the Politics of Uncertainty |location=Amherst, Massachusetts |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |date=2012}}
* {{Cite book |last=Schecter |first=Arnold |title=Dioxins and health |publisher=Springer |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-306-44785-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sills |first=Peter |title=Toxic War: The Story of Agent Orange |publisher=Vanderbilt University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-8265-1962-7}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Uhl |first1=Michael |last2=Ensign |first2=Tod |title=GI Guinea Pigs: How the Pentagon Exposed Our Troops to Dangers Deadlier than War |edition=1st |publisher=Playboy Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-87223-569-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilcox |first=Fred |title=Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam |publisher=[[Seven Stories Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-60980-138-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Zierler |first=David |title=The Invention of Ecocide |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8203-3827-9}}
* {{refend}}

===Government/NGO reports===
* [http://www.vn-agentorange.org/congress/tran-thi-hoan-testimony-7-15-10.pdf "Agent Orange in Vietnam: Recent Developments in Remediation: Testimony of Ms. Tran Thi Hoan"], ''Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment'', U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs. July 15, 2010
* [http://www.vn-agentorange.org/congress/testimony-dr-phuong-house-2010.pdf "Agent Orange in Vietnam: Recent Developments in Remediation: Testimony of Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong"], ''Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment'', U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs. July 15, 2010
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110929054634/http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1363 Agent Orange Policy], ''American Public Health Association'', 2007
* [https://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/en/exe-sum-final.pdf "Assessment of the health risk of dioxins"], [[World Health Organization]]/[[International Programme on Chemical Safety]], 1998
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130222170309/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1983/Jul-Aug/buckingham.html Operation Ranch Hand: Herbicides In Southeast Asia] History of Operation Ranch Hand, 1983
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111023070436/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADW139.pdf "Agent Orange Dioxin Contamination in the Environment and Food Chain at Key Hotspots in Viet Nam"] Boivin, TG, ''et al.'', 2011
* {{Cite book|last1=Young|first1=Alvin L.|title=The History, Use, Disposition and Environmental Fate of Agent Orange|edition=|publisher=Office of the Under Secretary of Defense|year=2008|isbn=|url=https://home.army.mil/detrick/application/files/8715/8031/4270/Agent_Orange_A_History_of_its_Use_Disposition_and_Environmental_Fate_Final_Report_30_Jun_08.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://home.army.mil/detrick/application/files/8715/8031/4270/Agent_Orange_A_History_of_its_Use_Disposition_and_Environmental_Fate_Final_Report_30_Jun_08.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}

===News===
* Fawthrop, Tom; [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/feb/10/agentofsuffering Agent of suffering], ''Guardian'', February 10, 2008
* Cox, Paul; [http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=949 "The Legacy of Agent Orange is a Continuing Focus of VVAW"], ''The Veteran'', [[Vietnam Veterans Against the War]], Volume 38, Number 2, Fall 2008.
* Barlett, Donald P. and Steele, James B.; [https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805?currentPage=1 "Monsanto's Harvest of Fear"], ''Vanity Fair'' May 2008
* Quick, Ben [http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2862 "The Boneyard"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102211108/http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2862 |date=January 2, 2011}} ''Orion Magazine'', March/April 2008
* Cheng, Eva; [http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/35957 "Vietnam's Agent Orange victims call for solidarity"], ''Green Left Weekly'', September 28, 2005
* [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-02/05/content_303315.htm Children and the Vietnam War 30–40 years after the use of Agent Orange]
* Tokar, Brian; [http://www.zcommunications.org/monsanto-a-checkered-history-by-brian-tokar "Monsanto: A Checkered History"], ''Z Magazine'', March 1999

===Video===
* ''Agent Orange: The Last Battle''. Dir. Stephanie Jobe, Adam Scholl. DVD. 2005
* [http://bellanova.it/MKP/AgenteNaranja.html ''HADES'']. Dir. Caroline Delerue, screenplay by Mauro Bellanova, 2011
* {{cite web |date=August 23, 2017 |title=The Man with the Wooden Face |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APO7iK9Mn7A |publisher=Moviehead Pictures |via=YouTube |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-date=November 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124234654/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APO7iK9Mn7A&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live}} Short film by James Nguyen.
* [https://www.vietnamthesecretagent.com ''Vietnam: The Secret Agent'']. Dir. Jacki Ochs, 1984

===Photojournalism===
* [http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/30/effects-of-agent-orange-ongoing-silently-in-children/ CNN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221122930/http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/30/effects-of-agent-orange-ongoing-silently-in-children/ |date=December 21, 2015}}
* [http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/2015/4/photos-in-vietnam-the-after-effects-of-agent-orange-persist.html Al Jazeera America]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.epa.gov/dioxin U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Dioxin Web site]
* [http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/ Agent Orange] ''Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards'', [[U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs]]
* [http://www.birthdefects.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2017-Vietnam-Veterans-004.pdf Report from the National Birth Defects Registry - Birth Defects in Vietnam Veterans' Children]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120915235915/http://www.cma.army.mil/fndocumentviewer.aspx?docid=003673775 "An Ecological Assessment of Johnston Atoll"]
{{Vietnam War}}
{{Rainbow Herbicides}}
{{Pollution}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agent Orange}}
[[Category:1961 introductions]]
[[Category:Aftermath of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Auxinic herbicides]]
[[Category:Canada and the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Carcinogens]]
[[Category:Defoliants]]
[[Category:Dioxins]]
[[Category:Environmental controversies]]
[[Category:Environmental impact of war]]
[[Category:Environmental racism]]
[[Category:Imperial Chemical Industries]]
[[Category:Malayan Emergency]]
[[Category:Medical controversies]]
[[Category:Military equipment of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Monsanto]]
[[Category:Operation Ranch Hand]]
[[Category:Teratogens]]