Vietnam War: use of herbicide chemicals by the U.S. air force from 1965 to 1971

While fighting the war in Vietnam against the communist forces of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, the United States military was forced to adapt its tactics drastically compared to those used in previous, conventional conflicts. One of the largest problems the U.S. forces faced was that they were fighting an insurgency which used the vast, impenetrable Vietnamese jungle as a hideout. In order to uncover the positions of the Viet Cong in heavily forested areas and to limit their ability to provide themselves with food supplies, the U.S. air force engaged in a campaign of mass deforestation and destruction of agricultural crops, using chemicals referred to as the "rainbow herbicides".

Operation Ranch Hand and its lasting effects

Between 1962 and 1971, the air force dropped approximately 18.85 million gallons of these herbicides in Vietnam, with the most common and widely known chemical being Agent Orange. In the years since the war, many Vietnamese people, as well as the U.S. servicemembers involved in the operation, suffered severe health effects from exposure to the chemicals. The government of Vietnam claims that as many as 3 million of its citizens have suffered illnesses from the use of herbicides during the war, while the U.S. department of Veteran Affairs has received over 40,000 related disability claims. The chemicals also have had a lasting ecological impact in Southeast Asia, as approximately 18 percent of the forested are of Vietnam was sprayed with rainbow herbicides. Biologists have subsequently noted negative effects on animal and plant diversity in the affected areas.