Agent Orange, the deadly herbicide that the US Army used in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 to destroy the country’s thick canopy of foliage, which provided cover for Vietnamese troops, has been listed as one of the 50 worst inventions of all time by the US magazine Time. Exposure to AO has “proved deadly to humans, causing cancers, birth defects and a slew of other disorders,” said the magazine, adding that “some 21 million gallons of it were dumped on Vietnam, resulting in hundreds of thousands of injuries and birth defects to Vietnamese citizens.” Many US veterans were also exposed, said the newspaper, adding that they received a 180 million USD settlement from the manufacturers of Agent Orange in 1984.
