October 25, 2010
Day 8 of the HumaniTour: this afternoon our group got an 'upclose and personal' look at Agent Orange (AO). Dr. Charles Bailey with the Ford Foundation met up with our group in Danang. After a briefing on AO over lunch, we boarded the bus for the Danang Airbase. More than forty years ago, this military airbase was the busiest airport in the world. Today, Danang Airbase is one of the three major 'hotspots' in Viet Nam. Dioxin is still found in high concentrations on some areas within this airport. Our bus made a brief stop on the way to the airbase, where each of us bought temporary footwear, since we would be walking on contaminated soil.
About Agent Orange:- Agent Orange was an herbicide used by the U.S. military to defoliate trees and shrubs during the war in Viet Nam. It was named after the orange-striped barrels in which it was shipped.
- It was contaminated with dioxin, a highly toxic chemical linked to a dozen of medical conditions including cancers, nerve and heart diseases, and birth defects in offspring.
- Some 12 million gallonsof Agent Orange were sprayed at up to 50 times the concentration recommended for killing weeds.
- About 5 million acres of forests and crops were destroyed - an area the size of Massachusetts.
- An estimated 4.5 million Vietnamese and hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were exposed.
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