23
May
On Memorial Day, Remember the Lives Lost and Those Still Fighting the Effects of Military Pesticide Use
(Beyond Pesticides, May 23-26, 2025) This Memorial Day, while honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died serving in the United States Armed Forces, Beyond Pesticides recognizes those who are still fighting the long-term impacts of exposure to toxic chemicals as a result of their use in warfare. A recent review in the Open Journal of Soil Science acts as a reminder of the effects that span multiple generations to both the environment and human health following the use of pesticides.
The review analyzes the history and impacts of herbicide use during the Vietnam War, as well as emphasizes the importance and relevance for current and future generations. As the authors state, “The United States (U.S.) and other countries, including Russia and Ukraine, need to learn the historical lessons from the U.S. use of herbicides, containing dioxin TCDD and/or arsenic (As), as chemical weapons during the Vietnam War.â€
As previously reported by Beyond Pesticides, public attention generally focuses on the “rainbow herbicides,†particularly Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War; meanwhile, it is the dioxin TCDD (2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzodioxin), a byproduct of Agent Orange’s manufacturing process, that has caused the most lasting damage within the country. While the breakdown period for Agent Orange herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5,-T can be measured in months, TCDD can persist for decades and likely even centuries in water sediments and jungle soils. And the chemical, one of the most toxic human-made substances on earth, can cause significant health impacts and birth defects at levels as low as parts per trillion.
Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, Agent Orange’s byproduct, dioxin, continues to contaminate Vietnam’s soils and wildlife, subsequently affecting human health. In a 2019 study, scientists at Iowa State and the University of Illinois, including one of the authors of the present review, focused on the locations where hot spots and contaminated sediments have persisted after 130,000 fifty-five-gallon drums of toxic herbicides were sprayed over Vietnam’s farm fields and jungle canopies during the war. As this study shows, in many ways, the Vietnam War is still being fought. Not only are the Vietnamese people still being adversely affected by horrific birth defects and other health effects caused by dioxin exposure, but U.S. service members who applied Agent Orange or even simply used aircrafts that once stored drums of the chemicals are still fighting for compensation. (See more Daily News coverage here and here.)
The review authors start by explaining how scientists in 1965, led by Arthur W. Galston, PhD, warned the U.S. government against the military defoliation program. Dr. Galston is quoted as saying, “Science is meant to improve the lot of mankind, not diminish it—and its use as a military weapon was ill-advised.â€
As a result of scientists’ concern, by 1970, the Department of Defense (DoD) was ordered to permit 1,500 scientists to visit South Vietnam during the war to document the environmental and health impacts of herbicide use. The “military use of herbicides, as chemical weapons, was to defoliate jungle forests and destroy food crops as a strategy to win battles and the war,†the review states. The authors continue: “The study had its origin in the widespread public concern that the extensive use of herbicides in the Vietnam War may have had serious adverse effects, perhaps irreversible, on the environment and people, major economic losses because of damage to forest and crops, and reproductive failures, congenital malformations, and genetic damages in humans.â€
By this time, research had already been published on the impacts of TCDD, but use continued for many years. As the authors note: “By the early 1950s, the U.S. Government, DoD, VA, CIA, USDA, medical doctors, and chemical companies (including Monsanto, BASF, and Dow) were aware of the environmental and health consequences of the contaminant TCDD. It took until 1985 for the herbicide 2,4,5-T with unknown amounts of TCDD to be banned for worldwide agricultural use. During those 30 years, tens of millions of people were impacted from TCDD exposure, and their offspring are still being affected 60 years later.†(See studies here and here.)
Even more concerning, as shared in the review, is that the “BASF chemical company, with the assistance of Dow Chemical, discovered the TCDD negative health effects, including causing chloracne and cancer, on workers after the European explosion in 1953.†A previous explosion occurred on March 8, 1949, at the Monsanto Chemical Plant in Nitro, West Virginia, where “the accident was not considered newsworthy (in other words, there was no need to tell the media or public).â€
In referencing this, and as shared in his book titled Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future, Bartow J. Elmore says: “If the Monsanto chemical plant at Nitro (West Virginia) had been shut down and its dioxin TCDD problems exposed to the public in the early 1950s (instead of being covered up by Monsanto and their medical doctor reports hidden from the workers, media and public), the toxic hazard of 2,4,5-T, with unknown amounts of TCDD, might never have been exported and sprayed during the Vietnam War. There, halfway around the world, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese soldiers and citizens would later be exposed to TCDD and come to know about dioxin’s dangers.â€
Even worse, during the Vietnam War, to increase production of 2,4,5-T, one of the Agent Orange herbicides, combustion temperatures were raised, resulting in a significant increase (up to 30 times) in the levels of TCDD contaminants. The dioxin TCDD by-product was also in other “rainbow herbicidesâ€, such as Agent Purple, Agent Pink, and Agent Green.
In 1971, President Nixon “ordered all Rainbow herbicide spraying, including Agent Blue, to be stopped and be removed from Vietnam,†the authors state. They continue, “Agent Orange barrels were collected at Bien Hoa Airbase (about 32 km northeast of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City) from all the military airbases in Vietnam and shipped to Atoll Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. Many of the barrels were leaking and had to be resealed prior to shipment. This exposed the barrel handlers and transporters to TCDD.â€
Environmental contamination of Agent Orange, with high levels of TCDD, was then able to leach into the ground and/or be carried by runoff water into waterways, streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes. (See more on Agent Orange here and here, and water contamination here and here.)
The lesser-known “rainbow herbicide†of Agent Blue also causes environmental and health effects that were disregarded during the war. Agent Blue contains arsenic (As) and was used to kill rice food crops and bamboo. As the review mentions: “The United States and Republic of Vietnam militaries sprayed and dumped bladders of Agent Blue on the rice paddies to desiccate rice plants and then burned the rice residue and seeds. As a result, toxic As-containing aerosols and smoke were released to the atmosphere.â€
Levels of arsenic, above World Health Organization (WHO) standards, have been found in groundwater, drinking water, and the food supply throughout Vietnam. This contamination correlates with “[m]edical evidence collected from U.S. veterans and Vietnamese and their offspring during the 55 years following the Vietnam War [that] suggests there was significant genetic damage.†(See studies here and here.) The government “assumed, without teratological studies or toxicity studies in humans, that because As was naturally occurring in the soil, it was not harmful to animals or humans.â€
However, scientific literature shows that As has no half-life and is water soluble, toxic, and can cause cancer. As the authors share: “Human exposure by way of inhalation (airborne As), contaminated drinking water, and food supplies grown in As-contaminated soil and water can result in acute arsenical poisoning with carcinogenic and genotoxic potential.â€
Additional studies document the harmful effects of military pesticide use, such as with Gulf War Syndrome. (See additional Daily News coverage here, as well as an associated Action of the Week here.) Previous reports also link toxic exposure from smoke and fumes generated from open burn pits to a multitude of health impacts in veterans. In 2022, the PACT Act (see here and here) was passed to provide compensation and additional services for exposure to burn pits, as well as contaminated water and Agent Orange. This acknowledges the exposure-related conditions, including but not limited to:
- Cancers of the brain, head, neck, and nervous system
- Brain and nervous system disorders (i.e., Parkinson’s Disease)
- Sarcomas
- Spinal cord cancers
- Gastrointestinal cancers
- Kidney cancers
- Lymphomas
- Melanomas
- Pancreatic cancers
- Reproductive cancers
- Respiratory cancers
- Various non-cancer conditions (High blood pressure/hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis, among others.)
As the review summarizes, there are still many unanswered questions that remain about the persistence of pesticides in soil, sediments, and water environments, as well as “present-day human health and generational effects that are legacies of the herbicides previously used as military and environmental chemical weapons.†They continue, “The lesson learned; however, must be to recognize the crises that mobilize nations must have processes which will determine the long-term hazards of weapons use.â€
The current lack of understanding of these long-term impacts resonates throughout the pesticide review process. As has been extensively covered by Beyond Pesticides, the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory bodies to fully assess chemicals and their mixtures for health impacts, such as synergy and endocrine disruption, endangers public health and all wildlife. (See more on EPA failures here.)
The solution to this lies in a systems-based, holistic change. Whether in the military, commercial agriculture, or home gardens, toxic pesticides have no place. The threats to the health of entire ecosystems are unreasonable, especially given available alternatives such as organic land management.
On Memorial Day, remember all of the lives that were lost serving our country, as well as all of those who continue to fight against the long-term impacts of pesticide exposure. Â
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Source:
Olson, K., Cihacek, L., and Speidel, D. (2025) Review and Analysis: Environmental and Human Health Impacts of Herbicide Use Studies Conducted during the Vietnam War and Historical Lessons, Open Journal of Soil Science. Available at: https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=140334.
