Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Agent Orange leaves lingering, costly aftermath

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=426809
There were a lot of young veterans with missing limbs at the 1982 national gathering of the Vietnam Veterans of America in Washington.

At first, Ken Wunder figured they were all casualties of enemy fire.

He was wrong. Some were casualties of Agent Orange.

"A lot of them that were there had limbs missing from cancer caused by Agent Orange," said Wunder, an Army veteran who attended as a representative of the then-new Berks County Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 131.

The U.S. sprayed millions of gallons of chemical herbicides in Vietnam and other combat-related areas during the war to remove foliage that might hide enemy soldiers.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Agent Orange - named for the orange identifying stripe on its 55-gallon storage drums - was the most widely used substance.

It was sprayed from 1962 to 1971 during "Operation Ranch Hand." Ever since then, it has been a major health issue for veterans, their spouses and even their children.

READ MORE: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=426809

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