“Agent Orange” was the code name used for a herbicide used by the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War. The name comes from the orange band that was painted around the its metal drums. By 1971, 20 million gallons of Agent Orange mixed with kerosense or diesel fuel were sprayed in Vietnam causing widespread deforestation. A variant form (Agent Orange II) produced a variety of diseases in lab animals including ailments fatal to humans. Complaints from Vietnamese natives about livestock deaths, birth defects in children, and abnormally high rates of cancer and other diseases in U.S veterans were denied by the Pentagon in the late 1960′s. It was not until January 23, 2003 that the Veteran Affairs Department acknowledged a link between Agent Orange and chronic lymphocytic leukemia and granted extended benefits to veterans suffering from that disease.
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