When passing through a canyon in Guangzhou province in central Vietnam, Ruan Jinyong was stunned by the scenery in front of him. The lush forests on both sides of the road disappeared, and there was no pleasant bird song and running water. The land in front of him seems to have been burned. The tropical sun bakes the brick-red earth, and only a few withered trees stand alone in the canyon. Craters, burnt-out cars and messy materials can be seen everywhere, and the air is filled with the burning smell of protein. "Run, go, and be careful of the US air strikes." The dry red soil flew around with thousands of people, blocking the sun, and the whole marching queue was shrouded in smoke and dust raised by the red soil.
At the campsite, Ruan Jinyong told his doubts to the platoon leader, a veteran who traveled to and from Ho Chi Minh Trail many times. The veteran told him that the canyon he walked through during the day was the narrowest place on the south road. Because the American plane sprayed some pungent liquid, there was no grass growing there, and the troops and materials going south lost the cover of the rainforest and suffered heavy losses in the canyon. As for what was sprayed, no one could tell.
After years of fighting, the Vietnam War ended with the victory of the Vietnamese people, and Ruan Jinyong returned to his long-lost hometown with his medal. The young war hero also found the other half of his life, Xian, a girl like a water lily after the rain. A year later, the love of two people crystallized, and a baby boy was born. What was supposed to be a celebration for this small family turned out to be a disaster. The child's brow bone is closed without eyes, and his left thumb is missing. The cry of the child destined to live in the dark is so desperate. Unfortunately, it's not over. In the next five years, the boy's brother and sister also came to this world with broken bodies. There was no smile on the young couple's face, and then the children of Ruan Jinyong's comrades-in-arms were disabled in one way or another, but no one knew why all this happened.
Thirty years later, the mystery was finally solved. During the period from 196 1 to 197 1, the American invaders sprayed more than 40 million liters of defoliants on Vietnam's territory, most of which were sprayed in the demilitarized zone of mountainous areas and canyons with a width of 15 km in central Vietnam.
Defoliants contain highly toxic chemicals, which make those dense tropical rainforests wither and die in a short time. These chemicals have created a lifeless "dead zone" with a width of15km. This "dead zone" did not stop the people of northern Vietnam from advancing to the south and finally liberated the whole country, but these defoliants left endless troubles for the local people. Because these toxic chemicals not only killed trees on the spot, but also infiltrated into the original fertile soil, leaving toxic substances on this land forever. Until today, only some small bushes called "American grass" have grown there, and these "American grass" are dry and fragile, and even wild animals are unwilling to feed on them.
The defoliant is mainly orange agent, and there are many other defoliants, such as orange agent, blue agent, Monroe velvet and so on. They all contain a lot of toxic chemicals, one of which is the highly toxic dioxin (TCDD) with long-term effects. In 2003, the Vietnamese government investigated the consequences of defoliants. According to the preliminary investigation results of only one province in Guangxi, 600,000 people are seriously ill due to exposure to dioxin residues, and nearly 2,000 children suffer from congenital malformation. In addition, thousands of women have repeated abortions and newborns die.
Once the demon of war was released from the bottle that imprisoned him, it brought unspeakable harm to mankind. Nearly 70 years after the end of World War II, the people of China are still suffering from chemical and biological weapons of the Japanese aggressors, and the Iraqi people are still living in the shadow of nuclear radiation. For us and our children and grandchildren to live happily in the sun. Peace, not war.
If you can use it, change it yourself.