Waiting for an Army to Die
Page 23
Hersh, Seymour M. Chemical and Biological Warfare: America’s Hidden Arsenal. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968.
Linedecker, Clifford. Kerry: Agent Orange and an American Family. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982.
Pfeiffer, E. W., Arthur H. Westing et al. Harvest of Death: Chemical Warfare in Vietnam and Cambodia. New York: Free Press, 1971.
Whiteside, Thomas. The Pendulum and the Toxic Cloud: The Course of Dioxin Contamination. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1979.
___. The Withering Rain: America’s Herbicidal Folly. New York: Dutton, 1971.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1. Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, Jr., “Report to Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs on the Association Between Adverse Health Effects and Exposure to Agent Orange.” May 5, 1990, p.p. 16–17.
2. Ibid., p. 18.
3. Ibid., p. 15.
4. Ibid., p. 19
5. Institute of Medicine. Cancer and the Environment: Gene-Environment Interactions, August 2002.
4 - A MAIMED GENERATION
1. Agent Orange: Information for Veterans Who Served in Vietnam (Questions and Answers), Office of Public and Consumer Affairs, Veterans Administration, June 1982.
2. Clifford Linedecker, Kerry: Agent Orange and an American Family (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982), p. 176.
3. Ton That Tung, MD, Ton Duc Lang, MD, and Do Duc Van, MD (Viet Duc Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam), “The Problem of Mutagenic Effects on the First Generation after Exposure to Defoliants”; Ton That Tung, Ton Duc Lang, and Do Duc Van, “The Mutagenacity of Dioxin and Its Effects on Reproduction among Exposed War Veterans,” unpublished papers.
4. Ibid.
5. Arthur W. Galston, “Herbicides in Vietnam,” New Republic, November 25, 1967.
6. Martin Woollacott, “Agent Orange Still Takes Toll,” The Guardian, reprinted in US and World Section of the Boston Globe, June 4, 1980.
7. Testimony of Maureen Ryan before the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US Senate, February 21, 1980.
8. Thomas Whiteside, The Withering Rain: America’s Herbicidal Folly (New York: Dutton, 1971), p. 46.
9. “Vets Told Agent Orange Decision Is Years Away” (AP), Ithaca Journal, September I, 1982.
5 - DYING DOWN UNDER
1. Graham Bell, “Agent Orange: ‘It Won’t Even Hurt Dumb Animals,’” Grifitti, student newspaper of Griffith University (Australia).
2. John Dux and P. J. Young, Agent Orange: The Bitter Harvest (Sydney: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980), p. 67.
3. Ibid., p. 63.
4. Ibid., p. 131.
6 - STONEWALL
1. Statement of the National Veterans Law Center before the Subcommittee on Medical Facilities and Benefits of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US House of Representatives, July 22, 1980.
2. Ibid., p. 6.
3. Ibid.
4. Report by the comptroller general of the United States, “Health Effects of Exposure to Herbicide Orange in South Vietnam Should Be Resolved,” April 6, 1979, p. 12.
5. Ibid., p. 6.
6. Statement of the National Veterans Law Center, p. 14.
7. Ibid., p. 16.
8. Ibid., p. 16–18.
9. Testimony of Philip Handler, president, National Academy of Sciences National Research Council, Washington, D.C., before the Subcommittee on Medical Facilities and Benefits of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US House of Representatives, September 16, 1980.
10. Ibid.
11. Seymour M. Hersh,
Chemical and Biological Warfare: America’s Hidden Arsenal
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968), pp. 153–54.
12. Statement of William J. Jacoby Jr., MD, deputy chief medical director, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Veterans Administration, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US House of Representatives, May 6, 1981, pp. A-3-A-4.
13. Public Hearings, New York State Temporary Commission on Dioxin Exposure, Farmingdale, New York, June 20, 1981.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Statement of Max Cleland, administrator of veterans’ affairs, before the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US Senate, February 21, 1980.
17. Statement of the National Veterans Law Center, p, 22.
18. Ibid., p. 24.
19. New York Times, August 18, 1981.
20. The American Legion, January 1982, p. 7.
21. Ibid.
22. Washington Post, November 19, 1981.
23. “Vets Told Agent Orange Decision Is Years Away,” Ithaca Journal, September 1, 1982.
24. Ibid.
25. “VA Turns over Agent Orange Study to HHS Unit,” Washington Post, October 15, 1982.
7 - WHEN YOU CAN’T SUE THE GOVERNMENT THAT KILLS YOU
1. Karen J. Payne, “Beyond Vietnam, Beyond Politics, Beyond Causes…,” Barrister, Spring 1979.
2. Victor J. Yannacone, W. Keith Kavenagh, and Margie T. Searcy, “Agent Orange Litigation: Cooperation for Victory,” Trial, February 1982.
3. Ibid.
4. Victor J. Yannacone, W. Keith Kavenagh, and Margie T. Searcy, “Dioxin, Molecule of Death,” Trial, December 1981.
5. Victor J. Yannacone et al., “Agent Orange Litigation: Cooperation for Victory,” Trial, February 1982.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8 - CASUALTY REPORT
1. Direct testimony of Dr. Michael L. Gross before the administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency.
2. Ibid.
9 - HUMANS, RATS, AND LESSER BEINGS
1. Matthew Meselson, interview with filmmaker Daniel Keller, February 26, 1981.
2. Federal Register, “Emergency Suspension Order for 2,4,5-T and Silvex” 15874–15920, March 15, 1979.
3. Drs. Ton That Tung, Ton Duc Lang, and Do Duc Van (Viet Duc Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam), “The Mutagenacity of Dioxin and Its Effects on Reproduction among Exposed War Veterans,” unpublished paper.
4. David Kriebel, “The Dioxins’ Genetic Risks,” Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, August 1979.
5. Statement of Dr. Steven D. Stellman, assistant vice president for epidemiology, American Cancer Society, before the Subcommittee on Veteran’s Affairs, US House of Representatives, July 22, 1980.
6. Testimony of Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Medical Center, before the Subcommittee on Medical Facilities and Benefits of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US House of Representatives, July 22, 1980.
7. L. Hardell and A. Sandstrom, British Journal of Cancer, Vol. 39 (1971), p. 711.
8. O. Axelson et al., Läkartidningen, Vol. 76 (1979), p. 3505.
9. M. Eriksson et al., Läkartidningen, Vol. 76 (1979), p. 3872.
10. A. M. Thiess and Frentzel-Beyme, “Mortality of Persons Exposed to Dioxin after an Accident Which Occurred in the BASF on the 13th of November, 1953,” Medichemen Congress, University of San Francisco, September 5–9, 1977.
11. M. Eriksson et al., “Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Exposure to Chemical Substances: A Case-Referent Study,” British Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol. 38 (1981), pp. 27–33.
12. Thomas Whiteside, The Pendulum and the Toxic Cloud: The Course of Dioxin Contamination (New Haven and London: Yale University Press), 1979, pp. 38–39.
13. Ibid., pp. 116–17.
14. Ibid., p. 120.
15. Ibid., pp. 120–21.
16. Ibid., p. 124.
17. Ibid., pp. 74–75.
18. Statement of Robert O. Muller, executive director, Vietnam Veterans of America, before the Subcommittee on Medical Facilities and Benefits of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US House of Representatives, July 22, 1980.
19. Sierra Club presentation, WIXT, June 27, 1980.
20. Statement of Dr. Jeanne M. Stellman, associate professor of public health, Division of Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, b
efore the Subcommittee on Medical Facilities and Benefits of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, US House of Representatives, July 22, 1980.
10 - THE VIETNAMIZATION OF AMERICA
1. “The Globe Incident: 1969–81,” New Times, June 3–9, 1981.
2. “Herbicide Concerns: A Basic Introduction,” Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), P.O. Box 375, Eugene, Oregon 97440.
3. Jack Anderson, Washington Post, April 24, 1978.
4. Phil Keisling, “The Praying of Oregon,” Willamette Week, December 31, 1979.
5. NCAP Staff, “The Saga of 2,4,5-T,” NCAP News, Fall-Winter 1981–82.
6. Philadelphia Inquirer, October 31, 1982.
7. “Herbicide Information Packet,” Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), p. 65.
8. Ibid., pp. 66–67.
9. Ibid., pp. 67–68.
10. Paul Merrell, “IBT Officials Indicted for Fraud,” NCAP News, Spring–Summer 1981.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FRED A. WILCOX has been a scholar on the Vietnam War for the past thirty years. He has published numerous articles and made several media appearances as a trusted authority on the war and its aftereffects. He teaches at Ithaca College.
ABOUT SEVEN STORIES PRESS
Seven Stories Press is an independent book publisher based in New York City. We publish works of the imagination by such writers as Nelson Algren, Russell Banks, Octavia E. Butler, Ani DiFranco, Assia Djebar, Ariel Dorfman, Coco Fusco, Barry Gifford, Hwang Sok-yong, Lee Stringer, and Kurt Vonnegut, to name a few, together with political titles by voices of conscience, including the Boston Women’s Health Collective, Noam Chomsky, Angela Y. Davis, Human Rights Watch, Derrick Jensen, Ralph Nader, Loretta Napoleoni, Gary Null, Project Censored, Barbara Seaman, Alice Walker, Gary Webb, and Howard Zinn, among many others. Seven Stories Press believes publishers have a special responsibility to defend free speech and human rights, and to celebrate the gifts of the human imagination, wherever we can. For additional information, visit www.sevenstories.com.
Copyright
Copyright © 1989, 2011 by Fred A. Wilcox
First Seven Stories Press edition, August 2011
Second Edition
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilcox, Fred A.
Waiting for an army to die : the tragedy of Agent Orange / Fred A. Wilcox. — 1st Seven Stories ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-1-60980-339-1
1. Veterans–Diseases–United States. 2. Agent Orange–War use. 3. Agent Orange–Toxicology. 4. Vietnam War, 1961-1975–Chemical warfare. I. Title. II. Title: Tragedy of Agent Orange.
UB369.W54 2011
363.17′91–dc23
2011023266
v3.1
Footnotes
1
According to Vietnam Veterans of America, “The General Accounting Office studied Marines in Northern I Corps from 1966 to 1969, and comparing troop placements with the records of where and when Agent Orange was sprayed, found that nearly 6,000 Marines were within one-third of a mile of the spraying of Agent Orange on the day of the spraying missions. Another 10,600 were within nine-tenths of a mile on the day of the spraying. The total equals 8 percent of all Marines in the area during the three years studied. The General Accounting Office study not only verifies that veterans were exposed, but strongly suggests that many more veterans were exposed than anyone had previously been able to prove” (Vietnam Veterans of America Newsletter, March/April 1980).
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2
Name withheld by request.
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3
Between 1962 and 1970 approximately twelve hundred men served as pilots and grounds crew members with the US Air Force’s Operation Ranch Hand. Because many of these men were exposed to herbicides, either by handling barrels in which they were stored or from mists that blew into the cockpit and fuselage of the C-123s, the Air Force has commenced a study to determine if their health has been affected. According to Lieutenant Colonel Philip Brown (USAF) the study will continue through the year 2002 and will involve three phases. In the first phase the Air Force will examine the records of deceased Ranch Hand personnel to determine the cause of death. This, says Brown, will continue for the next twenty years. The second or “questionnaire phase” involves sending a representative from Lou Harris and Associates into each Ranch Hander’s home with a questionnaire in hand. “We’re interested in knowing what happened to them since Vietnam, what kind of offspring they’ve fathered, and we also ask the spouse about her experience so we can address the fertility or reproductive history of these people.” The third phase of the study involves asking former Ranch Handers to undergo a physical examination at the ’Kelsey-Seybold Clinic where, Brown says, they will undergo a thorough physical and neuropsychiatric examination.
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4
“U.S. Cover-Up in Defoliant Suite Charged,” Newsday, February 18, 1982.
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5
Years later Strait will learn that using army-issue purifying tablets to cleanse the water contaminated with dioxin is like trying to neutralize a vat of cyanide with an aspirin.
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6
By the war’s end, Operation Ranch Hand had sprayed 1,933,699 pounds of arsenic on the Vietnamese countryside.
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7
Puff the Magic Dragon: C-47 cargo plane equipped with three electric-powered Gatling machine guns.
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8
According to Australian authors John Dux and P. J. Young, George Lugg suffered “what was described as a ‘breakdown’” in 1973. But a friend of Lugg’s, Mr. Geoffrey Foot, says that following the breakdown Lugg “became very irrational in his behavior and the government fobbed that off as psychiatric disorder, but it was certainly more than just a mental breakdown; it was a distinct physical breakdown in his appearance and everything.” Although Lugg was obviously exposed to herbicides over a period of time, no one is absolutely certain whether his physical and emotional collapse was caused by his exposure. “In his day he was a very brilliant man,” says his sister, Mrs. D. A. Hardy, “but at fifty he lost it all.”
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9
Some scientists believe that dioxin attacks the enzyme system, lowering the body’s ability to fight infection and making the exposed individual more susceptible to disease. Experimental rhesus monkeys given minute quantities of dioxin develop rashes, lose weight, become listless and literally waste away in a matter of days or weeks, depending on the amount of dioxin they ingest.
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10
For a copy of this memo, see Appendix, 191–194.
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11
In 1980 the VA rescinded the requirement that veterans prove exposure when asking for information, assistance, or treatment for what they believed to be Agent Orange-related illnesses.
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12
For the American Legion’s August 24–26, 1982, resolution no. 410 (Iowa), “The American Legion Policy on Agent Orange,” see Appendix, 197–199.
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13
At the first “Defoliation Conference” sponsored by the Department of Defense and attended by several chemical compan
ies (including Dow and Monsanto), General Fred J. Delmore, commanding general, US Army, Edgewood Arsenal, told the companies’ representatives that the DOD wanted to make sure that whatever it used for defoliants would be “perfectly innocuous to man and animals and at the same time will do the job.” Albert Hayward, chief of the program coordination office at Fort Detrick, told the conference that “it goes without saying that the materials must be applicable by ground and air spray, that they must be logistically feasible, and that they must be nontoxic to humans and livestock in the area affected.” In a 1964 press release, Dow asserted that its 2,4,5-T was absolutely nontoxic to humans or animals, but by 1965 the company confirmed that it contained TCDD. Dow also admitted that it had not informed the USDA or the DOD that it had discovered 2,4,5-T to be contaminated with TCDD.