Instructions

Impact of Toxic Industrial Chemicals/Materials (TICs/TIMs)

Many forms of TICs have been used during combat operations in wars throughout the world. One of the more memorable uses of a TIC is the use of Agent Orange, a defoliant including dioxin as well as numerous other chemicals, during the Vietnam War with an impact that spans across the past 50 years. The U.S. government and manufacturers of the deadly chemical allegedly sprayed and otherwise disbursed it from planes and helicopters indiscriminately for the express purpose of destroying the jungle vegetation that served as a camouflage for the North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops opposing the U.S. military. One could easily reason that any chemical that would completely defoliate a 40-foott-tall jungle canopy could equally destroy any other lifeform as well. The Veterans Administration, the U.S. federal government, and manufacturers have begun actions to accept some responsibility for the health issues left in the wake of this deadly chemical on Vietnamese people and Vietnam War combat veterans still suffering today.

Research Agent Orange, and the possibility that the chemical has been responsible for the death and health issues of millions of people during and since the Vietnam War. Based on prior scientific research by the facilities developing and producing this product, what scientific information existed to warn users that the chemical was a hazard to human and animal life either through direct contact, consumption of food products that were contaminated by indiscriminate spraying of the chemical, or through mishandling during manufacture, storage, or distribution of this chemical? Was the chemical intentionally, indiscriminately, disbursed knowing that immediate and long-term effects would impact any human and animal life coming in contact with the chemical?

Even in the war in Afghanistan today, our military and political leaders must consider the immediate and long-term impact of collateral damage as well as justification of any weapon of mass destruction, chemical or otherwise. Did such scientific research during the creation of Agent Orange provide any level of risk analysis that provided our military leaders with a projected percentage of collateral damage, which equated to acceptable losses of human or animal life directly or indirectly related to the aerial disbursement of this chemical? If such risk analysis did exist, did it include long-term impact projections? What effort has the United States government provided to compensate and care for those whose lives have been destroyed by this chemical within the U.S. and the country of Vietnam? Are such chemicals still used in military operations? What should be done for the millions of families across the globe who suffer from the debilitating effects of this chemical? Is blatant abuse of the distribution of industrial toxic chemicals relevant today?
Write a minimum three-page, double-spaced paper summarizing the effects of the use of Agent Orange not only on the victims, but also on the families and communities in which victims live as well as the citizens of Vietnam.

Your paper should discuss:

signs and symptoms;
time span between exposure and symptom expression;
mode of exposure (injection, inhalation, cutaneous, etc.), prevention, and treatment with statistical data;
locality impacts (weather, location, population, etc.);
sociological impacts;
scientific data and research techniques;
technology and development; and
counteraction strategies.
Your case study must fully comply with APA requirements, which means that the case study must include an APA formatted cover page with the APA running head, APA headings (Introductory heading, intermediate headings, and a conclusion), APA formatted in-text citations for all direct quotes and paraphrased information, and an APA formatted reference section with the heading, references, centered above that reference section on a separate last page. The cover and reference pages do not count toward the total page requirement.