Vietnam War

===Effects of U.S. chemical defoliation===
{{See|Environmental impact of the Vietnam War}}[[File:Defoliation agent spraying.jpg|thumb|left|U.S. helicopter spraying chemical [[defoliant]]s in the [[Mekong Delta]], South Vietnam, 1969]]
One of the most controversial aspects of the U.S. military effort in Southeast Asia was the widespread use of chemical [[defoliant]]s between 1961 and 1971. 20 million gallons of toxic herbicides (like [[Agent Orange]]) were sprayed on 6 million acres of forests and crops by the U.S. Air Force.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Westing |first=Arthur H. |url={{GBurl|id=4SfwtAEACAAJ}} |title=Herbicides in War: The Long-term Ecological and Human Consequences |date=1984 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=5ff}}</ref> They were used to [[Wikt:defoliate|defoliate]] large parts of the countryside to prevent the Viet Cong from being able to hide weaponry and encampments under the foliage, and to deprive them of food. Defoliation was also used to clear sensitive areas, including base perimeters and possible ambush sites along roads and canals. More than 20% of South Vietnam's forests and 3.2% of its cultivated land was sprayed at least once. 90% of herbicide use was directed at forest defoliation.<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|263}} The chemicals used continue to change the landscape, cause diseases and birth defects, and poison the food chain.<ref>{{Harvnb|Palmer|2007}}; {{Harvnb|Stone|2007}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first=Lynne |last=Peeples |date=10 July 2013 |title=Veterans Sick From Agent Orange-Poisoned Planes Still Seek Justice |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/agent-orange-vietnam-veterans_n_3572598.html |access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref> Official US military records have listed figures including the destruction of 20% of the jungles of South Vietnam and 20-36% (with other figures reporting 20-50%) of the [[mangrove]] forests.<ref name=":02">{{cite book |last=Fox |first=Diane N. |url=http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/dnfox/pdf/chemical_politics.pdf |chapter=Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Warfare: Agent Orange |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727144516/http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/dnfox/pdf/chemical_politics.pdf|archive-date=2010-07-27 |title=Synthetic Planet: Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Life |editor-last=Monica |editor-first=Casper |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge Press}}</ref> The environmental destruction caused by this defoliation has been described by Swedish Prime Minister [[Olof Palme]], lawyers, historians and other academics as an [[ecocide]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Zierler |first=David |title=The invention of ecocide: agent orange, Vietnam, and the scientists who changed the way we think about the environment |date=2011 |publisher=Univ. of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-3827-9 |location=Athens, Georgia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-18 |title=How Imperative Is It To Consider Ecocide As An International Crime? |url=https://www.ijllr.com/post/how-imperative-is-it-to-consider-ecocide-as-an-international-crime |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=IJLLR}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Falk |first=Richard A. |date=1973 |title=Environmental Warfare and Ecocide — Facts, Appraisal, and Proposals |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44480206 |journal=Bulletin of Peace Proposals |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=80–96 |doi=10.1177/096701067300400105 |jstor=44480206 |s2cid=144885326 |issn=0007-5035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 February 2022 |last=Cassandra |first=Bianca |title=Industrial disasters from Bhopal to present day: why the proposal to make 'ecocide' an international offence is persuasive |url=https://theleaflet.in/industrial-disasters-from-bhopal-to-present-day-why-the-proposal-to-make-ecocide-an-international-offence-is-persuasive/ |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=The Leaflet |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |first=Giovanni |last=Chiarini |date=1 April 2022 |title=Ecocide: From the Vietnam War to International Criminal Jurisdiction? Procedural Issues In-Between Environmental Science, Climate Change, and Law |ssrn=4072727 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4072727 |journal=Cork Online Law Review}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-07 |title='Ecocide' movement pushes for a new international crime: Environmental destruction |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ecocide-movement-pushes-new-international-crime-environmental-destruction-n1263142 |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=NBC News}}</ref>

Agent Orange and other similar chemical substances used by the U.S. have also caused a considerable number of deaths and injuries in the intervening years, including among the US Air Force crews that handled them. Scientific reports have concluded that refugees exposed to chemical sprays while in South Vietnam continued to experience pain in the eyes and skin as well as gastrointestinal upsets. In one study, ninety-two percent of participants suffered incessant fatigue; others reported [[monstrous birth]]s.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Rose |first1=Hilary A. |last2=Rose |first2=Stephen P. |year=1972 |title=Chemical Spraying as Reported by Refugees from South Vietnam |url=https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.177.4050.710 |magazine=Science |volume=177 |issue=4050 |pages=710–712 |doi=10.1126/science.177.4050.710}}</ref> Meta-analyses of the most current studies on the association between Agent Orange and birth defects have found a statistically significant correlation such that having a parent who was exposed to Agent Orange at any point in their life will increase one's likelihood of either possessing or acting as a genetic carrier of birth defects.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ngo Anh |first1=D. |first2=Richard |last2=Taylor |first3=Christine L. |last3=Roberts |first4=Tuan V. |last4=Nguyen |date=13 February 2006 |title=Association between Agent Orange and Birth Defects: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis |journal=International Journal of Epidemiology |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=35 |issue=5 |pages=1220–1230 |doi=10.1093/ije/dyl038 |pmid=16543362 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Although a variety of birth defects have been observed, the most common deformity appears to be [[spina bifida]]. [[Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins|Chloro-dioxins]], which are inevitably formed as a byproduct of Agent Orange synthesis, are highly [[Teratology|teratogenic]], and there is substantial evidence that the birth defects carry on for three generations or more.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Charles |last1=Ornstein |first2=Hannah |last2=Fresques |first3=Mike |last3=Hixenbaugh |date=16 December 2016 |title=The Children of Agent Orange |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/the-children-of-agent-orange |access-date=23 February 2018 |website=ProPublica}}</ref> In 2012, the United States and Vietnam began a cooperative cleaning up of the toxic chemical on part of [[Danang International Airport]], marking the first time Washington has been involved in cleaning up Agent Orange in Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 August 2012 |title=U.S. starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-usa-agentorange-idUSBRE87803K20120809}}</ref>

[[File:A vietnamese Professor is pictured with a group of handicapped children.jpg|thumb|Handicapped children in Vietnam, most of them victims of [[Agent Orange]], 2004]]

Vietnamese victims affected by Agent Orange attempted a class action lawsuit against [[Dow Chemical]] and other U.S. chemical manufacturers, but the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York|District Court]] dismissed their case.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roberts|2005|p=380}}<br />In his 234-page judgment, the judge observed: "Despite the fact that Congress and the President were fully advised of a substantial belief that the herbicide spraying in Vietnam was a violation of international law, they acted on their view that it was not a violation at the time."</ref> They appealed, but the dismissal was cemented in February 2008 by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Crook|2008}}.</ref> {{As of|2006}}, the Vietnamese government estimates that there are over 4,000,000 victims of [[dioxin]] poisoning in Vietnam, although the United States government denies any conclusive scientific links between Agent Orange and the Vietnamese victims of dioxin poisoning. In some areas of southern Vietnam, dioxin levels remain at over 100 times the accepted international standard.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Anthony |last=Faiola |date=13 November 2006 |title=In Vietnam, Old Foes Take Aim at War's Toxic Legacy |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201065.html |access-date=8 September 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711142514/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201065.html|archive-date=July 11, 2007}}</ref>

The U.S. Veterans Administration has listed [[prostate cancer]], [[lung cancer|respiratory cancers]], [[multiple myeloma]], [[Diabetes mellitus type 2]], [[B-cell lymphomas]], [[soft-tissue sarcoma]], [[chloracne]], [[porphyria cutanea tarda]], [[peripheral neuropathy]] as, "presumptive diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides during military service."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Administration |first=US Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health |title=VA.gov {{!}} Veterans Affairs |url=https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/index.asp |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=www.publichealth.va.gov |language=en}}</ref> Spina bifida is currently the sole birth defect in children of veterans that is recognized as being caused by exposure to Agent Orange.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Veterans' Diseases Associated with Agent Orange |url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509191150/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp |archive-date=9 May 2010 |access-date=4 September 2013 |publisher=[[United States Department of Veterans Affairs]]}}</ref>