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Conflict

Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam

Between 1961 and 1971 the United States dropped approximately 46 million litres of Agent Orange, war photographer Philip Jones Griffiths documents the on-going tragedy

Philip Jones Griffiths

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Tran Van Lam, ten, is intellectually- disabled and has difficulty walking. His older brothers, Tran Van Thuan and Tran Van Hoang also suffer from malformed legs. Their father built them a bamboo wa (...)

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Deformed fetuses preserved in formaldehyde at the Tu Du Hospital. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 1998. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Pham Hong Quy, 24, has several epileptic fits every day. He has a dysfunction of his right hand and left leg. His mother, PHAN Thi Thao, looks on as the village health volunteer Le Thi Binh (on lef (...)

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Deformed fetuses preserved in formaldehyde at the Tu Du Hospital.Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 1998. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam A baby born deformed with a small brain, defective mouth, ears and limbs at the Tu Du Hospital. It died the following day. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 1980. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Le Thi Hoa, fourteen, born stunted with deformed fingers, proudly demonstrates her excellent penmanship. Cam Nghia, Vietnam. 1998. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Girl Born in May, 2000 and left at the Tu Du Hospital by her parents. She was never given a name. Her condition, craniofacial dysostosis, is a feature of Crouzon's syndrome. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietn (...)

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Tran Ngoc Tang is cared for by his mother, Nguyen Thi Hai. Tang, eight, has spina bifida. His father Tran Ngoc Lo was sprayed in Cam Nghia as a child. Vietnam. Cam Nghia. 1998. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Nguyen Viet-Duc, born at Gia Lai, Kontum, on February 25, 1981. They were conjoined at the pelvis, with one anus, one penis, one urinary tract, one bladder, two kidneys, and three legs. They are on (...)

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam The physical therapy room at the Peace Village Hospital. Hanoi, Vietnam. 2002. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Uyen Hung village, Song Be Province, Vietnam. Tran Thi Cam Nhung, (on right), with her mother and sister at their home. Nhung was healthy at birth, but a week later the skin over her right eye turn (...)

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Villagers with their affected children attend the health clinic for their weekly check-up. Cam Nghia, Vietnam. 1998. © Philip Jones Griffiths | Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Nine-month-old Hoang Huu Cung, was born with a harelip. His mother, Le Thi Ninh, and her husband, Hoang Huu Tich, spent the war together in Cam Nghia. Their two older children have no abnormalities (...)

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Le Thi Dat, thirteen, suffers from spina bifida and mental retardation. She is inseparable from her doll. She was born in neary Quang Tri Hospital, "very weak". Her mother, Le Thi Thuyen, 49, carri (...)

Philip Jones Griffiths | Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam Penh, fourteen, was born in the Tramkok district, Takeo Province. He begs with his parents, who have also moved to the city. With his handsome good looks he specializes in targeting open-air restau (...)

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Agent Orange is, in some ways, Phillip Jones Griffiths’ epilogue to his other great works. It reflects not only his commitment to a valid, if cataclysmic, explanation of war, but also to the people of Vietnam.

In these pages are the Vietnamese and Cambodians that American tourists never see or hear about. Here are the results of the U.S. spraying the virulently poisonous chemical Agent Orange over these countries. Never has its effects on humans been so clearly shown as in this book by Griffiths, one of the greatest photographers of the war, who felt we should see what Agent Orange, and the United States government, had done. It is almost unbearable, but to turn away and not see the photographs is to compound the crime.

In Agent Orange, Griffiths has photographed the children and grandchildren of the farmers whose faces were lifted to the gentle rain of the toxic cloud. Griffiths has catalogued a damning series of photographs, and there can be no doubt that they will be recognized as evidence of a chilling campaign that left a legacy of disease and mutilation.