Herbicides and Defoliants in War

The Vietnam war of 1961-1975 is, among other things, notable for the
massive employment of anti-plant chemical warfare agents (herbicides or plant
defoliating and killing chemicals). Primarily during the mid to late 1960's the
USA sprayed approximately 72 million liters of these herbicides over some 1.7
million hectares of rural South Vietnam; that is about one hectare in every
ten. At least 12 per cent of the forests of South Vietnam were sprayed one or
more times as were 5 per cent or more of the agricultural land. The
"International Symposium on Herbicides and Defoliants in War: The Long-term
Effects of Man and Nature" was convened in Ho Chi Minh City from January 14 to
19, 1983 in order to examine the aftermath of this chemical assault on South
Vietnam, after about a decade had elapsed since the spraying. More than 70
ecological and medical scientists from some 20 countries, both East and West,
came together in order to meet with about an equal number of their Vietnamese
counterparts. The international participants included some of the top experts
in the world in their respective fields of ecological and medical
science.

It was strictly a working conference open only to qualified
scientists. This is the final summary report of the symposium and the seven
final summary reports of the various working groups, plus an article compiled
from papers presented by participating Vietnamese scientists.