The Vietnam War's Agent Orange legacy | Unreported World

[Music] I'm in the city that used to be called Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the country's leader during the Vietnam War it's more than 40 years since the conflict ended but its effects I still felt everywhere this is to maternity hospital in Ho Chi Minh City now dr. Furr is based there and she's a tireless campaigner when it comes to making people all over the world aware of the connection between Agent Orange and children born with deformities I'm here to visit something called a peace village one of 13 she has set up she believes many of the children in them have been affected by Agent Orange a defoliant dropped by u.s. forces everybody wants to speak to you this is the peace village would you mind showing me dr. B indeed got Fleur he's internationally respected for her work though she's 77 she feels she can't fully retire she texts me first to meet a little girl called champ you seen cliff valley here south on kaboodle come so this is a child his parents were affected by Asian origin it's flying and these are all signs of children who have been affected by Agent Orange yeah you see five deformities recognized Friday scientific communities versus neural tube defects the quantities of sensory organs the Siamese twins revelation cleft lip and deformities of limbs those deformities are common in Vietnam dr. foie told me that a research study she conducted showed that birth defects in Agent Orange sprayed areas were three or more times higher than other places we take care of many children I think that why the Agent Orange about 60% of them have parents directly exposed to the Agent Orange during war or after but the war was years ago why is it still affecting children now this is third and fourth generation one thing is that they have seen can be transmitted from mother to the babies the Agent Orange used during the war contained a dangerous chemical called dioxin dr. Furr and many scientists believe it can lead to genetic mutations studies where mice were given dioxin showed this it's hard to prove in humans but doctor for herself is convinced that generations of Vietnamese children are being affected some children here were abandoned at birth for some it's a lifelong home like Lloyd okay and this baby very happy you like the big brother yes a big family this your place yes come because Loy was born in an area affected by Agent Orange one of the senior doctors told me they think there's a good chance his disability is dioxin related so you sleep in this room tell me about when you were a baby do you remember much about when you were a baby Keith oh hey mom mom toy yeah Dan boy Hakan young you know none my guy live or die would you rather be living at home with your family no maybe young nothing young a young deputy campaign someone I knew more Gannon woman no getting done are they got and go ahead Jesus am i got em young women damn be this piece village ward is amazing and the work that's been done is incredible but I mean the harsh realities if what doctor first is same about the connection between Agent Orange and the deformities that these kids are suffering is true you know she says 60% of them you know are connected to Agent Orange then the harsh realities they are war victims and war victims they're paying for a war that happened over half a century ago and the sad thing is most of us have forgotten about it [Music] Agent Orange was essentially a weed killer but much much stronger it was used by the American forces to destroy the jungle their enemy used for cover the production process he cause contamination with the most toxic form of dioxin known as TCDD the levels in Agent Orange make it one of the most dangerous chemicals ever manufactured between 1961 and 1971 in that 10-year period the US Army dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange over jungle like this to strip it of all of its foliage which entire team my mind's eye it looks cool rocky not a youngling oh why am i checking my being it he'd [ __ ] it off dang it that's a take multi mr. Sun is a decorated Vietnam War veteran he tells us he's the only one in his platoon that survived the war wait damn do I die Moon's up so far veto go pre-matching up guys don't even know look that new take on modernize how the LA Zoo it Kaito China there are blocking Mukti open sir will you directly affected by Agent Orange did it hit you I told you to keep hit hit [ __ ] at all Zola I can assume that sooner do you mean that no one I'm not gonna lie I'm not going to corner sons daughter boy who is 41 is severely disabled and is classified by the government as an agent orange victim because of her father's exposure during the war at Eden cause after sir until that night leave that man hangout named Lonnie Jung this I'm opening know so somebody can cause I can unite let the feet whatever sorry mother Wolverine um based on the limited studies that have been done the Vietnam Red Cross estimate those affected by Agent Orange at around 3 million of whom 150,000 are children with birth defects the government provides a monthly payment to over 200,000 families to lift [Music] their son home is 38 and a celebrated monochord musician and composer he's gradually gone blind you and your sister and your parents are known as Agent Orange victims how does that make you feel the final call it is a viola no no cams and he what only family you know what I mean oh I okay tornado clarity already maybe they don't in la fecha de of the cantina cos they play music where confetti hey mi casa Helicon gone in the his own he's a young guy to a Kurumi do you ever feel angry or frustrated that what has happened to you ko-teng boy you guys we need what comes up you love me that's how I mean okay couch in China in Montevideo didn't know class wake up to tempo Conway I knew what what lovely people and you know I'm guessing that when son left the army he was probably hoping to leave behind the war and all the memories of the atrocities but birth of these kids and the fact that they're both disabled mean that his family can never forget Vietnamese doctors are concerned parents affected by Agent Orange are passing on genetic defects to their children but they're also worried about the fact there are still areas heavily contaminated with dioxin one of them is vana airbase which is right behind me and it's been quoted of having dioxin levels that are 350 times higher than the international safety standards now we've been told that there are us specialists in there at the moment carrying out a cleanup operations but what I think is absolutely nuts is that the only thing that's separating the Vietnamese population from one of the most contaminated places on the planet is of why offense then Aang was the main u.s. airbase during the war where huge stockpiles of Agent Orange were stored the chemical residue remained seeping into their names water supply and getting into the food chain the US government has donated millions in aid to cleanup Danang and other hotspots working with the Vietnamese government to Da Nang Association for victims of Agent Orange introduced me to one of the families whose children might have been affected by dioxin their dad served in the Army after the war but went to areas that had been sprayed and he believes that he may have passed on the effects to his young son who's now in Da Nang hospital fighting for his life I'm gonna go and meet him dip has had heart problems all of his knife but was recently rushed to hospital when things took a turn for the worse his parents meaning hai have to take it in turns to give him constant care at the moment you can't lie down because it's too painful he has to sleep propped up he needs a heart transplant yeah and how much would it cost a little at a time so it's about $40,000 and how will you get that money what do you think has caused dips problems even our messenger that I believe in [Music] dibbs heart defect is on the list of conditions that the Vietnamese government associate with Agent Orange but his family could also just be unlucky ir s-- tips doctor what he thinks speaking to his parents they believe that his illness could have been caused by Agent Orange because his father worked in the Army and he moved through contaminated fields anything can happen so until now the exactly cause is not clear the problem is not only have they got to deal with their son who is in so much pain but they don't know the reason but medicine will have a limited yeah so we know what is happening in that body but we don't know the cause exactly there's no tests that can prove a genetic illness has been caused by Agent Orange what is these last few months been like for you calm down calm down the puppeteer they will be home you're done dropped it upon nothing okay [Music] it's not just exposure to Agent Orange in the past that worries dips father he believes his village is still affected by it since our Ming I'd really love for you to show me how this area was impacted by Agent Orange [Music] [Music] Loic on your line oh yeah black on black hmm very cool baby come come come back now so in this area can you not grow any more crops from combat hunger attack do you think the reason for the poor crops is because of Agent Orange I doubt they do come with you know what can we learn techno-pop no can you learn okay no no no tater I'm gonna take these you're gonna Randall don't attack them we were told by the Dan hang Association for victims of Agent Orange that it was stored near here but that no tests have been done to check dioxin levels some men can't know for sure but he's convinced his family have been at risk hello even though it's very sick dippers ask to come home from hospital [Music] EAL my why did you want to come back home I meet the rest of the family I know your son he also has problems as well don't worry about me do you mind if we see your stomach another cookie but you're in porn and after you write because men can't prove he was exposed to dioxin the family can't get any compensation you can see how much they really cherish having yet back home man it was Depp who actually requested to be brought back home because he wanted to be around the people who loved him but what just keeps sticking with me and keeps it means that they will never ever know for sure what has caused their son's illnesses and all they can do is just enjoy these precious moments that they have left sadly just a week after my visit dear passed away it could be lack of funds it could be lack of will or that the science is very hard but I'm shocked at how much still needs to be done to understand the effects of Agent Orange I go to see dr. foot back at the peace village I know you've been working all day today's how do you feel when you see all of these children here whose parents have been affected by Agent Orange and they've passed it on to their children they're people who cause such crimes they don't recognize their responsibilities for example the chemical companies they still there and they don't have any responsibility I think everybody must get angry with them in 2008 dr. four was a key witness when Vietnamese groups tried to sue the u.s. chemical companies that made Agent Orange they lost because the US Court ruled its use didn't violate the rules of war and that the u.s. government and manufacturers weren't aware of all the risks to human health without admitting liability for the effects of Agent Orange the US government has given 21 million dollars to help disabled people in Vietnam living in sprayed areas dr. Fleur would like more and how difficult is it for a family who give birth to a child who's affected by Agent Orange first of all is that to face people living around you see they say that oh you have done something so that that punish you to give you such a child so they get a lot of stigma from the people around because they have very strong they most of them are very poor because they live in the spread areas in the warzone experience if you go for them to take care of such a child before I leave Vietnam I want to catch up with the peace villages Big Brother no no you go to train now yes I now was women he's a fellow athlete I've dropped in on a photoshoot ins friends of doing for noise social media profile less our success story from the peace village took up Paralympics women represents Vietnam and now he's having a photo shoot look at him he's a star with all of this training you're doing do you want to try and make it into the team for 2020 for the Paralympics in Tokyo as I make this what to win gold yeah no no no go oh you got your medals Wow Asian para games my MA yeah my MA all very special I know tell me about your disability your condition you know do you know much about the history and the reasons don't wave and I'ma be Bonita unite he like come be quantum lamp we hang time and gamma qu some powerful there you're really confident smiling all the time in it but do you think some of the other children here do you think they will have more problems when they go out into society when love move yourself a yo-yo like Joker a man so totin man man nice sound booth doing them up and over like quick talk comma like a heavy heart la latina so happy mm I know it's hard it's about who you are as a person not your disability yeah thank you I love Lloyd's attitude he's a huge inspiration and perhaps represents the next generation of you forwards in Vietnam [Music] no one is gonna accept blame for what happened in a dreadful war but if the US and Vietnam got together to investigate the effects of Agent Orange further it might stop more children being born with terrible disabilities [Music]

Channel: Unreported World

Views: 1,943,819

Keywords: agent orange vietnam, agent orange effects, agent orange vietnam war, va agent orange, agent orange in vientam, agent orange exposure, napalm, agent orange cancer, agent orange disease, agent orange symptoms, agents orange chemical, vietnam, viet nam, viet, vietnam war, the vietnam war, war in vietnam, us vietnam war, krishnan guru-murthy, guru murthy, krishnan guru murthy, unreported world, channel 4 unreported world, channel 4, unreported world vietnam

Id: kMzJvwG2rsQ

Length: 23min 4sec (1384 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 13 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/cherrytarts]

I went to the Vietnam war museum in Ho Chi Minh. It was the most horrifying thing. My friends and I didn't utter a word for hours after we left.

You can see plenty of people walking with crutches and with missing limbs, sitting around and begging, even though the government tries its best to hide them from the tourists.

I respect the Vietnamese immensely for all the shit they've gone through - they still go through a lot. They're so nice and will go out of their way to help you, and their cuisine is amazing (Bourdain thought so too). Stay safe Vietnam!

[u/thinkingkillsbeing]

Having visited the War museum in Ho Chi Minh City after watching the entire Ken Burns documentary on the vietnam war, I am appalled that he didn't even mention the effects of agent orange on genetic birth defects. It seems to be the most apparant after effect of the War still present in Vietnam.

[u/ChopsNZ]

Such a beautiful country with wonderful people. You see so many with terrible deformaties and those are just the fraction of the ones you actually see out and about.

[u/nev_dull]

Google "Gagetown atrocity". It's about CFB Gagetown, a Canadian army base near Oromocto, New Brunswick. Agent orange was sprayed there for decades and many many people died . The Canadian government sent checks out to lot of people (my father included) for $20K or so-- had he cashed that I believe he would have given up the right to sue.
A link to the wikipedia page about it is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagetown_(film)

[u/Satz0r]

I really struggle to watch this.

[u/Calltoarts]

I remember reading about the use of these in ontario. Conspiracy: maybe the pesticides are the reason kids have so many allergies these days

[u/notmah5inalForm]

Absolutely disgusting, and every day our repulsive so called leaders and the absolutely disgraceful "news entertainment" channels are trying to drum up support to invade another country illegally smh this country is sick .. what kind of fuckin gigantic imbicel can look at the usa's well documented history of carnage and greed and actually have the fuckin audacity to shape their mouth to talk shit about a Kaepernick, an Assange, a Snowden, or anyone pushing against or exposing the monstrous hipocracy of the usa.

[u/thebarkbarkwoof]

Monsanto at work