Study on situation to overcome the consequences of toxic chemicals to humans in Cam Lo District, Quang Tri province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES DUONG THI VAN ANH STUDY ON SITUATION TO OVERCOME THE CONSEQUENCES OF TOXIC CHEMICALS TO HUMA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

DUONG THI VAN ANH

STUDY ON SITUATION TO OVERCOME THE

CONSEQUENCES OF TOXIC CHEMICALS TO HUMANS IN

CAM LO DISTRICT, QUANG TRI PROVINCE

MASTER’S THESIS Major: Vietnamese Studies

Hanoi- 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

DUONG THI VAN ANH

STUDY ON SITUATION TO OVERCOME THE

CONSEQUENCES OF TOXIC CHEMICALS TO HUMANS IN

CAM LO DISTRICT, QUANG TRI PROVINCE

MASTER’S THESIS Major: Vietnamese Studies

Code: 60 31 60

Supervisor: Prof DSc Truong Quang Hoc

Hanoi - 2012

CONTENTS

CONTENTS 1

LIST OF TABLES 4

LIST OF FIGURES 6

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 7

COMMITMENT 8

INTRODUCTION 9

1 Necessity of the study 9

2 Scientific and practical singnificances of the studied subject 10

3 Study goal 11

4 Study objects and scope 11

5 Study methodology and methods 12

5.1 Methodology 12

5.2 Study methods 14

5.2.1 Collecting secondary data………14

5.2.2 Sociological survey methods……… 15

5.2.3 SWOT method……….16

6 Thesis structure……… 16

CHAPTER 1 17

OVERVIEW ON THE STUDY OF OVERCOMING THE CONSEQUENCES OF TOXIC CHEMICALS/DIOXIN IN VIETNAM AND IN QUANG TRI 17

1.1 Basic concepts 17

1.2 Overview of the chemical war in the world 20

1.3 Chemical war in Vietnam 21

1.3.1 Ranch Hand campaign 21

1.3.2 Toxic chemicals used by the US army in the Vietnam war 24

1.3.3 Consequences of the agent orange/dioxin on people 27

1.3.3.1 Impacts of the agent orange/dioxin to human body 27

1.3.3.2 Real status of the exposure in the Vietnamese 30

1.3.3.3 Consequences of the chemical war in Quang Tri province 36

1.3.4 Efforts of Vietnam in overcoming the impacts of toxic chemicals on people 39

1.3.4.1 Research activities 39

1.3.4.2 Activities 41

1.3.5 General assessment of achievements, weaknesses, and proposed solutions for

their overcoming 45

CHAPTER 2 49

STATUS OF OVERCOMING AGENT ORANGE/DIOXIN INFLUENCES 49

ON PEOPLE IN CAMLO DISTRICT, QUANG TRI PROVINCE 49

2.1 Overview of Cam Lo district 49

2.1.1 Features of natural conditions 49

2.1.1.1 Geographic site 49

2.1.1.2 Topography and soil 50

2.1.1.3 Climate and hydrography 51

2.1.1.4 Minerals and biological resources 52

2.1.2 Socio - Economic 52

2.1.2.1 Population and population density 52

2.1.2.2 Economy……….54

2.1.2.3 Culture and society……… 55

2.1.2.4 Social security………56

2.2 Status of victims of the Agent Orange/dioxin in Cam Lo district 57

2.2.1 Real status of victims of the Agent Orange/dioxin in Cam Lo district 58

2.2.2 General features of the victims of the agent orange in Cam Lo district 66

2.2.2.1 Economy and family conditions 66

2.2.2.2 Status of health, illness, and deformity of the victims 71

2.2.2.3 Difficulties in life faced by the victims and their family 75

2.2.2.4 Psychological features of victims of the Agent Orange 77

2.2.2.5 Demands and wishes of the victims and their family 82

2.3 Activities to supgort and take care victims of Agent Orange/dioxin 84

2.3.1 In term of policies 84

2.3.2 Campaigns of the Association of Victims of Agent Orange in Cam Lo district 86

2.3.2.1 Results of the mobilization work to support, help, and look after the victims 87

2.3.2.2 Some obtained results 88

2.3.2.3 Activities of foreign affairs 88

2.3.3 Activities of looking after the victims of Agent Orange/dioxin in community 89

2.4 General assessments 90

2.4.1 About policies 90

2.4.2 The work of supporting and taking care of the victims 94

2.4.3 Raising awareness and participation of the community 94

CHAPTER 3 96

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 96

TO COMPREHENSIVELY SUPPORT VICTIMS OF THE TOXIC CHEMICALS IN CAM LO DISTRICT, QUANG TRI PROVINCE 96

3.1 Results of analyzing strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and challenges 96

3.2 General solutions 97

3.2.1 Sollutions making on policies and their implementation arrangement……

3.2.2 Solutions in term of social and humanitarian aspects 98

3.3 Concrete solutions 99

3.3.1 Surveying and investigating real status of the victims of toxic chemicals/dioxin in Cam Lo district; sociologically investigating social psychology of victims 99

3.3.2 Improving social and health policies and taking care of victims infected by toxic chemicals/dioxin 100

3.3.3 Developing programs to propagandize 101

3.3.4 Mobilizing sources to support victims of the toxic chemicals/dioxin 106

3.3.5 Supporting and looking after the victims infected by toxic chemicals in community 108

3.4 Recommendations 109

3.4.1 For policy making 109

3.4.2 For the local authority 111

3.4.2.1 Programming community-based models to restore forestry resources in toxic chemical areas in Cam Lo district by giving preferential treatment in handing over land and forest to families of dioxin victims 111

3.4.2.2 Building work to supply running water and social works in Agent Orange areas 112 3.4.2.3 Forming and implementing tours to visit old battlefields with the participation of local people, veterans, and victims of the Agent Orange to propagandize and do business113 3.4.2.4 Combining with universities and schools in the province as well in the whole country to build program for volunteer students; bringing them to communes and hamlets to support the rehabilitation work and other social activities for the families of dioxin victims and making this an annual activity 114

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 116

REFERENCES……… 119

LIST OF TABLES

Table 0.1 Time, site, and content of fieldwork 12 Table 1.1 Components of toxic chemicals containing 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T 19

Table 1.3 Amount of toxic chemicals used by the US army phase 1962-1971 26 Table 1.4 Total number of missions spraying plant killer agents in the Ranch

Table 1.7 Dioxin and dioxin equivalence in the Vietnamese women’s breast

milk in comparison with some other countries in the world

Table 2.10 Relation between households living in toxic chemical areas and

their children’s innate deformity

62

Table 2.11 Relation between vegetable protection agent contacts

and children’s innate deformity

Table 2.14 Relation between householders living in toxic chemical areas and

related diseases of their children

64

Table 2.15 Premature situation of women in investigated households 65 Table 2.16 Losing pregnancy situation of women in investigated households 65 Table 2.17 Relation between losing pregnancy and living in toxic chemical

threats

96

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 0.1 The relation between victims of toxic chemicals and the

surrounding environment

12

Figure 1.4 Amount of agents sprayed in Vietnam during the Ranch Hand

Figure 1.6 Diagram comparing dioxin content in Vietnamese women’s milk

and other countries in the world (survey of the World Health Organization, February 1988)

communes and towns of Cam Lo district

72

Figure 2.8 Number of victims directly infected by toxic chemicals 73 Figure 2.9 Diseases of indirect victims in Cam Lo district 74 Figure 2.10 Attitute of pepple towards the victims of the Agent Orange 81 Figure 3.1 System of sources to supgort victims of Agent Orange 96

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I with to express my gratitude and deepest respect to Prof.DSc Truong Quang Hoc, my supervisor, who ethusiatic instructs and conveys basic knownledge to me, as well as contributes valuable ideas to help me complete this thesis

I with to thank the teachers, and staff of the Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Sciences, Vietnam National University, Hanoi They have created the best conditions for me to participate in the learning process and complete successfully

my MA course

I would like to thank to the staff of the People’s Council, People’s Committee, Statistics Division, Naural Resources and Environment Division of Cam Lo district and Cam Lo Association of victims of Agent Orange/dioxin has provided information and statistics data and interviewed in the course of local realities

I would like to especially thank Mr Nguyen Van Hoan, Mr Tran Anh Lam, Nguyen Van Bong notes enthusiastically guide and help me when conducting surveys

in the locality I would like to express my sincere thanks to the people of Cam Lo district commune for their ethusiasm in supplying me information during my field work in these areas

Finally I would like to thank my family, my friends who have always care, share, motivate, encourage me in all this time

Hanoi, 2012

Duong Thi Van Anh

COMMITMENT

I hereby declare that the obtained results in this thesis are absolutely honest Information and results published in this thesis are my researching work If there is any shortcoming, I will bear all responsibilities in front of the training unit and law

Hanoi, june 2012

Duong Thi Van Anh

INTRODUCTION

1 Necessity of the study

In the Vietnam War, especially in the phase 1965-1971, the American empire used many kinds of weed killer to destroy tree leaves to undermine our military affairs and economy Three main kinds of chemicals that were used in Vietnam by the American army were agent oranges, white toxic chemical to destroy forests, and green toxic chemical to destroy crops The agent orange contains dioxin, a very strong toxic chemical and difficult to disintegrate Thus, they have been kept in the environment for

a very long time After many times of accumulation, the soil and water is strongly polluted Forests are destroyed, causing the imbalance of ecological conditions and leaving many hard consequences in many areas of Vietnam In addition to negative impacts of the toxic chemicals on the natural resources and environment, they also dangerously influence the human being because of genetic destroy Many people and soldiers living in spreading toxic chemicals areas have caught fatal diseases, especially cancer Many women have suffered a miscarriage and had a premature delivery More seriously, children of people infected with toxic chemicals also suffer from diseases such as dumb, blind, deaf, mental illness or deformity although they were born after the war, even in areas far away from combat zones

Quang Tri is one of the provinces of most seriously affected by toxic chemicals It is in the 1 tactical area with 17 – 20% of its area spread with toxic chemical; some parts were spread chemical two or three times In many documents, it

is found that the exterminated level in Quang Tri province is considerable Formerly, the forest natural resources in Quang Tri were very rich At the eastern side of the Truong Son range in Quang Tri - Thua Thien, there were 150,000 to 200,000 ha of primaving forest However, they were destroyed by the toxic chemicals After the war, the cover level of forest is only 22% (including planting forest) At present, the number

of this is 30% (with influence of both human activities and the war) According to the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute, about 22% of the natural forests and 31% unused land belong to the areas infected by toxic chemicals 30% of the valley area of

Thach Han River - a big river in Quang Tri - was affected by the toxic chemicals Toxic chemicals make the compositions of species of the fauna and flora change

Not only exterminating the ecological environment, the consequence of toxic chemicals also affects life of people living in Quang Tri Even now, they are living in a peaceful time; the heart-rending traces of the war still exist People suffered from toxic chemical after-effect have been facing many difficulties in order keep their living aspiration and existence They have been cared by the Party and government with many practical policies to overcome the sequels of toxic chemicals Policies for the victims suffering toxic chemicals are carried out in a comprehensive and overall way, including issues of economy, health service, medical treatments, rehabilitation, vocational instruction and psychological therapy There have been many instruction documents and institutionalized policies and regulations However, because of many reasons, the consequence has still limited Promulgating policies for victim suffering toxic chemicals is still limited because of the imbalance between the human resources and people needed allowance There have been no scientific and concrete standard to define people infected toxic chemicals to be the basis of suitable and accurate policies Many victims of the toxic chemicals are not in the field of people benefiting much from policies, including people living scatter in areas that were affected by toxic chemicals in the past, or soldiers, officials, or people living in trouble-spot areas The supgorting level is not high and egad with complicated procedures that are not suitable with most of the people living in poor areas The fully worked-out model to treat the patients has not been built concentrate and not basing on the community Because of those disadvantages, many victims of the chemical war, especially the Dioxin victims have not been able to apgroach and benefit their legitimate policies To make that issue

clearer, we choose the subject “Study on situation to overcome the consequences of

toxic chemicals to humans in Cam Lo district, Quang Tri province” to be my thesis

2 Scientific and practical singnificances of the studied subject

- Scientific singnificances : The thesis results contribute to build the scientific basis for: i) Studying and perfecting policies to supgort people affected by the toxic

chemicals; ii) Choosing suitable methods and solutions to improve people position as well local authorities at different levels in order to better treat and support victims of the toxic chemicals

- Practical singnificances: Comprehensively evaluating the work of overcoming consequence of the toxic chemicals on people, especially current disadvantages in term of supporting policy making as well as the participation of community in the study area; bettering and improving gradually the results of overcoming the chemical war’s consequence for the victims in localities

- To propose some practical and comprehensive solutions to strengthen the work of overcoming the consequence of toxic chemical influence on people in Cam Lo district, Quang Tri province

4 Study objects and scope

Study objects

Victims of toxic chemicals, institution system (system of legal documents, policies, and implemenation arrangement system) related to the work of overcoming the impacts of the chemical war, and socialized work to overcome the consequence of toxic chemicals

Table 0.1 Time, site, and content of fieldwork phases

Phase 1: From 20 June

2010 to 30 June 2010

Cam Lo town, Cam Chinh, Cam Tuyen, Cam Nghia, and Cam An communes in Cam Lo district

Generally assessing study question

Gathering related secondary materials

Phase 3: From 6 June

2011 to 12 June 2011

Association of Victims of Agent Orange in Cam Lo district, some contingent families in the area, and families of the dioxin victims

Gathering missing secondary materials;

5 Study methodology and methods

5.1 Methodology

Figure 0.1 The relationship between victims of toxic chemicals and

the surrounding environment

The thesis uses systematic and interdisciplinary methodology which commonly used in the Area studies

Studying the situation of overcoming the consequences of toxic chemicals on people is put in the relationship with the general impacts of the devastating to opgose the America It lasted for 21 year and influenced the present and future; at the same time, it was put in the social-economic development and overcoming the consequence

of chemical war in the entire country in general and the locality in particular

- About time: Conducting the process of history, the work of overcoming the consequence of chemical war is the next step to restore and rebuild the country after a long war The toxic chemicals were used by the US after defeating in a series of campaigns in order to destroy crops, clear forests, and annihilate our soldiers It is obvious that the war already pasted more than 30 years However, the consequence of the chemical war affects people more and more, causing long-term influences not only

in the past but also at present and in the future Hence, studying the work of overcoming the consequence of toxic chemicals in order to bring out more comprehensive solutions to reduce and control impacts of toxic chemicals on following generations, and supgorting families of the dioxin victims is a long-term task

- About area:

+ Finding out situation of overcoming the consequence of toxic chemicals on people is a problem related to all aspects of the social life Humankind is the integration of social relationships From the biological point, man is at the highest grade in the evolutionary ladder Hence, effects of the toxic chemicals on human being must be considered in the relation with all economic, social, cultural, and natural aspects The toxic chemicals cause serious consequences and the victims are suffered impacts from all elements of the (natural and social) environment They themselves also affect the environment, creating a mutual two-way relationship

+ Conducting research of the situation to overcome the influences of toxic chemicals was done in Cam Lo district, Quang Tri province to find the most general laws of the study question development in order to generalize the general situation of our country and other foreign countries In other words, the research problem is a “case study” putting in overall regional studies From the situation to overcome impacts of toxic chemicals in Cam Lo district (Quang Tri province), we can analyze and assess the achievements, shortcomings, and weaknesses to propose a more comprehensive solution As a result, we can generalize the situation of the regional and international area; then widely apglying these measures to all objects in different regions who share some basic characteristics

5.2 Study methods

5.2.1 Collecting secondary data

Gathering, systematizing, analyzing, and summarizing secondary materials, include:

+ Reports, materials, and statistics data of the Office 33, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social

Welfare, ministries, industries and departments from central to local level that relate to the question of toxic chemicals and overcoming their consequences

+ Policies and legal research and development documents of the Party, Government, and authorities of different levels

+ Published materials and figures in scientific projects, and projects at home and abroad related to the thesis content

+ Acticles in magazines such as Communist Magazine, Environment and Health Magazine, and Health and Life Magazine

+ Information is updated everyday via in public communication means

5.2.2 Sociological survey methods

+ Semi-structural interview method: To gather information directly from

individuals by asking open questions to orient the conversation, in which questions to improve the discussed results can be asked It includes the identification of goal and information needs to be asked and set up; unanimous of the interviewees; using questions before the interview to ensure the consistency and effectiveness; and analyzing gathered information from interviews

+ Participatory rural apgraisal (PRA): In order to gather secondary information

of life of people living in areas infected by toxic chemicals, problems in life, and people’s awareness of related questions It is difficult to gather people; hence, only small and separate discussions and their results are just for reference and verification of considerations through collected information

+ Quantitative sociological surveys with questionnaires: To collect information

according to a method basing on specific questions in a way that you can conduct analysis, total up, and handle with SPSS 16.0 software During study and implementation process, the thesis delivered 210 forms and collected 163 (43 questions for each form) related to the implementation of policies for victims of Agent orange/dioxin, awareness of people about toxic chemicals, and some problems of socialization work to overcome the consequence of toxic chemicals Study subjects

were incidentally chosen in all communes with ages from 18 to 65, of which about 46% men and 54% women

In addition, to comprehensively assess people’s awareness of the Agent orange/dioxin and the Dioxin victims, we gave 200 contingent survey samples for students of tourism, social work, history, and economy departments from central and northern provinces who are studying at Vinh University and officials living in Vinh city The results prove that their understanding of dioxin/Agent Orange and people’s interest on victims of Agent Orange is still limited

5.2.3 SWOT method

To define strengths, weaknesses, opgortunities, threats and assess how standards change as time goes by; taking notes as much as possible; and focusing on strengths and weaknesses to point out internal factors

- Strengths: Achieved activities and results

- Weaknesses: Shortcoming when implementing

- Opgortunities: Ideas to make good shortcomings and promote strengths

- Threats: Threatening problems to put pressure on scope, scale, and opportunity

CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW ON THE STUDY OF OVERCOMING THE CONSEQUENCES OF TOXIC CHEMICALS/DIOXIN IN VIETNAM AND IN QUANG TRI

1.1 Basic concepts

- Agent Orange

The Agent Orange is a red brown or brown liquid, not dissolving in water but

in oil and organic solvent Its density at 250C is 1.28 kg per liter Its compositions include 50% of the 2,4,5-T and 50% of the 2,4-D weed extermination

To easily identify and distinguish toxic agents, the American army used paints with different colors to paint colorful lines on means containing these agents Tanks containing 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T mixture were painted with orange lines Because of this, the agent in the orange tanks was called Agent Orange It was the same with green and white agents [3, pg.17]

- Agent Orange/dioxin

This name was proposed and used the first time in 1999 by the Office 33 when they set up a national program of studying the level of overcoming chemical war consequence that caused by the American army in Vietnam These words were used to define that the origin of dioxin in southern Vietnam was brought and spread by the American army during the wartime The Agent Orange used by the American army in Vietnam contains a large amount of dioxin impurities with the average of 10 milligram (mg) per one kg of the Agent Orange (10pgm for short) [3, pg.18]

- Dioxin

Dioxin is the common name of a group of hundreds of chemical mix that strongly exist in the environment as well inside the human body and other creatures Depending the number of the chlorine atoms (Cl-) and spatial position of these atoms, dioxin has 75 PCDD (Poly-Chloro-Dibenzo-Dioxines) isomers and 135 PCDF (Poly-Chloro-Dibenzo-Furanes) isomers with different toxicity The dioxin also comprises a group of PCB (Poly-Chloro-Biphonenyles) that are agents similar to dioxin It includes

419 chemicals, in which 29 agents are very dangerous Among Dioxin mix, TCDD is the most poisonous one

Dioxin is the secondary product of many processes to produce industrial chemicals related to Chlorine such as waste burning system, chemical and insecticides, bleaching line in paper production, and many other steps

At present, Dioxin is used to indicate hundreds of chemicals in the environment The Dioxin-like compounds are arranged in three groups: the first group includes polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDDs)

Figure 1.1 Some agents in PCDD group [12, pg.17]

- The second group comprises polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDFs) and the third group includes polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) The first and second groups often include products with substance change when people burn industrial or agricultural waste, forest fire, and burning gas In the third group, PCB similar to Dioxin is often produced intentionally and used in many different goals To compare the poisonous levels of agents, the World Health Organization (WHO) uses the TEFs (Toxic Equivalence Factors) indicators for evaluation At present, the 2,3,7,8-

tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCCD for short) are assessed to be the most poisonous one among the above substances

Figure 1.2 Structure of TCDD [12, pg.18]

Dioxin and furan are the most toxic agents known in the scientific history In the draft report of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1994, Dioxin was described as a dangerous agent threatening communities’ health However, according to EPA, it appears that none of the dioxin exposure level is considered safe

Table 1.1 Components of toxic chemicals containing 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T

TCDD, pgm (1999)

Spray test time

Orange 50% n-butylic ester 2,4,5-T

50% n-butylic ester 2,4-D 1,77 – 40 1962-1970 Orange II 50% n-isooctylic ester 2,4,5-T

50% n-butylic ester 2,4-D 1,77 - 40 1968-1969

Purple

30% n-butylic ester 2,4,5-T 50% n-butylic ester 2,4-D 20% n-isooctylic ester 2,4,5-T

32,8 - 45 1962-1964

Pink 60% n-butylic ester 2,4,5-T

40% n-isooctylic ester 2,4,5-T 65,6 1962-1964 Green Mostly n-butylic ester 2,4,5-T 65,6 1962 - 1964

1966-1971

Dinoxol Butoxyetanolic ester 2,4-D Containing Dioxin 1962-1964

Butoxyetanolic ester 2,4,5-T Trinoxol 40% Butoxyetanolic ester 2,4,5-T Containing Dioxin 1962-1964 Diquat {6,7-Dyhydrodipyridol}

pyrazidium

LD50 = 200mg/kg 1962-1964 Bromaxil 5-Brom-3-sec-butyl-metyluraxil 1962-1964 Tendex {3,3-Dimetylureido}-

Monuron 3-{p-Clophenyl}-1,1-dimetylure LD50 = 1000mg/kg 1962-1964 Diuron 3-{3,4-Diclophenyl}-1,1-

dimetylure LD50 = 1000mg/kg 1962-1964 Dalapon 2,2-Diclopropionic acid LD50 = 2000-

8,000mg/kg 1962-1964

Source: [19, pg.6]

1.2 Overview of the chemical war in the world

From ancient time, people often used poisons for military goals in wars However, at first the poisons were often collected from plants and animals The poisons were apglied on the heads of arrows and spears Along with the development of sciences and technologies, people have gradually made toxic chemicals, and produced modern antipersonnel chemical weapons on a large scale

In the First World War, on 22nd April 1915, the German army used Cl as a poison and killed thousands of English and French soldiers In July 1917, the German used again the yperite agent in the battlefield During the Second World War, the Japanese army used yperite in China; and the German soldiers used ziclon B to poison prisoners in the concentration camp The toxic chemicals were also used in the war against the Malaysia guerrillas.[21, pg.4]

However, using poisons as weapons to destroy the environment, agricultural production, especially food, living beings, and people in Vietnam on a large scale and for a long time was a new tactics that had just been apglied in the war

In the Vietnam War, the American army used not only lethal weapons to kill people but also toxic chemicals to eradicate life of the Vietnamese It aimed to prevent the step forward of the revolutionary armed forces to turn Vietnam into a huge

laboratory to examine and test toxic chemicals for the military goal In fact, the chemical war of the America in Vietnam was the biggest one with the longest time and cause the most destructive consequence in the human being history

To use the toxic chemicals in a wide range, the American military experts had

to test them in a long time (for over 20 years) in many experiment fields in America and some other countries Although they already had schedule to use these chemicals in the war long time ago, weed killers were not used for military goals In 1944 and 1945

at the end of the Second World War, weed killer was ready to experiment in order to exterminate rice fields in six provinces around Tokyo As the Japanese army surrendered quickly, this plan had not been carried out [21, pg.3]

After 1945, the American army and some other countries continued to experiment these chemicals to opgose opgonents Their army bases were often in tropical areas in thick forests with the goal to destroy people’s crop With the attempt to prevent a rising in Malaysia, the Britain used modern weed killer for the first time However, it was used limited for the army goal, mostly in the middle of the 1950s [21, pg.5]

Only the United States used weed killer for its military goal on a large scale in the Vietnam War From 1961 to 1971, the American army actually used weed killers in the Vietnam War with two above goals for the first time

The initial shortage of knowledge or ignorance of this risk created opgortunity for the US government to use these dangerous products Their harmfulness was made public by the scientists of many countries, including American ones

1.3 Chemical war in Vietnam

1.3.1 Ranch Hand campaign

On 30th November 1961, the US President Kennedy apgroved the plan to use the defoliant in the southern Vietnam with the code name of Ranch Hand campaign The US started the biggest chemical war in the humankind history in order to undermine tropical ecosystems and the living environment of Vietnam

The Ranch Hand campaign is the backbone of the toxic chemical spray program in the air The main means of the American army was C_123, from 10 January 1962 to 31 October 1971 with three goals [4, pg.29]:

+ Tidying-up for offensive: With this goal, the tidying-up was carried out concentrated in the revolutionary base (C, D, Duong Minh Chau bases in the north and northeast of Tay Ninh, Sac forest, and Can Gio in Ho Chi Minh City), Ho Chi Minh trail, frontier areas with the discovery and attack by aerial by bombers, especially B52 carpet-bomb On the other hand, the American army attacked by land to wipe out our armed forces, destroy war means, army ordnance, transport lines and information communication of the enemy To form white areas, after using toxic chemicals to tidying up, the American army continued to release napalm bomb to burn the forests that they thought necessary This is a savage mode to destroy living environment and thick forests It needs several centuries to recover On the other hand, high temperature

of the napalm bomb also created secondary Dioxin with a remarkable amount in spray areas with chemicals consisting of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T

+ Clearance for defensive: To carry out this goal, the clearance was done in bushy belts around garrison troop areas, essential troop areas, important army ordnance bases, lines of rotation of troops, troop-regrouping fields of the America and pupget troops in order to discover and prevent the penetration and attack of revolutionary force

+ Crop destruction: Destroying crops or fields that was called 2R task This aimed to destroy the self-sufficient economy on the premises of the southern Vietnam Revolution in areas where the revolutionary force controlled, organized production, and provided food

According to the CĐHH/82 material of the UN Disarmament Committee (Chemical Disarsement), after seven months deploying the Ranch Hand campaign, the American air force flied 200 missions, spread 760,000 liters of weed killer along roads near the 17 parallel of latitude Thence, the scale of chemical spread was gradually

increased Up to April 1967, the Ranch Hand campaign used such a large amount of the Agent Orange that the US had to take full advantage of the entire amount of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D in the internal market to ensure the continuity of the campaign [54, pg.70]

The Ranch Hand campaign was carried out with many different methods to strengthen its damage to its opponent The habitual tactics of the Ranch Hand campaign was that after some days spreading toxic chemicals, trees were beginning to shed their leaves; then bombs, bullets and thousands of diesel gallons, napalm bomb, white phosphorus bombs were released to burn At high temperature, 2,4,5 -T and 2,4-

D substance in the Agent Orange would create 2,3,7,8 TCDD (secondary dioxin) in addition to miscellaneous TCDD in producing 2,4,5-T This was one of the most poisonous compounds created by people

In phase 1962-1971, the US air force sprayed more than 72 millions of liters or

91 thousands of tons of clearance substance, in which 55 thousands of tons with strongly active nature [40, pg.8] The average level of Agent Orange for one spraying time in Vietnam was 28,06 liters per hectare; it meant that the level was 30 times higher in comparison with the content of weed killer used in agriculture at that time (31,37) The most malicious thing was that at the same time the US army used many different kinds of toxic chemicals They turned the southern Vietnam where millions of people lived to be a huge test field of toxic chemicals

Table 1.2 Chemical war escalation

Year Warring US

army

Amount of spray toxic chemical, Westing liters (1976)

Amount of CS, SIPRI tons (1971)

-

- 64.000 284.000 1.102.000

250

2.516.000 9.599.000 19.393.000 19.264.000 17.257.000 2.873.000 38.000

1.3.2 Toxic chemicals used by the US army in the Vietnam war

Figure1.3 Map of tactics of the US army

During the wartime, the US and pupget government divided Vietnam into I, II, III and IV tactics areas, in which the III area was the most heavily sprayed one This was the area surrounding Sai Gon, the nerve centre of America and pupget army Important and main provinces were Tay Ninh, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Tri, D zone, Duong Minh Chau zone, Sac forest special zone, and Boi Loi secret zone However, as the toxic chemicals were used in the riverhead areas of Ben Hai river, Cuu Long river, Huong river, Han river, Dong Nai river, Be river, and Vam Co river, along with wind, storms, flood and many other natural-social factors, the poisons were spread broadly in the southern Vietnam land Provinces in C and D war zones including those around Sai Gon such as Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Ba Ria Vung Tau were the most heavily sprayed areas, making up over 50% of the total amount of exterminated agents Then, provinces suffered sabotage was Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, and Khanh Hoa There provinces were in the middle centre and southern central part of Vietnam, making up 20% Provinces near 17 parallel of latitude such as Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, and Quang Nam made up 16% of the extermination agents; while only 8% of the toxic chemicals were used in provinces in the Cuu Long river delta [12, pg.42]

From August 1961 to October 971, the US army tested and used several tens of toxic chemicals with an amount of over 100,000 tons, mostly CS, agent orange – AO, agent white, agent blue and a remarkable amount of agent purple, agent pink and agent green The orange, purple, pink and green agents consisted of impurity Dioxin The number of agents was mainly assessed as following:

- CS: 9,000 tons; Weed killer: 77 millions of liter (95,000 tons)

In which:

Agent Orange: 49.3 millions of liter (63,100 tons)

Agent white: 20.6 millions of liter (23,100 tons)

Agent blue: 4.7 millions of liter (6,200 tons)

Purple, pink and green agents: 2.4 millions of liter (2,600 tons) [3, pg.15]

20,6

4,7 2,4

0 10 20 30 40 50

Figure 1.4 Amount of agents sprayed in Vietnam during the Ranch Hand campaign

(Unit: Million of liter)

Until now, there has been no accurate information to confirm how many kinds

of toxic chemicals were used by the US during the Vietnam War According to the materials of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin, the American army used many kinds of toxic chemicals in the Vietnam War (Table 1.3)

Table 1.3 Amount of toxic chemicals used by the US army 1962-1971

Year

Amount of weed killer used (m 3 )

Agent Orange Agent White Agent

Blue

Total amount (m 3 )

Up to now, there are many different figures of the amount of 2,3,7,8-TCDD (often called Dioxin) created while spraying 26 thousands of tons of 2,4-D and 24 thousands of tons of 2,4,5-T in southern Vietnam in the Ranch Hand campaign (during phase 1966-1969) If the weed killer was intoxicated 4.0mg Dioxin per liter, the amount of TCDD was 170 kg [26]; if the intoxicated content was 16mg per liter, the TCDD amount was 680 kg [10] If using the information of the Dow Chemical company, the weed killers could be poisoned TCDD with the average content of about 25m per liter The total amount of TCDD sprayed in southern Vietnam was 1062.5 kg [46, tr.21]

Table 1.4 Total number of missions spraying plant killer agents

in the Ranch Hand campaign

Naming convention Number of

spraying missions

Number of toxic agent gallons

1.3.3 Consequences of the agent orange/dioxin on people

1.3.3.1 Impacts of the agent orange/dioxin to human body

Dioxin was the most poisonous agents among poisons known by the people With the dose of about 1 pictogram (pgt), dioxin can cause cancer and reproductive accident for the human Several tens of nanogram (ng) dioxin can immediately kill people Many scientists said that only 85 gram dioxin could kill the population of a town of 8 million people [21, pg.3]

EPA reports recognized dioxin an agent caused cancer for people In 1997, the International Organization of Cancer Study under WHO announced 2,3,7,8-TCDD to

be the agent of the group 1 causing cancer (meaning that group was recognized causing cancer At the same time, in January 2001, the American National Poison Program moved dioxin to the group “agents causing human cancer” Finally, in a study verified

in 2003, scientists affirmed that there was no safe content or Dioxin threshold that cannot cause cancer This could be understood that if one person was infected by dioxin, even with a small amount, he/she could have cancer [46, pg.25]

In a study assessing risks and policies brought out in the international conference of dioxin in Berlin in 2004, the authors from German Environment Department brought out the level of dioxin exposure Accordingly, the minimum dioxin exposure level (WHO, 2002) through each person’s food was 1-10 pg toxic equivalent scheme (TEQ) per day) [26]

There have been many political and scientific debates of the long-term health consequence of the toxic chemicals that were used by the US army in the Vietnam war

In the scientific field, there were many different opinions of the methodology in studying long-term consequence related to low level of exposure and long-term exposure in American and Australian veterans in the Vietnam war Expected effects were not really specific The development and expression of long-term medical consequence depends much on many aspects as we already knew and it hapgens for a long time [60, pg.28] In 1991, the American Congress assigned the US Science Academy to summarize available materials of the long-term medical consequence caused by weedkillers A committee including assessing experts of the Medicine

Institute, the US Science Academy was founded to deal with the above mission This committee analyzed and assessed the results of all epidemical studies and brought out

the following judgments:

1 There are many evidences of the relation between exposure and:

- Soft tissue cancer (soft tissue sarcoma)

- Lymphoma non hodgkin

- Hodgkin lymphoma

- Acne cause by Cl

- Respiratory cancer (larynx, lung, bronchi, and windpipe)

- Prostate cancer

- Malignant marrow pain (multiple myeloma)

- Spina of the spinal column cleaved into two (spina bifida)

- Porphyria cutanea tarda (porphyrin transformation disturbance, specified by the increase of sensitivity with the light; the apgearance of blister spot and other injuries; having porphyrin in liver and urine)

- Peripheral nervous system

- Innate deformities include children, paternal and maternal grandchildren, of people suffered toxic chemicals/dioxin

- Liver cancer with no symptom and must have blood test to define

- Mental disorder: including serious nervous breakdown, worry disturbance; serious depression, personality and behavior troubles, delusion, syndrome of

intelligence declination with no clear cause (except schizophrenia and dipolar emotion trouble)

2 There is information showing the possibility of relation between the exposure and different cancer forms, including prostate cancer of the middle-aged men and marrow pain

3 At present, there is not enough evidence of the relation between exposure and cancers of gall, nose, faucets, throat, female sex organ, kidney, testicle, leukemia forms, natural abortion, congenital malformation, still birth, newborn death, fetus weight decrease, cancer for children of following generations, extraordinariness of sperm and childlessness, consequences of awareness and mentality, disorder in exercise function or the combination of the central mental system, function disorder of the peripheral nervous system, troubles in transformation and digestion (diabetes, change in liver enzyme and lipid transformation, stomach and duodenum ulcers), disturbance in immune, blood circulation and respiration systems

1.3.3.2 Real status of the exposure in the Vietnamese

Dioxin food pollution is the main source causing human exposure More than 85% of the Dioxin amount is received by the adults and kids through using normal foods and suckling [33] Mothers exposed dioxin can pass dioxin to their fetus through placenta and to their babies through breast milk [5, pg.117]

From early 1980s until now, with the great progress of machines and equipments of chemical analysis and study method, scientists in the world stepged up deep studies of dioxin contamination structure into human body, biological impact of dioxin in term of cell and molecule levels Many foreign scientist, especially the US experts cooperated with the National Committee to investigate the consequence of toxic chemicals in the Vietnam war (10-80 committee) This aimed to determine the amount of dioxin kept in environment samples such as soil, mud, biological samples, samples of blood, fat, and milk of people living in organ agent areas Since 1995, the

Vietnam-Russian Tropical Center and the Ministry of Defense also quantified the dioxin amount in samples of soil, mud in the river bottom, lake, sea, and foods usually used by the local people such as peanut, egg, chicken, duck, beef, meat, and fishes in areas infected by the toxic chemicals during wartime At the same time, the Vietnam-Russian Tropical Center also quantified the dioxin in samples of blood, milk and placenta of people having different infection levels with dioxin The analyzing results were in table 1.5 and Figure 1.4

Table 1.5 Content of 2,3,7,8-TCDD and TEQ in mix blood in localities in Vietnam

1 March 1991 Hanoi (n = 33, average age 45.27) <2.4 12

2 November 1991 Thanh Hoa (n = 50, average age 55.22) 2.9 18

3 January 1991 Quang Binh (n = 50, average age 47.38) 2.9 17.2

4 November 1991 Central Highland veterans

(n = 33, average age 48.43) 6.1 40.3

5 January 1991 Quang Tri (n = 50, average age 50.98) 9.5 34

6 January 1991 Hue (n = 30, average age 56.67) 11 57

7 January 1991 Aluoi, Thua Thien Hue (n = 35, average

8 February 1991 Da Nang (n = 49, average age 59.12) 18 77

9 August 1991 Da Nang (n = 100, average age 30.48) 14 96.3

10 August 1991 Da Nang (n = 100, average age 56.49) 19 118

11 January 1991 Pleiku, Gialai (n = 50, average age 57.28) 4.2 34.2

12 January 1992 Phu Yen (n = 43, average age 50.70) 6.2 26.4

13 January 1992 Nha Trang (n = 50, average age 48.64) 4.1 29.5

14 January 1992 Phan Rang (n = 33, average age 56.06) 2.9 31.7

15 February 1991 Cho Ray, HCM (n = 48, average age

16 March 1991 Tay Ninh (n = 50, average age 53.44) 6.8 16

17 August 1992 Hoa Thanh, Tay Ninh (n = 100, average

20 May 1992 Duong Minh Chau, Tay Ninh

(n = 100, average age 49.63) 7 35.3

21 March 1991 Song Be (n = 47, average age 47.09) 9 48

22 March 1991 Tan Uyen, Song Be ,(n = 48, average age

30 August 1992 Bien Hoa, Dong Nai ,(n = 100, average

34 August 1991 Vinh Long (n = 51, average age 59.14) 4.3 16.9

35 August 1991 Tra Vinh (n = 48, average age 57.48) 7.2 27.7

36 August 1991 Chau Doc, An Giang (n = 46, average age

37 August 1991 Long Xuyen, An Giang (n=49, average

38 August 1991 Can Though (n = 52, average age 60.56) 4.8 16.4

39 August 1992 Tra Noc, Can Tho (n = 102, average age

43 August 1991 Ca Mau, Minh Hai,(n = 52, average age

Chemical tests analyzing the content of dioxin kept in people’s mix blood were done in different laboratories by the 10-80 Committee and Vietnam-Russian Tropical Center Their results quite tally with each other

This proves that people living in toxic chemical areas including dioxin infection

at present and in the past have been facing great exposure risk

Figure 1.5 Diagram on comparing 1,2,3,7,8, TCDD and TEQ in mix blood in

localities of Vietnam [ Source: 46]

In 1995, the Vietnam-Russian Tropical Center defined the dioxin content kept in the milk mix samples of six women aged 17 to 37 was 8.78 pg TE per ml They lived

in Binh My commune, Tan Uyen district, Song Be province from five to ten years age before taking tests They do not directly with the Agent Orange in the war and having two children

Table 1.6 Content of 2378-TCDD and TEQ

in breast milk in localities of Vietnam phase 1986-1987 (Unit: pg/g lipid)

2 Ho Chi Minh City, mix sample n = 38 7.1 18.5

3 Ho Chi Minh City, mix sample n = 15 9.9 21.70

4 Ho Chi Minh City, mix sample n = 8 5.0 16.02

6 Tan Uyen, Song Be, mix sample n = 2 2.9 25.35

7 Tan Uyen, Song Be, mix sample n = 2 5.2 8.97

8 Tan Uyen, Song Be, mix sample n = 2 11 17.6

Source [46]

Table 1.7 Dioxin and dioxin equivalence in the Vietnamese women’s breast milk in

comparison with some other countries in the world

(survey of the World Health Organization in February 1988)

Vietnam ( Song Be) 17,0

Vietnam (Can Gio ) 9,0

Mü (los Angeles)

ViÖt Nam (

Hµ Néi)

ViÖt Nam ( HCM )

ViÖt Nam ( S«ng BÐ)

ViÖt Nam (CÇn Giê )

Figure 1.6 Diagram on comparing dioxin content in Vietnamese women’s milk and other countries in the world (survey of the World Health Organization, February 1988 )[46]

Experimental studies show that TCDD is one of the most toxic agents created by technology The differences between TCDD and other toxic chemicals are that it directly interacts with certain biological structures, and its toxicity mechanism is similar to the influencing structure of gene definition TCDD has activity similar to hormone Hence, the quantification of dioxin content kept in people’s biological samples after tens of exposure years also has limited scientific meaning The content of dioxin kept in human body does not reflect sufficiently its evil influences on life of generation suffered dioxin exposure

1.3.3.3 Consequences of the chemical war to humans in Quang Tri province

Quang Tri is one of the provinces most seriously and directly influenced by the chemical war According to studies of scientists at home and abroad, the figures prove that the destroying level in the ecological system and environment is noticeable The total area sprayed with toxic chemicals in Quang Tri is 119,447 ha, making up 3.59% of the total area, in which 17,366 ha (14.53%) is forestland and 102.081ha (85.57%) is without forests The forest resources of Quang Tri in the past were very rich The eastern side of Truong Son range in Binh Tri Thien had 150,000 to 200,000

ha of primeval forests; however, the forests were destroyed much by toxic chemicals After the war, the covering level was only 22% (including artificial forests) and 30% in

2009 (with the influence of people and lethal weapons) According to the Forest Investigation Program Institute (FIPI), about 22% of the natural forests and 31% unoccupied land was sprayed toxic chemicals 33% of the Thach Han river valley - a big river in Quang Tri - was spread toxic chemicals The toxic chemicals changed composition of species in the fauna and flora [12, pg.101]

Ranges of hills and mountains in the edge and center of Cam Lo with thick protected forests before the war became destroyed from 1968 when the US army used toxic chemicals Dioxin and sthousands of unexploded bombs and mines have been still under the land surface, threatening life safety of the minorities and local people According to surveyed and statistic figures, many hill areas in Quang Tri are in areas that are infected by weedkillers of the American army Studies of the 10-80 Committee proved that Quang Tri is one of ten provinces in the areas with great Dioxin concentration Areas much influenced by dioxin include Carol base, 241 hill, Ba Long base (Dakrong), Cam Lo, Gio Linh, and area along McNamara fence line from Gio Linh to Huong Hoa

Speaking of the impacts of Agent Orange/dioxin on people, until now, the statistic information is just general However, it partly voices the terribleness of the chemical war for the Vietnamese in general and the Quang Tri people in particular With the statistics of the Quang Tri Associations of Victims of Agent Orange (report

of the victims of toxic chemicals situation in 2010), there were 8.208 households having people infected by the toxic chemicals/dioxin; the total victims was 15,485 people, making up nearly 2.5% of the Quang Tri population (in 2008, the population of Quang Tri was 633,075) Until now, the alive victims are 13,023 people with 8,028 directed infected people and 7,277 indirect affected persons

Eight districts, one town, and one city in Dong Ha have households with infected chemical victims, in which Trieu Phong district having 1,609 households, making up 19,6% of the entire province Districts with households having infected toxic chemical people are shown in the following table:

Table 1.8 Households suffered from Agent Orange/dioxin in Quang Tri in 1999

Cities, centers,

district

Victim households

Rate (%)

Accumulation rate

Gio Linh district 1.358 16,5 32,5

Trieu Phong district 1.609 19,6 65,4

Hai Lang district 1.078 13,2 78,6

Huong Hoa district 1.368 16,7 95,3

Source: Report of Quang Tri Labor and Social Welfare Service, 2010

Like this, in a comprehensive way, the number of people infected with toxic chemicals in Quang Tri province is not small, spreading all over the province area Some main districts having households infected by toxic chemicals are Trieu Phong,

Cam Lo, Huong Hoa, Gio Linh, and Hai Lang These districts were spread a huge amount of defoliated agent by the US army to destroy our revolutionary bases

With such a large number of dioxin households, the number of victims of toxic chemicals in Quang Tri province is 15,451 people, making up 2.72% of the province population The victims evenly distribute in districts as following:

Table 1.9 Influences of Agent Orange/dioxin on Quang Tri people in 1999

Localities Populati

ons

Direct infected

by toxic chemicals

Malform ation offspring

Malformation grandchildren (paternal, maternal)

Source: Report of Quang Tri Labor and Social Welfare Service in 2010

Victims directly contacting with dioxin suffer its consequence with 8,325 people, making up 1.46% of the total victims of 15,451 Huong Hoa has 1,414 people, making up the highest rate of the province (5.95%), Cam Lo 4.12%, Gio Linh 3.04%, and Dakrong 2.98% These districts of the Quang Tri province are all in heavily polluted area according to the pollution zoning map of the province Figures of victims

in the above table are only statistical It is the need to have deeper and broader surveys

to assess the general picture of the impacts of Agent Orange/dioxin on Quang Tri people