“They dumped over 13 million gallons, I think,
of agent orange, in various forests and jungle areas,” said Don Roden,
commander of military purple heart 553 and Vietnam veteran.
Agent orange is a
herbicide that was used in Vietnam by the United States military during the
war. It had two main uses in Vietnam.
“Defoliating the forest that maybe was
concealing the Viet Cong, as well as the North Vietnamese forces. Also, they
went to kill the crops that might be feeding the enemy,” said Roden.
At the time, nobody knew
the lasting effects of this kind of toxin.
“A lot of my buddies have had a lot of health
problems. I’ve had some of them that have died from various cancers. There have
been links to birth defects,” said Roden.
Students from Amarillo
College, West Texas A&M, and Texas Tech, are taking a trip to Vietnam to
further study this toxin.
“We went through multiple
different rounds of where we wanted to go. We finally came up with Vietnam and
the study of agent orange and how it effects multiple generations,” said
Michelle Wittler, STEM student.
Students will be taking
portable equipment to test stagnant water and soil in Vietnam for these toxins
in agent orange.
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