Between 1962 and 1971, the United States sprayed millions of liters of Agent Orange over Vietnam to destroy the forests where National Liberation Front guerrillas were hiding and to destroy crops. After this chemical warfare ended, the US military incinerated and buried the surplus defoliant, causing lasting contamination in various parts of the world. However, the use of the herbicide remained authorized in American forests and pastures, far from any human contact. It was not until 1983 that Dow Chemical withdrew its products containing dioxin, a poison that causes cancer and birth defects, from the market.
