Resting in a crib in an orphanage of Ho Chi Minh City, five-month-old Hong’s tiny body is helplessly overwhelmed by an abnormal veiny mass on her head larger than the head itself. Born with a rare birth defect known as encephalocele, Hong’s future is plagued with possible seizures, mental retardations, developmental delays, complete loss of strength in her limbs, and other atrocious complications.

Not far from Hong is another tragic story, this time of the thirteen-year-old Tran at Tu Du Hospital. He was born with the genetic disorder Fraser Syndrome that completely fused his eyelids, webbed his fingers, and gave him genital abnormalities. Tossed into this unfair, hopeless fate, Tran knows no more than to cry for hours every day in his frail search for consolation.  

Farther up North from Tran in Chi Linh district is another victim, Pham, who has spent much of his life in bed. The eleven-year-old is deaf, blind, and unable to speak. His senses to the world have been blocked off at such a young age, his joy forever stolen from him without justice.

Unfortunately, stories like those of Hong, Tran, and Pham are all too common among Agent Orange victims whose tragedies continue to unfold long after Vietnam War ended. It is time that these victims be compensated with appropriate healthcare and social services so that they can regain whatever small measures of happiness they can muster in the face of adversity!

In between 1961 and 1971 during the Vietnam War, the United States sprayed about 19,000,000 gallons of herbicides, much of which contained the incredibly toxic compound dioxin, known as Agent Orange. Up to 4.8 million Vietnamese and tens of thousands of Americans serving in Vietnam were exposed during the spraying. At least 1 million Vietnamese continue to battle the deadly health effects of Agent Orange today, with an estimate of about 100,000 of whom are children.

In addition to exposure during the war, the people of Vietnam continue to suffer from Agent Orange from birth defects, food and soil contamination, and wildlife destructions. In fact, there are still dozens of Agent Orange hot spots in Vietnam with unacceptably high levels of dioxin that must be cleaned up immediately to prevent further exposures.

The health effects of Agent Orange are well-established. The Department of Veteran Affairs recognize the following diseases to be associated with Agent Orange: AL amyloidosis, chronic B-cell leukemia, chloracne, diabetes mellitus type 2, Hodgkin’s disease, ischemic heart disease, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease, acute and sub-acute peripheral neuropathy, porphyria cutanea tarda, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, and soft-tissue sarcomas.

Additionally, the Department of Veteran Affairs also recognize the following birth defects to be associated with Agent Orange: achondroplasia, cleft lip, cleft palate, congenital heart disease, congenital talipes equinovarus (clubfoot), esophageal and intestinal atresia, Hallerman-Streiff syndrome, hip dysplasia, Hirschsprung's disease (congenital megacolon), hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis, hypospadias, imperforate anus, neural tube defects, Poland syndrome, pyloric stenosis, syndactyly (fused digits), tracheoesophageal fistula, undescended testes, and Williams syndrome.

While American veterans who served in Vietnam are provided health and other benefits for the diseases listed, no similar compensation from the U.S. government is provided to Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans for the same conditions caused by Agent Orange.

While American women veterans who served in Vietnam are compensated for children with birth defects aforementioned, no similar consideration is given to children of male veterans with the same birth defects, except for spina bifida (not occulta). This is inconsistent with current scientific understanding from the Institute of Medicine that “it is considerably more plausible than previously believed that exposure to the herbicides sprayed in Vietnam might have caused paternally mediated transgenerational effects … attributable to the TCCD contaminant in Agent Orange.”

Therefore, we petition the U.S. government to close the last chapter of horrible American tragedy by providing health and social services to all victims of Agent Orange, both in Vietnam and in the U.S, in collaboration with ongoing and future efforts of the Vietnamese government. 

Therefore, we ask the President, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate to support the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2015 introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee that calls for:

(1) Healthcare and social services for all affected Vietnamese, Vietnamese Americans, Americans, and their offspring, and

(2) Cleanup of dioxin hot spots in Vietnam, and restore the ecosystems there, and

(3) Extensive research into Agent Orange’s health effects in the US and in Vietnam.

We petition for the passage of the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2015.

We ask all concerned citizens to call, email, mail, or otherwise contact their representatives to urge them to pass this bill.

Forty years have passed, it is now time to do the right thing, the humane thing!

News stories:

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/vietnams-horrific-legacy-the-children-of-agent-orange/news-story/c008ff36ee3e840b005405a55e21a3e1

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/26/agent-orange-victims_n_3818562.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2401378/Agent-Orange-Vietnamese-children-suffering-effects-herbicide-sprayed-US-Army-40-years-ago.html

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2006/08/hitchens200608