The New Straits Times, May 14, 2000
By Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
IN 1993, Malaysia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in Paris and ratified it last month.
The Convention requires the destruction of chemical weapons and weapon production facilities not later than 10 years after it comes into force.
The move to ratify the Convention is an important step, especially among Asian countries as Asia is emerging as the world's largest producer and consumer of toxic chemicals, in particular, persistent organic pollutants.
POPs range from organochloride pesticides to dioxins, from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to furans, all known to cause long-term damages to human health, ecosystems and wildlife. Many of these chemicals have been implicated in the rising incidence of certain cancers, reproductive problems, neurobehavioural impairment and immune system dysfunction.
Morever Asia, Vietnam in particular, has seen the world's worst indiscrimnate use of herbicides, namely a POP better known as Agent Orange _ nicknamed after the orange-striped barrels in which it was shipped.
Since Malaysia ratified the Convention just before the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war, it is worthwhile recalling how devastating and gruesome it can be when chemicals are used as weapons in wars.
The Vietnam war ended on April 30, 1975, but not until parts of the country were turned into one big "experimental station" where humans were doused with toxic chemicals under Operation Ranch Hand, the military code name for the toxic spraying campaign.
Reportedly, the US Air Force sprayed about 42 million litres of Agent Orange during the war. The defoliant was meant to destroy the jungle covering parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, exposing supply lines, enemy sanctuaries and bases, at the same time wiping out crops intended as food for Vietnamese soldiers.
Some 72 million litres of herbicide were used over South Vietnam.
The chemicals laced with dioxin _ the most toxic component _ cause neurological problems, cancers and birth deformities and affect the gene structure as well.
Such effects are also passed down to succeeding generations. In one Vietnamese province of 564,000 people 15,451 are suffering from the effects of toxic chemicals _ 8,325 were directly exposed, and 6,881 of their children 245 grandchildren suffer from birth defects.
Quoting a Vietnamese source, "where parents lived in areas heavily sprayed with Agent Orange, the 2.4 per cent rate of birth defects is much higher than the national average of 0.6 per cent".
Accordingly the contingent of the Vietnamese victims of the chemicals has now swollen to around a million, as estimated by the Vietnamese Red Cross.
Ironically, some of the American veterans are also suffering the consequences of similar exposures while loading the chemicals doing maintenance on aircraft and spray equipment.
There is sufficient evidence linking their exposure to diseases such as soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, respiratory cancers and chloracne caused by herbicides like Agent Orange.
More recently a USAF study showed a significant link between Agent Orange and diabetes in veterans who took part in spraying the defoliant. The study showed a 47 per cent increase in diabetes among US veterans with high levels of exposure. In his letter to Capitol Hill, the air force's surgeon-general said the results offered "the strongest evidence to date that Agent
Orange is associated with adult-onset diabetes and some of its known complications".
The increase was seen in those veterans with high levels of dioxin in the blood although the biological relationship between dioxin and diabetes is yet to be explained.
The study too showed a 26 per cent increase in heart disease among the veterans involved in the spraying of Agent Orange.
Malaysians have been spared the legacy of such inhumane war, but our battle to get rid of some of the more toxic substances, like POPs, rages on.
After all such chemicals have been earmarked for elimination under the United Nations Environmental Programme, which Malaysia too much "ratify" soon.
For more information, contact the National Poison Centre at Universiti Sains Malaysia, tel. 604-6570099, fax. 04-6568417, email. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Recommended site, Agent Orange Debrief: http://goiv.com/ao/
