The Social Medicine Portal

Agent Orange and the Vietnamese Community In the Bronx

Nestled amidst the McDonalds, Duncan Donuts and various Latin eateries of Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, sits the World of Taste Deli/Restaurant (formerly the Phung Hung Market), a cheery Vietnamese restaurant serving authentic sandwiches and various noodle soups.  It is one of many signs of our local Vietnamese community.

One of the health concerns of the Vietnamese patients who visit our clinic has been the possible health sequelae of the use of Agent Orange by US forces during the Vietnam War.  On Friday, September 19, 2008 we had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ngô Thanh Nhàn, a Vietnamese activist in the Agent Orange campaign.  He spoke at a forum organized by the South East Asian community in the Bronx entitled “Justice is Healing.”  [We will be discussing this forum in a future post.].  Mr. Nhàn’s presentation follows that of Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, one of the leading Vietnamese obstetrician-gynecologists, who spoke at our Social Medicine Rounds in November of 2007.  Both are members of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign. This campaign is a joint initiative by US veterans and Vietnamese living in the US.

Agent Orange was one of several defoliants sprayed by the US Army during the Vietnam War. Defoliants kill plants and were intended to deprive guerilla fighters of hiding places and destroy crops that might feed them.  In addition, the Army sought to make entire regions “uninhabitable” forcing their population into controlled villages (called strategic hamlets).

These defoliants were contaminated with dioxin, considered one of the most toxic substances known to man.  The health impacts of dioxin were succinctly summarized in a 2007 American Public Health Association statement on Agent Orange:

“Dioxins are known to be risk factors for cancer, immune deficiency, reproductive and developmental disorders, and central nervous system and peripheral nervous system effects.

Studies conducted by the international scientific community have shown the association between exposure to the herbicides and health outcomes, including cancer, reproductive illnesses, immune deficiency, endocrine deficiencies, nervous system damage, and other ill effects and possible developmental disabilities and emotional problems in children.

Those negatively affected may include children born to parents who were sprayed directly. Current conditions recognized by the US Veterans Administration as service connected to Agent Orange exposure include the following: soft tissue sarcoma, chloracne, Hodgkins Disease, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy, porphyria cutanea tarda, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, diabetes (type 2), and spina bifida in the children of veterans.”

About 1/10^th of Vietnam is estimated to have been sprayed with some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange.  Dioxin hot spots remain today around US air bases.   Upwards of 2.1 million people may have been exposed to Agent Orange.

There is a strong case that the use of Agent Orange and other herbicides is illegal under various international agreements.  In addition, there is evidence that the US military knew that Agent Orange was contaminated with dioxin.

In September of 2004 a group of Vietnamese filed a law suit in New York Federal Court against 36 chemical companies. The suit sought to hold the companies “accountable for their actions when they knew they were providing a poison in orangebanded barrels to the United States government which was to be sprayed on millions of people and vast areas of land in South Viet Nam.” The suit was thrown out of court by Judge Jack Weinstein.  The judge’s decision stated in part: “Defendants moved in those cases for summary judgment based on the government contractor defense-in essence, the claim that the government told us to do it and knew at least as much as we did about the dangers. The court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss those tort-based claims on the grounds that the contractor defense applied.” This lawsuit has been appealed.

There is a need to clean up the dioxin that remains in Vietnam and to care for and compensate the victims of this toxin.  There is also an interest in doing a comprehensive survey of the effects of Agent Orange in the Vietnamese community in the US.  Agent Orange-related damage is also an ongoing problem for US Veterans. The Veterans’ Administration has lots of information on Agent Orange, sprayed “to remove unwanted plant life and leaves which otherwise provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam Conflict.”

Sadly, we are likely witnessing a replay of this story today in Iraq.  Please see our September 12, 2008 posting on the impact of the war on health conditions in Fallujah.

Posted by Matt Anderson,  MD