Exposed to Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide containing dioxin and used to kill foliage, two courageous activists from Vietnam and Oregon go to battle separately to sue the chemical manufacturers and the U. S. government. In this documentary, directors Alan Adelson and Kate Taverna uncover the personal stories of Carol Van Strum, a mother of four children from Lincoln County, Oregon, and To Nga Tran, a French-Vietnamese citizen and journalist for the People’s Liberation Front. Using narration, archival and live video, interviews with lawyers, judges, scientists, and authors, the film exposes the terrible human consequences from contact with Agent Orange in Vietnam and in the United States.
In 1974, Carol Van Strum moves to a farm in the pristine forested area of Lincoln County, Oregon. Shortly after, the logging industry begins to clear cut the forests, leaving barren hillsides that slowly recover with the brush. With the end of the Vietnam War, Agent Orange is no longer approved for use, and the Air Force sells leftover gallons of the product to this country. When a law is passed requiring the timber industry in Oregon to replant areas within three years of felling, the forest service does not protest the use of Agent Orange to clear the brush for replanting. Carol’s children become sick after hillside spraying and their dog dies. Carol also notices wildlife born with deformities.
With an unusual number of miscarriages following a month of spraying, citizens hold meetings and pursue a lawsuit. Finally, in 2017, Lincoln County bans the use of Agent Orange. After the veterans’ class-action suit in 1983, Dow Chemical Company withdraws all registrations for 2,4,5-T (Agent Orange). As a result of the documents Carol Van Strum amasses from Dow Chemical Company, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other sources, 200,000 papers are digitally scanned and uploaded for public viewing; they are known as “The Poisoned Papers”.
Leaving her studies in the north to help with the liberation of the south, To Nga Tran returns to South Vietnam traveling the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where she is exposed to Agent Orange. After she marries, Mrs. Tran has three children and all are born with incurable illnesses; the first baby dies. Years later, Mrs. Tran learns Agent Orange is responsible for many cancers and birth deformities in Vietnam and she pursues a lawsuit in France in 2015 at the International Tribunal of Public Opinion for all the victims of Agent Orange. After seven years of hearings, the case is dismissed. Toward the end of the film, Mrs. Tran reveals her tests show dioxin is in her blood and she has cancer. With damming evidence, this film makes a strong case against the use of herbicides where the health of human beings and the natural world are adversely affected. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P.