Week 10 Open Topic

I wanted to talk to you today a little about Agent Orange. The product was developed in the 1940's what was never seriously tested until the 1960's. The purpose for this chemical was to extract the enemy of its cover by destroying dense terrain and defoliating trees where the enemy could hide. This seemed like a great strategy during the Vietnam War due to the type of tropical plants that grew in the area that the Viet Cong soldiers used to camouflage themselves into the earth. It gets it's name from the orange band that was used to mark the drums that contained this poisonous material. Over 19 million gallons were dispersed throughout South Vietnam during the war. It was not until after the war that they found a chemical bi-product known as TCDD that proved to be harmful to man. When I read the book "In Country" the stories about how Emmett and thousands of others like him try to deny the effects of the product simply because they believe there is nothing they can do about it. To my knowledge the government has tried to cover up the fact that agent orange was even used in the war in the fact that it would turn it into a biological warfare. The governments resistance to acknowledge veterans poisoned bodies and denying them any kind of reparation for what has been done to them is what sickens me. It seems like just one big cover up, just like many others by the government. In the book it talks about how many of the veterans have tried to seek treatment but lack the government funding to receive full medical benefit. Even the Dr.s have heard about it so much that they laugh in the faces of their patients and send them away with nothing more than a bar of soap in Emmet's case. Even after it was proved to have deadly side effects that could even be passed down through the blood causing serious birth defects the government still denies its responsibility to these veterans. The government has to grown up and pay for its actions.