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The article presents information on the U.S. herbicide program which was implemented during the Vietnam War. It is stated that the program aroused several controversies over the usage of herbicides in military operations. The health hazards caused due to herbicides, specially the effect of Agent Orange on the U.S. veterans of Vietnam was the matter of concern. It is reported that recently the U.S. Air Force declassified few pages of the book "Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961-71," written by Major William A. Buckingham.

Using validated models and methods routinely employed by pesticide regulatory agencies, the absorbed dosages of Agent Orange (AO) herbicide contaminant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p -dioxin (TCDD) were estimated for mixer/loaders, applicators, and individuals in the vicinity of applications of AO by C-123 aircraft during the Vietnam War. Resulting dosages of TCDD were then transformed to estimates of adipose residues, and compared to population biomonitoring of known mixer/loaders and applicators as well as ground troops in Vietnam and civilians in the U.S. Results demonstrate that mixer/loaders and applicators had the greatest exposures and their measured residues of TCDD in adipose were consistent with the estimated exposures. Further, the potentially exposed ground troops, including those who could have been directly sprayed during aerial defoliation, had measured adipose residues that were consistent with those in civilian U.S. populations with no defined source of exposure exposures and both of those cohorts had orders of magnitude less exposure than the mixer/loaders or applicators. Despite the availability of validated exposure modeling methods for decades, the quantitative TCDD dose estimates presented here are the first of their kind for the Vietnam conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Vietnam War, the United States military declared war not just on Vietnamese peoples, but also on nature itself. Operation Ranch Hand served as the U.S. military's answer to the Vietnamese Communist appropriation of the natural world into their war plans, as U.S. planes dumped nearly twenty million gallons of chemical herbicides on Vietnamese fields and forests. Examining and comparing the military and ecological effects of Ranch Hand, this essay assesses the military success of chemical defoliation by looking at military appraisals and early U.S. scientific studies of defoliated areas. Planners expected defoliation to provide a distinct military advantage and frequently made claims that they were trading trees for lives – environmental destruction ostensibly saved the lives of U.S. servicemen. Instead, defoliation's military effects proved very ambiguous and the use of defoliants should be considered a failure in some ways. In trying to characterise defoliation as either a military success or failure, the essay also questions what it means for a piece of technology to succeed or fail and ultimately concludes that the answer to that question depends on the goals for its use, not the technology itself [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By exploring tactical and strategic uses of chemical agents beyond Agent Orange and the other 'Rainbow Herbicides' used as part of Operation Ranch Hand during the Vietnam War, this essay seeks to fill a gap in our under- standing of the chemical war waged by the United States in South-east Asia, and to make a contribution to the growing body of literature devoted to the intersections of military and environmental history. Taking seriously the roles played by both human and non-human actors, it explores how the White House and Pentagon continually attempted, unsuccessfully, to impose more stringent forms of control over southern Vietnam. Herbicidal warfare and the use of forest fire as a military weapon were simply two more failed attempts among many to impose control on a nation, a people, and a landscape - indeed, on nature itself - all of which refused to accept the dictates of American power just as stubbornly as American policymakers refused to accept the limitations of that power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1979, the U.S. Air Force announced that an epidemiologic study would be undertaken to determine whether the Air Force personnel involved in Operation Ranch Hand–the program responsible for herbicide spraying in Vietnam–had experienced adverse health effects as a result of that service. In January 1982 the Air Force Health Study (AFHS) protocol was approved and the 20 year matched cohort study consisting of independent mortality, morbidity and reproductive health components was initiated. This controversial study has been criticized regarding the study''s potential scientific limitations as well as some of the administrative aspects of its conduct. Now, almost 30 years since the implementation of the AFHS and nearly a decade since the final follow up examinations, an appraisal of the study indicates that the results of the AFHS do not provide evidence of disease in the Ranch Hand veterans caused by their elevated levels of exposure to Agent Orange. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article assesses ecocide and the environmental justice movement in relation to the book "Herbicidal Warfare: The Ranch Hand Project in Vietnam," by Paul Cecil. The author participated in the U.S. defoliation program Operation Ranch Hand during Vietnam War. The recognition of the environmental toxic burdens facing communities of color has reportedly driven the U.S. movement. The ideology confronting Cecil about the use and proximity to chemicals is said to unite communities affected by toxic burdens such as Agent Orange victims in Vietnam.

The article discusses the chemical warfare used by U.S. armed forces and their allies during the Vietnam War between 1961 and 1975 in Vietnam. The author reports on twentieth century American military strategies regarding the use of herbicides and chemicals in war. Chemicals used by the U.S. included DDT, Malation, tear gases, and Agent Orange, especially during Operation Ranch Hand from 1962 to 1971. The chemicals were used to target food-producing areas, forested areas abutting strategic military areas, and communications routes.

The article focuses on the health impact of the Vietnam War as a result of chemical warfare, especially the use of Agent Orange by the U.S. military as part of Operation Ranch Hand from 1961 to 1971. It confirms that both Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were exposed to toxic levels of dioxin and consequently have developed a wide range of dioxin-related diseases such as various cancers, infertility, high rates of abnormal pregnancies, and congenital defects such as cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and various skeletal deformities.

US Air Force veterans of Operation Ranch Hand sprayed herbicides contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. Comparisons served in Southeast Asia (SEA) during the same time period but did not spray herbicides. Here we investigate a potential association between exposure to TCDD and prostate cancer. Data were available for 2516 veterans (1019 Ranch Hand and 1497 Comparison) who participated in at least one of six physical examinations starting in 1982 and had a measurement of serum TCDD. We assigned Ranch Hands to two exposure categories: Lower and Higher, based on their median 20-year cumulative TCDD level. In total, 81 Comparison and 59 Ranch Hand prostate cancers were identified between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 2003. We found no overall increase in the risk of prostate cancer in Ranch Hand veterans versus the Comparisons. There was a positive association in Ranch Hand veterans in the Higher TCDD category who served in SEA before 1969 (RR=2.27, 95% CI 1.11–4.66) when more contaminated herbicides were used, but the number of cases was small (n=15). A within-group comparison found that in Comparison veterans, time served in SEA was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer (RR=2.18, 95% CI 1.27–3.76, >789 days versus ≤789 days). No increase in the risk of prostate cancer was observed within the Ranch Hand group in association with TCDD or time served in SEA. These analyses suggest that a longer service in SEA and exposures other than TCDD may have increased the risk of prostate cancer in Comparison veterans.Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology (2006) 16, 184–190. doi:10.1038/sj.jea.7500448; published online 27 July 2005 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the 30-day delay of the Agent Orange study in the U.S. Despite the government standards at hand, researchers found it difficult to get the study approved thus it is already in its 30-day delay. The research is geared in studying the possible effects of the defoliant Agent Orange and other combat factors on U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War. It is suggested that the present or the incoming administration should heed that advice by the National Academy of Sciences wherein they should go ahead with a much-delayed study of Agent Orange. With the new data and advances in geographical information systems, researchers could plug a significant gap in earlier epidemiological studies.

The article discusses the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1975. Agent Orange is a herbicide that contains dioxin. The United States military sprayed approximately 10 to 12 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam during the war. Majority of the Agent Orange was sprayed from the Air Force C-123 aircraft during Operation Ranch Hand from 1962 to 1971. It was used against the enemies during the war. However, American soldiers were also affected by the herbicide. Many Vietnam war veterans point to the dioxin in Agent Orange as the cause of their maladies.

The article focuses on the exposure of 67-year-old former infantryman Larry Carlson regarding the use and storage of thousands of barrels of Agent Orange in Okinawa Island, Japan between 1965 and 1966. It says that the statement of Carlson has challenged the consistent denial of the U.S. government on the presence of Agent Orange in the area. It mentions that the chemicals are transported from Okinawa to South Vietnam to be sprayed over jungles and crops during the herbicidal warfare campaign against Viet Cong called "Operation Ranch Hand." Meanwhile, the Vietnam Red Cross has estimated that three million Vietnamese are affected by the dioxins contained in the herbicide after the war ended.