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In the early 1970s, Vietnam veterans reported skin rashes, cancer, psychological symptoms, birth defects, and other health problems. A 1979 class-action lawsuit against herbicide producers was settled out of court in 1984.
An Agent Orange Settlement Fund was established. Through 1996, affected veterans got about $200 million in compensation. It was too little, too late. It insulted survivors.
In July 2011, 50 years after spraying began, HR 2634: Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2011 was introduced. It was referred to committee. No further action was taken. Congress prioritizes war making. Effects on US service men and women from past and current ones don't matter.
Law Professor Marjorie Cohn asked what's "the difference between super powers like the United States violating the laws of war with impunity and the reports of killing of Syrian civilians by both sides in the current war?""Does the United States have any credibility to demand governments and non-state actors end the killings of civilians, when through wars and drones and its refusal to acknowledge responsibility for the use of Agent Orange, the United States has and is engaging in the very conduct it publicly deplores?"
It's done that and much more. It's responsible for millions of Yugoslav, Afghan, Iraqi, Libyan, and Syrian deaths, as well as many others in numerous other counties. Conventional and illegal weapons are responsible.
Depleted uranium (DU) contamination began in the 1970s. US forces used DU freely since America's Gulf war. Dirty bombs, shells, missiles, and other munitions are used.
DU and other toxic weapons are illegal under international law. The 1925 Geneva Protocol and subsequent Geneva Weapons Conventions prohibit use of chemical and biological agents in any form.
The 1925 Geneva Convention Gas Protocol prohibits poison gas. The 1907 Hague Convention bans use of any "poison or poisoned weapons."
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