4/26/2005: Agent Orange victim

The official caption says Xuan Minh, 3, looks out from his bed at the Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Min city on Friday March 25,2005, suffering from what is believed to be the effects of the jungle defoliant Agent Orange, used heavily in the region by the U.S. armed forces during the Vietnam War. Vietnam celebrates the end of hostilities on April 30, 2005, marking 30 years since war in Vietnam ended.

Good God Damn. I don't always pick the deformities for IotD, you know, sometimes one just doesn't need to see that kind of crap. Sometimes it's just too easy, because deformities are always mind-boggling. What's mind-boggling to me, though, is that somehow Agent Orange is *still* a problem. We should have cleaned this shit up long ago. It's very sad.

If it's true...

Snopes isn't sure:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/medical/orange.asp

shannon miller. 4th grade. every last hair on her body fell out. no other major health problems, but absolutely no hair growth ever again - at least until high school graduation when i last saw her.

the doctors tied that back to her father's agent orange exposure in viet nam. that was 1983-4 though. it's scary that things like this are still happening 20 years later.

Disturbing yes, particularly if the image is undoctored.

But unless the incidence of such birth defects is higher than expected in the general population, what's to say that it's not just run-of-the-mill mutation, rather than the hoped-for-because-we-can-sue-Dow-Chemical Agent Orange?

A friend's husband died of a rare cancer that was thought to be the consequence of his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He was not provable as a direct exposure victim, I'd think it's even more unlikely to be proven 38 years later.

and other reasons monsanto is the devil.

I don't know about you, but that image looks severely fake. The resolution on the face seems different than those on the rest of the picture...

Snopes seems to think the image itself is real, looks real enough to me. It's nowhere near as bad as some of the agent orange deformaties I've seen.

this one is awful.

Snopes now says True, and has additional disturbing images of the lad.

The middle shot of the other photos snopes has appears to show another child with protruding eyes (but no conehead).

They knew how nasty that shit was when they dropped it.

I'm sure GIs and poliots didn't but scientists did and I'm sure those in charge of the program did as well.

Still no proof this is Agent Orange. It could be one of 10,000 other chemical or radiological uses or spills.

Or mom could have smoked weed when she was pregnant.

No way of knowing at this point.

Sure feels good to blame the Americans again though, doesn't it?

Sure feels good to wrap yourself in flagwavin' defensiveness yet again, doesnt it.

Occam's Razor cuts deep doesn't it?

I go to Vietnam on a fairly regluar basis, call it a certain connection to the issue.
Sure are defensive aren't you? Maybe this one isn't Agent Orange related but the chances are it is, the shit is all though the ecosystem from top to bottom, it doesn't go away - the dioxin concentration was insane. Must suck to be unable to face up to stuff your country did 30 years ago - all in the name of an absract policy.

And beyond the blame or nonblame fest, here's a kid caught. Are there ways that Agent Orange can be cleaned up from the supersite we call Vietnam? Can the concentrations be reduced?

Is there a known genetic signature of the damage done by AO?

There are tests to some degree, they can test for levels of specific dioxins but they are very, very expensive. Stuff stays in the ecosystem for decades.

Um, it has been decades.

Has a study been done to show the long term occurances of deformities like this.

Is there a declining trend? A steady trend?

my question is... how does he close his eyes?

If there are no lingering dioxin related health problems based on documented actions, how come US Veterans who no longer have direct contact with the contamination have been legally recognized to receive compensation and health coverage specifically for Agent Orange related illnesses? While those who continue to live in documented US contaminated areas are suspect. That seems contradictory.

AGAIN, yeah, so what can we do about it??????

Well, the appropriate liberal response would be to file a class action suit on the part of all of the funny looking kids, give them all 15 million dollars, feel good about ourselves and then promptly forget about it.

The lawsuits for Vietnamese citizens have been filed.

The class action lawsuit on behalf of vietnam vets settled so fast (back in 1985?) that ONLY people who had designated themsevlves as part of the class could recover damages, and no one after that date is permitted to identify themselves as part of that class, and no one can initiate a new lawsuit on behalf of vietnam vets.

Oh, and Dioxin exposure tends to cause an assortment of particularly nasty and usually rare cancers, leukemia, and some skin rashes. In children exposed in utero or possibly resulting from contamination in male or female parent spina bifida is the most common, with some other conditions (Achondroplasia, Cleft lip and cleft palate, Congenital heart disease, Congenital talipes equinovarus (clubfoot), Esophageal and intestinal atresia, Hallerman-Streiff syndrome, Hip dysplasia, Hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis, Hypospadias, Imperforate anus, Neural tube defects (including spina bifida, encephalocele, and anencephaly), Poland syndrome, Pyloric stenosis, Syndactyly (fused digits), Tracheoesophageal fistula, Undescended testicle, Williams syndrome)
being identified as qualifying vets for benefits if the condition is not congenital in his/her family.

By God! Big V, You do try to get your point across.

*ahem*

Thanks busterb, I wrestled with the image link and didn't notice that the "rough drafts" were still posted. Sorry for the wasted resources.

*ahem*

Thanks busterb, I wrestled with the image link and didn't notice that the "rough drafts" were still posted. Sorry for the wasted resources.

deleted mistakes now.

You missed one ...

Well, the appropriate liberal response would be to file a class action suit on the part of all of the funny looking kids, give them all 15 million dollars, feel good about ourselves and then promptly forget about it.

No. I think the appropriate liberal response would be to investigate the claims further ( a lawsuit is obviously neccessary to demand governmental and corporate attention), build a working relationship with the Vietnamese on this issue that strives to move beyond political games, respond with justice and compassion to the afflicted- including any Vets still suffering, to those found to have been made ill by our toxic dump or those at continuing risk, this compassion taking the form of funding internationally collaborative healthcare support, environmental education, and cleanup as possible. The appropriate liberal response I think, is rational and civil.

Is that before or after the traditional knee jerk reaction?

Apparently, decades after.

If ever.

Since nobody seems to have a way to clean it up, and it doesn't appear to be abating, the obvious solution is relocating. I suggest Texas.

Untill then I'll look forward to a remake of John Candy's ConeHeads

Texas already has the second-highest population of Vietnamese, after California. 134,961 as of the 2000 census.

41% of those are in one county (aka Houston.)

Seems someone already thought of it.

Yeah, I remember the shrimp wars when they first got here and doubled the size of the shrimp fleet. That's why I thought Texas would be perfect with all that support group in place. I think Minnesota has a bunch too, IRRC?

that's chloracne BigV. Can come on bloody fast to depending on exposure level, a bit like radioation sickness. IIRC big, old transformers had craploads of that stuff for coolant.
I'll quote myself wolf:

Weren't we asked by South Vietnam to come help repel invasion from North Vietnam?

It must be true 'cause it made it to the BBC. Well mostly true then...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4494347.stm

Damn that sounds like cancer alley

BBC Story lead in;

Probably true I don't know the history.

That's the irony. Just as the Brits went to Northern Ireland originaly to protect the catholics from protestant violence.

Iraq is just getting started.