Wilcox’s
presentation of the ill effects of Agent Orange reveals the devastating
aftermath chemical warfare has on hundreds of thousands of lives decades after
the Vietnam War has ended. The political tyranny involved in Agent Orange, government
denial that Dioxin is dangerous to one’s health and the continual omission that
Agent Orange has lasting impact on people and the environment it has come into
contact with is irresponsible and insanely inhumane. Ethical considerations of war
tactics such as the use of chemical warfare were clearly not considered. Wilcox
raises a good insight, that if President Kennedy had lived to know the full use
of chemical warfare, would have he approved of its use? Interestingly, three
presidents later and the use of the agent continued. As Wilcox depicted, many US
government officials continue to deny that Agent Orange has devastating effect. The
messy political system distorts survivors’ claims of miscarriages, birth
defects, and cancer, by disregarding those who are asking for compensation or
help.
As
a healthcare employee who has worked personally with infants with birth defects
as a result of being exposed to chemicals such as pesticides, it is truly
devastating. To watch a film or read a book about the experience of these young
babies and children cannot compare to the true devastation these children
endure in person. I once cared for young babies as those described by Wilcox in
chapter 11 and 12. The babies I cared for were born to agricultural migrant
workers and those whom lived in areas that had frequent agricultural pesticides
spraying. These babies were often born with multiple birth defects such as the
ones listed in this book, anencephalic, hydrocephalic, gastroschisis, cleft palate
and so on. With the intervention and resources of Western Medicine, some of
these babies would survive a short life, some lived on to adulthood however
experienced many health issues and some never left the neonatal ICU.
Image
PC (Albaciete): Baby with anencephaly. The malformation occurs when the brain fails
to fully form and/or the fontanels fail to fully form/close therefore resulting
to an “open skull” appearance. Having cared for babies like this before, they
usually don’t live long and will die immediately after birth. Now the reasoning
as to how this condition occurs cannot all be pin pointed to mothers being
exposed to chemicals, but from personal experience, the exposure to chemicals
can cause birth defects therefore to refute such claims are baseless.
References:
Albaciete, A. (n.d.) Desperate parents beg money
to save baby born with part of brain and skull missing. Retrieved from: https://www.elitereaders.com/desperate-parents-beg-money-baby-born-part-brain-skull-missing/
Wilcox, F. A. (2011). Scorched earth: Legacies of
chemical warfare in Vietnam. Seven Stories Press.
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