Agent Orange is simply the "best known" of the toxins that were used during the Vietnam War era. The dioxin it carried is now known to actually have been intensified in the fresh water distillation process. But it was by no means the only toxin, and spraying was by no means the only manner of bringing about exposure. In addition to the dioxin exposures, virtually all the shipboard US Navy personnel were exposed to additional "Occupational Hazards" which include a wide assortment of other contaminants. When you drank the water aboard your ship, when you showered, when you ate the food, when you breathed the ventilation system air, you were being exposed to several other very nasty substances.
Along with the dioxins, there were arsenic compounds, heavy metals, and chlorophenals that were found to have been present on board Navy ships. And not just in small doses. There was asbestos everywhere. The fresh water processing and holding tank had lead paint linings. I'm sure there's more. This info is actually not even "new"... the DoD and the VA have known about some of this stuff since before the 1960's. Other information was available to them during the 1960's while the Vietnam War was being fought.
If you happen to be sick, but your symptoms don't quite match the "list of approved diseases" for Agent Orange expusure, don't be surprised and don't despair. It's not your imagination and there is good reason for it. Anyone on board a Navy ship was essentially trapped in a huge "Chemical Cocktail" and left to stew. We didn't know it at the time, but that's the long and short of it. So don't get fixated on Agent Orange and dioxin... you may have other problems to worry about, and you should be addressing all those as well.
The US Navy (and other military branches) has severely contaminated a number of foreign ports and waters. They have been mandated through agreement with other foreign countries to "clean up their mess." Specific standards for the clean-up were set. And guess what...?.... They did a small part of the clean-up, submitted false documentation that said they had complied with the standards, and have consequently been caught. And they've paid literally billions of dollars in fines to those foreign governments for having filed false documentation. BILLIONS OF DOLLARS !! .... which they have paid out as a consequence of their lies instead of paying veterans the compensation they deserve from the poisonings they incurred.
No, this is not just a mindless rant. The documentation to support these facts exists and may well be found on this web site. But the message here is: See the bigger picture, because it is much bigger than you might think.
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