The Vietnam War concluded with the fall of the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, to Communist forces on April 30, 1975. However, the conflict’s chemical aftermath continues to impact millions. Nguyen Thanh Hai, a 34-year-old individual battling disabilities associated with Agent Orange, epitomizes the hard-hitting reality of these challenges. Day-to-day activities, such as dressing in his blue shirt, understanding the alphabet, drawing, or crafting simple sentences, are of significant difficulty for him.
Hai’s hometown is Da Nang, a location marred by a history of U.S. military presence during the war. The end of the conflict left the region with the harmful residue of enormous quantities of Agent Orange. This toxic relic continuously infiltrates the region’s food and water resources, leaving enduring impacts on residents, just like Hai, over several generations.
Throughout the Vietnam War, U.S. forces utilized approximately 72 million liters of defoliants to expose their enemy. More than half of these substances included Agent Orange, a potent mix of herbicides mixed with the toxic chemical, dioxin. The harmful effects of dioxin include possible links to cancer, developmental abnormalities, and sustained environmental damage.
Currently, an estimated 3 million people, including numerous children, deal with severe health conditions stemming from exposure to this chemical. While Vietnam has committed significant resources to cleaning up the lingering toxins over the years, substantial support from the U.S. has been instrumental. However, much work remains, as the cleanup efforts are far from over.
With the prospect of President Donald Trump reducing foreign aid, the fear broods among millions of Vietnamese people that the U.S. might disregard the remaining cleanup of Agent Orange. This concern adds a new dimension to the long-standing trail of contamination left by the war, spanning across 58 out of Vietnam’s 63 provinces.
These so-called dioxin hotspots underscore the menacing health implications that can potentially span across several generations, affecting the descendants of those initially exposed to the chemicals. The breadth of these effects range from cancer to congenital deformities impacting the spine and nervous system. However, the specific influence of Agent Orange and its effects on human health across generations remains a point of scientific debate.
The ambiguity in scientific findings arises partly from the early focus on detecting and eliminating dioxin from the environment, rather than studying its impact on human health. Thus, establishing causal links remains a challenge. An individual’s health problems linked to Agent Orange, like Hai’s disabilities, are traced by studying their family history, residency, and an array of health complications associated with the toxin.
Hai, like many others, dreams of a normal life, one in which he could become a soldier like his grandfather. His challenges restricted his mobility, confining him to the house and limiting his social interactions while his family worked. It wasn’t until five years ago that he started attending a special school where he found happiness among friends. Other students at the school nurse aspirations to take up skilled professions like tailoring or incense making.
The symptomatic impact of the toxin goes beyond the human scale, affecting the country’s natural defenses as well. Close to half of Vietnam’s mangrove trees have been lost – the very ones that buffered the shores against strong storms. The irreversible damage extended to the tropical forest, while the defoliants stripped away vital nutrients in some of the most climate-sensitive regions of Vietnam.
In the aftermath of the war, Vietnam took steps to contain the widespread contamination, sequestering highly afflicted regions like the Da Nang airport and offering support to the affected families. However, the U.S. was slow to acknowledge the health implications until the mid-2000s when it started funding cleanup efforts in Vietnam.
The U.S. accepted the possibility of certain diseases being related to exposure to Agent Orange in 1991, offering benefits to veterans diagnosed with these conditions. Since then, the U.S. had spent over $155 million up until 2021 to assist people suffering from disabilities in regions affected by Agent Orange or littered by unexploded bombs, as documented by the U.S. State Department.
Remediation or cleanup from Agent Orange is often costly and carries inherent risks. Extracting the highly contaminated soil and subjecting it to high heat for treatment remains a complex operation, while more stable soils are secured in landfills. Despite years of toil, several large sites await attention. In Da Nang, a $110 million cleanup project by the U.S. in 2018 made progress, yet a stretch of land equivalent to ten football fields is still heavily contaminated.
Addressing historical conflicts laid a foundation for strengthening ties between the U.S. and Vietnam. By 2023, Vietnam elevated the U.S. to its highest diplomatic status of ‘comprehensive strategic partner.’ The U.S.’s commitment toward a harmonious and progressive Indo-Pacific region reiterates this strengthening partnership.
Nevertheless, budget cuts to USAID by President Donald Trump disrupted essential initiatives in Vietnam, creating doubts around the commitment and reliability of U.S. aid. The departure of most USAID staffers by the end of the year might leave nobody to oversee the administration of funds for remediation programs, adding to the sense of uncertainty.
Organizations such as the Association for Victims of Agent Orange hope that political changes in Washington will only momentarily interrupt ongoing projects, with a return to progress expected soon. But an urgent concern is the exposed contaminated soil that could make its way into water systems and harm more people if cleanup efforts are stalled. As stated by the U.S. State Department, war legacy projects like clearing dioxin at Bien Hoa or demining programs in Central Vietnam continue to be active. However, as the future remains uncertain, so too do the fates of the victims.