Jennifer Nguyen Bernal
Professor Valverde
ASA 150E
In the reading "Scorched Earth: Legacy of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam" by Fred A. Wilcox explains how a herbicide called Agent Orange affected the lives of the Vietnamese. He describes how there continue to have "high levels of dioxin in the food and water" ( Wilcox 2). Once Agent Orange hit Vietnam, it damaged every living thing in its path, causing the jungle to decay and animals dying. When Agent Orange created harm to the Vietnamese, there were side effects and congenital disabilities that harm then. Fred exposes the aftermath of the Vietnam War in the use of Agent Orange. I felt that he is allowing many people to listen to the stories of the Vietnamese who were affected by Agent Orange, and that is important. Agent Orange has changed the lives of many Vietnamese since they are limited to what they can do in their life like go to school or get married.
Not only the Vietnamese were affected by this, but America has also exposed Agent Orange to their soldiers. There is still a search in a cure and justice for Agent Orange victims that need help. It is challenging to make America take responsibility for what they did since they have offered some support to the Agent orange victim, but very limited, and there has been no cure yet. As I read some of the oral histories of Vietnamese Veterans Like Dang Vang, Son's father said the Americans have dropped a chemical on them and was okay despite having some tumors. Later he discovered that "he developed throat and stomach cancer, had ulcers "all inside of his stomach," couldn't eat, got "very skinny," and died three months later" ( Wilcox 81). He is one of many that have died from Agent Orange. There were Vietnamese still dying from other causes other Agent Orange. Many were so weak that they had to sell scraps of metal, but there is always a high risk that it is a bomb and could lose their lives to survive. Many families are just hoping that they will be an end to Agent Orange since they do not want their future children to suffer through these painful times. America drops Agent Orange without caring what is going to happen to the next generation of Vietnamese and American soldiers. It is frustrating to see how America left Vietnam to deal with the aftermath of Agent Orange and didn't think that it will eventually spread around the world.
Is America concerned about helping Agent Orange Victims to find a cure? Have there been updates on how to cure Agent Orange?
Wilcox, A. Fred. Scorched earth: legacies of chemical warfare in Vietnam. Seven Stories Press,
2011
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