Agent Orange

Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide used by U.S. military forces

during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover and crops for North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. The U.S. program, codenamed
Operation Ranch Hand, sprayed more than 20 million gallons of
various herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 1961 to
1971. Agent Orange, which contained the deadly chemical dioxin, was
the most commonly used herbicide. It was later proven to cause
serious health issues—including cancer, birth defects, rashes and
severe psychological and neurological problems—among the
Vietnamese people as well as among returning U.S. servicemen and
their families.

Operation Ranch Hand

During the Vietnam War , the U.S military engaged in an aggressive
program of chemical warfare codenamed Operation Ranch Hand .

From 1961 to 1971, the U.S. military sprayed a range of herbicides

across more than 4.5 million acres of Vietnam to destroy the forest
cover and food crops used by enemy North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
troops.

U.S. aircraft were deployed to douse roads, rivers, canals, rice paddies
and farmland with powerful mixtures of herbicides. During this process,
crops and water sources used by the non-combatant native population
of South Vietnam were also hit.

In all, American forces used more than 20 million gallons of herbicides

in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the years of Operation Ranch
Hand. Herbicides were also sprayed from trucks and hand-sprayers
around U.S. military bases.