SpiceMan Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 The Vietnam War ended nearly 40 years ago, but the casualties continue as birth defects plague the country. There are claims that thousands of children continue to be born with horrific facial deformities due to the 20 million gallons of Agent Orange chemical sprayed by the United States. The Vietnamese call the disfigured youngsters 'the children of Agent Orange'. Da Nang in central Vietnam is thought to have the highest level of congenital deformity in the world. Inside Out's Mark Jordan joins a team of top London plastic surgeons on their unpaid mission to help these children through the charity Facing the World. Video at BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23632245 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Took decades for the US government to do anything for the veterans, and even now it is tough to get disability payments out of them. Good luck getting the Feds to pay anything to victims in Vietnam. p.s. Monsanto was behind Agent Orange. Does that name ring a bell? Dow Chemical was another biggie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiceMan Posted September 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Yes, I know of Monsanto as the company that is doing its damnedest to patent America's food supply by the back door. Not expecting any compensation from the Feds for those Vietnamese children. Just relieved my own country didn't get dragged into that war, making it possible the London doctors to do their bit to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Actually, the British SAS were training American Special Forces in jungle warfare in Malaysia, but that was "clandestine". Also, there are stories about some of the Australian SAS in RVN having an occasional Brit with them at times. But officially, the UK stayed out. Furthermore, the UK had some fighting of its own to do in North Borneo, where the "Indonesian Confrontation" was taking place. http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Borneo/index.html The US has had medical teams in Vietnam in recent years. There is more contact between the former enemy governments than you'd expect, especially now that China has again become Hanoi's enemy #1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Monsanto started out as respectable petrochemical company producing plastics, polystyrene (Styrofoam) and synthetics. It was also the first company to mass produce visible LED's. It was only later when they along with DOW start developing nasty pesticides of which Agent Orange was just one and then eventually getting into GMO's, think they sold off all their petrochemical interests in the mid 90's, in fact back in the late 80's the last project I did in UK before heading east was on a steel works where we recovered the Coke Oven Gas (COG) from the blast furnace which was 55% Hydrogen and through a Reactive Absorption process "Scrub" it to 99.9% pure Hydrogen to feed the Monsanto plant on the next plot. As for DOW Chemicals, I have never trusted them. I won't say why but I have my own reasons which may be classed as libellous if I was to make them public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 My understanding is that the birth defects continue due to the water being contaminated. As it washes downstream it picks up the remnants of AO. Anyone else have any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 I didn't think I had any contact with AO. Then a vet buddy said to me, "Remember how nothing grew on the fire base or around the perimeter? And why do you think there was no vegetation within about 50 meters of the main roads?" Oh. Turned out we'd been living with the stuff, even sleeping on the ground sprayed with it. Still, I have seen photos of my old fire base taken 25 years later, It is all green and lush again, scarcely a sign that anything was ever there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Well, the US is planning action against Syria for chemical weapons' use. Glad to see they never went down that road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Many a US Vet had the AO shower while on the Asian Vacation. Saw my neighbor/friend slowly die from AO with the VA turning a blind eye...fuckers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 The US Chemical Co (I think Dow) had an agent orange factory in little ol' NZ. I remember the fuss when in the '80s the ground had to be dug up and incinerated to get rid of the dioxins... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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