A Student's Perception of How and Why Agent Orange Affected the World.

Sean Herman

History 220-21

Professor Magoc

4 December 2015

The Effects of Agent Orange

How and why did Agent Orange affect the world?

Mercyhurst University

The Effects of Agent Orange

Serving in the Navy from 1968-1972, Doug Roske was an Aircraft electrician aboard the Aircraft carrier Enterprise that was exposed to Agent Orange. He was in his early twenties at the time way out in the South Pacific, far away from any spraying of Agent Orange (Parris Jr.). But what he did not know was that the herbicide would deposit into the sea from the streams and rivers of where Agent Orange was sprayed. And like any other military ship, saltwater was sucked up and distilled to produce freshwater. With the toxins still located inside of the water, sailors would bathe in it, clean with it, and drink it. Exposing themselves to the deadly chemical. But as Doug says in a phone interview, “… you trusted your government and the people around you.” (Parris Jr.). Because of the government’s claims about Agent Orange, people believed it to be totally harmless. Coming from an era were trust was very common in America, most people felt betrayed when news started spilling out about the herbicide. In some instances, Doug recalls that they would even stand in the middle of it, if it was sprayed overtop of them, watching as the chemical drizzled down. Saying that “nobody knew about this stuff… they had no idea it was bad for you.” (Parris Jr.). Because if the government told the truth about the harmful effects of it, soldiers would not be willing to fight. It would cause an uproar of emotions from the nation. The government knew of nothing else to do as America was losing the war and the only way they knew how to combat against the Vietnamese; was with herbicides. Therefore with nobody knowing what this chemical could actually cause, how and why did Agent Orange affect the world?

Well to start with, why did our soldiers blindly trust our government? After World War II and...