© 2024 New Hampshire Public Radio

Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN OUR GRAND PRIZE OF $35K TOWARD A NEW CAR OR $25K CASH!

The Past And Present Of Agent Orange

Dawn Reel wears a ribbon supporting Agent Orange victims outside US Court 18 in New York.
Dawn Reel wears a ribbon supporting Agent Orange victims outside US Court 18 in New York.

Most know Agent Orange as the powerful herbicide the U.S military used during the Vietnam War.The goal at the time was to wipe out the food supply in North Vietnam and cripple the Viet Cong army.

The chemical had a much more insidious impact.Generations of Vietnamese people have been plagued by cancer, miscarriages, and birth defects as a result of Agent Orange. 

Despite Agent Orange being banned in the U.S. in 1971, the U.S Forest Service still sprayed a similar cocktail in communities across the United Statesaccording to some environmental activists.

A new documentary, “The People v. Agent Orange,” tracks the decades-long fight against the use of the herbicide through the activism of two women—one American, one Vietnamese.

We’ll speak to one of them about the past and present of Agent Orange.

Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5

Haili Blassingame

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.