Our Lasting Legacy: Agent Orange Pollution in Vietnam

A groundbreaking new book, From Enemies to Partners: Vietnam, the U.S. and Agent Orange, addresses the ongoing environmental and health problems still lingering today across Vietnam as a result of American forces using Agent Orange to eliminate forest cover there four decades ago. The book traces the history of the U.S. using the dioxin-based herbicide throughout Vietnam in the late 1960s and early 1970s and how to go ahead cleaning up this toxic legacy that still persists today in the land and waterways of Vietnam and the bloodstreams of the Vietnamese people.

“Most Americans are surprised to learn that Agent Orange continues to adversely impact the Vietnamese to this day,” says Charles Bailey, a former Ford Foundation executive turned activist who co-authored the book with Vietnamese researcher Le Ke Son. “The U.S. is taking some steps forward, but more needs to happen to alleviate the damage we caused in Vietnam that still is impacting people today.”

“I believe that if you see a serious and significant social problem and have the opportunity and the means to end it, you have the obligation to act,” adds Bailey. “From Enemies to Partners will help make sure the U.S. stays on track ti helping rid Vietnam of the remaining toxins from Agent Orange, forever.”