Between 1961 and 1971 US military forces dispersed over 19 million gallons of phenoxy and other herbicidal agents in the Republic of Vietnam, including over 12 million gallons of dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange. Many of us were directly and/or indirectly in contact with these herbicidal agents, many of them very dangerous to humans, especially Agent Orange.
It is possible to tell from these maps, for example, whether individual soldiers or populations were likely to be present in a particular zone on the day of spraying and exposed directly, or whether they arrived later and were exposed indirectly. (Editor’s note: By copying these maps and with proof of my being in those locations at that time period, I was able to submit this information with my VA claim for my disability.)
The Chicago Tribune has had an article on the internet for a long time which is very helpful to determine if you or your loved one was within the boundaries of the defoliant spraying missions in Vietnam from the summer of 1961 through the late spring 1971. Click here to visit the website with the maps and graphs.
This interactive map is based on the Herbicide Exposure Assessment-Vietnam database developed by Jeanne Stellman, professor emeritus at Columbia University’s school of public health, and Columbia epidemiology professor Steven Stellman. They cleaned data from a 1974 National Academy of Sciences database and supplemented the records with documents from the National Archives. The database is considered the most comprehensive available on spraying missions. The effort was funded by a contract from the National Academy of Sciences to build an exposure model that could be used to assess the defoliants’ health impact on U.S. veterans who served in Vietnam. Dr. Jeanne Mager Stellman, Columbia University links to maps and documented information about Agent Orange.