Agent Blue was one of the 6 “rainbow herbicides” used in Vietnam War. Although there were six herbicides used during the Vietnam War, the only herbicide publicized remains Agent Orange. However, 4 of the 6 chemical compounds other than Agent Orange and Agent Blue were chemical compounds with similar composition to Agent Orange, however, Agent Blue is vastly different in comparison to the other 5 compounds. While Agent Orange and the other 4 herbicides are organic compounds containing chlorine, Agent Blue on the other hand is an arsenic containing compound, an element widely known for causing cancer.
Agent Blue was heavily used in rural areas of South Vietnam in order to destroy crops and hence deny food to the Vietcong. However, the Vietcong only amount to 260,000 out of 17.5 million people hence enormous amounts of food would have to be destroyed to create hardships for the Vietcong. Studies conducted showed that between 10 and 100 rural people would have to be denied food in order for one Vietcong soldier to suffer. According to these estimates, out of the 860,000 annual diets destroyed due to Agent Blue, 774,000 to 851,000 were civilians diets. An example of such activity would be Quangngai province where 85 percent of crop land was destroyed in 1970, this presumably led to food scarcity and economic problems for the locals living in the province.
In addition to ruining the crop supply, Agent Blue has had lasting health effects on the locals and the veterans who have come in contact with the herbicide. Unlike the other herbicides, Agent Blue consisted of sodium cacodylate and cacodylic acid which were two arsenic-containing compounds. The Cancer Assessment Group of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put arsenic in the top category of cancer-causing compounds. The effects of arsenic are often not immediate but rather last for generations as arsenic slowly causes damage to the DNA. Even low amounts of arsenic can cause lung, bladder, liver and skin cancers, however, Agent Blue was not diluted as recommended by chemical companies and was used at its full strength hence the damage caused by such heavy levels of arsenic was disastrous and continues to affect war veterans serving in the area and the locals to this day.
The USA’s food destruction program using Agent Blue is so scantly publicized that a New York Times article from 1971 says “Our nation's food‐destruction program in South Vietnam, although not secret, has received only scant attention.” This highlights the lack.” Agent Blue and its impacts remain widely unpublicized despite the grave impacts of the compound on food production in the region and the risks of cancer due to the arsenic in the compound.