Week 8_Vivianne Lee_ASA150E

     In Wilcox's Scorched Earth: Legacy of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam, the author discusses the many sufferings Agent Orange has caused to both the Vietnamese and the U.S soldiers. Agent Orange  is unique in a way that the after effects are seen in human health to this day. A chemical warfare campaign that has caused millions of the lives of Vietnamese people during the Vietnam war is still affecting sufferings in Vietnam.Children are born with deformities and are forced to live in misery for the rest of their lives. I remember watching a documentary about Agent Orange in Professor Valverde's national aesthetics class which discusses the consequences children have to face due to the defects. Many children were placed in a facility far away from parents because they were unable to take care of them due to working all day. Some parents even have completely given up on them and disconnected from their child which lead them to have no family support. It was devastating to watch as I had no knowledge of Agent Orange before taking that class. It is important to make sure that this horrific incident is not forgotten in the U.S history, and for U.S to take responsibility for their actions completely. I once read an article on how only 20 million dollars were allocated for victims of the Vietnamese people in contrast to over 100 millions allocated towards an airport in Vietnam because the U.S feels as if there is not definitive connections between the chemical sprayed and the illnesses. This week's reading made me wonder if the U.S could have avoided Agent Orange. Another question I have is, what actions can the U.S take now so that the justice for the Vietnamese victims could continue to be served?



https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/us/agent-oranges-long-legacy-for-vietnam-and-veterans.html