Vietnam War. 1961-1971. The United States commenced Operation Ranch Hand, and they released one of the “tactical use” Rainbow Herbicides in the agricultural lands of Vietnam — Agent Orange. Over four decades after the US tried to rat out Viet Cong fighters, this Agent Orange has a hand on many Vietnamese lives, especially on the children.
Although the war ended in 1975, there have been numerous cases of children born in Quang Tri with disabilities and deformities said to be linked to Agent Orange. Worryingly, they include infants born to healthy parents.
“We were confused because we do not have a family history of Agent Orange, and our parents were not veterans,” said the boys’ mother, Nguyen Thi Quynh, 33.
She and her husband, Mai Cong Tun, 35, eke out a living as scrap metal collectors, searching forested areas for fragments of unexploded military ammunition left over from the war.
Of their four children, only one was born healthy – their daughter Mai Kim Chi, seven.
This only shows us that the wars that we have today would greatly affect the lives of future generations.
More details of this heart-wrenching story over at South China Morning Post.
(Image Credit: Khairul Anwar)