The Agent Orange Affair

The U.S. Army in Viet Nam long used a defoliant known as "Agent Orange" without qualms as a crop-killing spray. Purpose: to deny food to enemy forces. Last year a secret study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute raised grave doubts about a prime ingredient in Orange, the chemical compound 2,4,5-T. When the substance was fed in small doses to laboratory rats and mice, 80% of their offspring were stillborn, and 39% of the survivors were deformed.

Because Orange only reduces plant yield by two-thirds, individual plants, though tainted, often look edible. Therefore, the study clearly suggests, the Army was inadvertently poisoning civilians as well as enemy soldiers. Government officials classified the report. But after concerned environmentalists and scientists brought the report to light, the Department of Defense on April 15 officially suspended the use of Agent Orange in Viet Nam.

No Milkshakes. In Saigon last week, the Army admitted that some of its units have been using Agent Orange despite the suspension. The man who dug up the evidence--and then passed it on to TIME--was Ronald Ridenhour, the former Army Ranger whose letters to Congress started the investigation into the My Lai massacre. Now a freelance journalist, Ridenhour recently spent ten days visiting the Americal Division in Chu Lai, where he began hearing rumors about the continuing use of Agent Orange.

When Ridenhour asked Captain John Morrison, commanding officer of the 90th Chemical Detachment, whether his unit had used Orange since the suspension, Morrison firmly replied: "None whatsoever. I've used nothing but Blue* defoliant." By contrast, Morrison's enlisted men told Ridenhour that Agent Orange has been sprayed since April on hundreds of acres of farmland in the highlands of Quang Ngai province. As evidence, they pointed to the fact that 145 barrels of the chemical were carried on their unit's books, but only 40 were actually on hand. What happened to the missing barrels? "We sprayed a lot of it," said David Church, a 21-year-old draftee from Pawtucket, R.I. "Hell, we've been using it all through the summer," added Larry Beckner of Spokane, Wash. Remarked another soldier: "If we ain't been using it, where do you think those missing barrels went? We sure ain't been making milkshakes out of it."

The men of the 90th Chemical Detachment claim that Orange has been sprayed by other units in the Americal Division as well as their own. The stated reason for spraying the crops--which all belong to Montagnard tribesmen --was that the Army suspects the harvest was being given to the Viet Cong. Knowledgeable observers point out that the traditional ethnic hatred between Montagnards and all other Vietnamese makes it unlikely they would voluntarily supply food to either side.

Whose Orders? In theory, permission to spray defoliants in a given area is granted by General Creighton Abrams, the U.S. Commander in Viet Nam, and by Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker. In practice, orders for individual defoliation missions are given on a much lower level.

Presented with Ridenhour's charge. Army spokesmen in Washington were at first incredulous. But later they announced: "It appears that the Americal Division may have used some Orange herbicide since the suspension was put into effect. An investigation is under way to determine all facts related to this apparent violation." Last week the Army went further. A terse statement released by the U.S. Command in Viet Nam said that "a preliminary investigation . . . has determined that Agent Orange was used on several occasions in May, July and August by elements of the Americal Division in violation of existing instructions. During this period, a total of approximately 100 drums of 55 gallons each was dispensed by helicopter and ground-pump methods."

According to the statement, the defoliant was used in both Quang Ngai and Quang Tin provinces, which supports information given to Ridenhour that the spraying was carried out by more than one unit in the division. Thus, Ridenhour believes that the spraying must have been authorized on the divisional level.

*Agent Blue, whose use has not been suspended, is a solution of cacodylic acid containing 54% arsenic. In Viet Nam, where it sometimes gets into drinking water, Blue spray is used to kill rice and garden crops at a much greater strength than is considered safe for killing weeds in the U.S.

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