Unfortunately me and my family is a recipient of the reprocussions of agent orange. My dad was in Vietnam during the peak of agent orange usage in Northern, South Vietnam and was coated regularly with aerial spray. When my brother and I were born in the 80s, both of us were born nearly with our feet on backwards. The usage of similar herbicides is absolutely amazing, but there's a sad legacy following the usage of similar chemicals. Ultimately my dad died from his exposure to both agent orange and benzene while in the military.
@kimberlysheridan5530
3 жыл бұрын
I hope you and your brother are all right. My heart goes out for your father. Due to recent news from Afghanistan, I fear we have another generation of dedicated young men and women wondering what all the sacrifice was for.
@phoenixdundee
3 жыл бұрын
@@kimberlysheridan5530 Unfortunately I believe nothing will change. The burn pits from Iraq are the agent orange of Vietnam. The USA love to shovel their young into meat grinders for the financial gain of the corporation, all under the guise of humanitarian effort.
@theguest4516
3 жыл бұрын
I hope you and your brother are ok. Just that.
@FeedMeSalt
3 жыл бұрын
@@phoenixdundee Change will likely come this time. Unlike every other conflict this generation has never seen "the American dream" only a nightmare. The US gov will have too hand out land and immense wages or we will not fight for this shit hole. We have the highest education and the worst state of living since the great depression. also the US cant hand out land since 90% of the most valuable farm land in America is owned by 40 something people.... thats my main reason for trusting we wont repeat it again without a collapse. we are not content. and the country already sold itself. The simple fact that we could have had a country wide healthcare system if we didnt go too afgan 20 years ago is more then enough too push us. also, social healthcare would save the country more money the nit costs and that has been proven a dozen ways over now.
@WrestlingMoM-gr6it
3 жыл бұрын
@@FeedMeSalt actually we don’t have the best education system.
When you look back at the 20th century, the fact that we got through it is nothing short of miraculous.
@dgb1952
3 жыл бұрын
I am a USAF veteran who served in Thailand during the closing days of the Vietnam war. It was discovered that our bases were sprayed all around the perimeter. The VA has not, as of this date, recognized our exposure even though we have collected piles of documentation of the use at Airfields and other U.S. bases. One of the accepted diseases from Dioxin is Type II Diabetes. Most of my veteran buddies who served at my airfield (U Tapao RTNA) suffer from this disease as well as Prostate and other cancers, breathing damage, and the related side effects of these illnesses.
@Brett_S_420
3 жыл бұрын
Sorry for it brother. You should check out the song "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Tricks.
It's always been stunning how tremendously the US government will shirk its obligations regarding such issues.
@Whole-Milk
2 жыл бұрын
I’m so angry for you and your fellow soldiers. Thank you for sharing your story 💖
@JohnJohnson-oe3ot
2 жыл бұрын
@@SophiaAstatine bc then people Ask what else is being ignored
@masterchinese28
3 жыл бұрын
I still remember seeing cans of DDT at family and neighbors' houses when I was a kid. Pretty unnerving to think about how common it had been.
@chochopopo1
3 жыл бұрын
One of my patients at the pharmacy was stationed at a storage facility for agent orange. He developed cancer, even though he had a little direct contact. The VA refuses to pay for his treatments and medication because he is from an "at risk" group. Truly horrible how the government treated and still treats its most vulnerable.
@Khalrua
3 жыл бұрын
I did my APPE for pharmacy at the VA, did clinical pain management, and lemme tell you those were the best people I ever worked with. Miss that place truly
@gazepskotzs4
3 жыл бұрын
Exactly!, governments are NOT protecting the vulnerable. Here in the Netherlands the army used a kind of paint that was known for its carcinogen effects. The ones effected had to go to court for years and after years of denying the risk involved for those who worked with it, they had to stop the use of it because it was proved by scientists to be dangerous. Still the government denied a lot of people financial support because the victims could not literally prove that their cancer was the result of the use of this paint. Even though they worked for years with this stuff, had cancer that was typical for people working with these chemicals and the amount of ill people were much higher than expected when one was not in contact with it. At the end some got financial support, some died before some settlement was made. And this story repeats itself over and over , all around the world. Different chemicals , different people, same negligant or money grabbing governments.
@AsmodeusMictian
3 жыл бұрын
If only there could be a way to bring the government more in line with the views of its people. Wouldn't that be amazing? Ah, sadly, we keep ourselves busy electing obvious sociopaths who only care about the money and the power. I guess that must be what we ACTUALLY want, after all...why would we do it for decade after decade if that wasn't the case?
@CornPopsDood
3 жыл бұрын
My uncle was in direct contact with it during Vietnam constantly. He ended up getting a cancerous tumor larger than a football developing on his liver. The doctors even said that it was a direct cause of his cancer along with other conditions he’d dealt with for life, & he still died in pain, with little to no help from Uncle Sam.
@gazepskotzs4
3 жыл бұрын
@@AsmodeusMictian Here in the Netherlands we don't have choice. I mean we can vote , but all our politicians are psychopaths. I can choose left or right, they do not listen to the people on both sides. Sad but true.
@deltaomega2136
3 жыл бұрын
Now I'm no chemist or doctor, but I feel like it shouldn't be surprising that chemicals specifically meant to kill things might be harmful.
@kimberlyformanova5554
3 жыл бұрын
Sadly most people don’t stop to think, are blindly trusting or have no ‘common’ sense :(
@TheChronozoan
2 жыл бұрын
I think chemicals like this being allowed into use is a combination of two mindsets: one thinks, "oh it kills plants" and they just stop there. No further processing. And secondly, they simply don't care.
@MTTT1234
3 жыл бұрын
I think I read that Thalidomes / Contergan (as it was called in Germany) was sold even decades later in Latin-America, with the label that producers thought would prevent it being taken during pregnancy, thus avoiding the problems with miscarriages and birth defects. This labely was showing a pregnant woman that was crossed out. But because of high rates of illiteracy people thought that it was an anti-pregnancy medication, thus using it exactly in a situation where it should not be consumed.
@MortRotu
3 жыл бұрын
It's a shame you didn't touch on the things we learnt from thalidomide about the structure of molecules and how this has lead to more effective medicine (and why thalidomide can now be used safely for the uses you mentioned). It's horrible stuff that should never have been put to market like it was, but there are now stricter regulations and better practices in place as a result of it.
@rationallyruby
3 жыл бұрын
That’s a whole video in itself!
@mggrech
3 жыл бұрын
All drugs need to be used responsibly. Thalidomide should have never been marketed as it was, primarily because it is completely unethical to experiment on pregnant women. That said, it does have a role in treating other conditions, just like many other drugs on the market
@MortRotu
3 жыл бұрын
@@rationallyruby so it is....
@imaginti259
3 жыл бұрын
I make this argument for medicine in general, people say the same thing with vaccines. Stuff like but that person died or had side effects, im like yeah because we are all different and there will always be some people who don’t respond well to medicine that is kind of how our biology works. Pain killers don’t effect me but could somebody else, should we stop using it because of those few bad cases
@jamesbaker2958
3 жыл бұрын
There's something about Thalidomide being perfectly safe in its right hand variety but cause numerous issues in its left hand variety. That and it can convert between the two variations automatically.
@TheLadiGigi
3 жыл бұрын
My step dad was in Vietnam. He was in the Air Force. He dropped naplam. Out of his entire unit, he is the last one left. The others died of cancer.
@gouravduttaroy5238
3 жыл бұрын
Oh no that's grim.
@Brett_S_420
3 жыл бұрын
You should check out the song "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Tricks.
@JaseBDaley
5 ай бұрын
that seems fair. in the 2 years since this comment did karma get your step-dad yet?
@debrastiens6216
3 жыл бұрын
As a child in the 50s and early 60s, the ‘Bug Machine’ would travel the streets of our city spraying DDT to kill mosquitoes. This fascinated us and we would follow behind the truck reveling in the cloud of spray unaware of the danger. One sister is a breast cancer survivor and another just had surgery for uterine cancer.
@theenzoferrari458
3 жыл бұрын
Uterine cancer from ddt? Did he or she touch themselves after getting in ddt spray? I call bullshit on the uterine cancer from ddt.
@debrastiens6216
3 жыл бұрын
@@theenzoferrari458 I truly doubt a ‘he’ would get uterine cancer from anything. That said, I really don't know how she got it.
@areolata
3 жыл бұрын
My father and his siblings use to do the same thing in Chicago. It was considered so safe at the time they would let kids run through the spray. My father, and many other individuals within his extended family, have all had cancer and most have died from it.
@theenzoferrari458
3 жыл бұрын
@@debrastiens6216 whoops yeah. I mistook uterine for urethra. Lmao. But still.
@fps079
3 жыл бұрын
Rode my bike through the stuff while growing up in a development called Bayberry, NY. We thought it was fun, too.
@mikegike7273
3 жыл бұрын
I was born in Toronto, 1961. Dr's. pushed mom for a new drug that helps with morning sickness.....Thank God she decided to pass on thalidomide. I was lucky.
@fraserwood2600
3 жыл бұрын
Same for me. 1959 Singapore. Thank you mum’s doctor.
@ollieb9875
3 жыл бұрын
Consider the covid vaccine equally.
@BulletHole
3 жыл бұрын
@@ollieb9875 could make sense, except it is entirely different and there have already been babies born to parents who had the vaccine and there was no issue... so... you are utterly and completely wrong...
@ollieb9875
3 жыл бұрын
@@BulletHole there are hundreds of miscarriages too so. Consider yourself a farthead
@eadweard.
3 жыл бұрын
I get the impression every mother from that era tells their children the same tall story.
@I_THE_ME
3 жыл бұрын
Thalidomide isn't a bad drug, it just didn't go through proper clinical testing before its release. It only affect the development of embryos which means it can be a viable drug to treat people suffering from nausea caused by conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Sadly thalidomide research doesn't gain much funding due to its history and the molecule not being covered by patents.
@georgecaplin9075
3 жыл бұрын
And there’s some hope of it treating leprosy, I’ve heard. Like you say, it only affects embryos, and if there’d been.any effect on the patient themselves, it would have been noticed. (Edit ‘cos I just considered a part of the comment I hadn’t paid enough attention to: Thalidomide went through “clinical testing”, but what I heard was, they tested it on animals, which was bad enough, but that was for nought because they didn’t test it on any pregnant animals meaning the “research” was all but worthless.)
@hndrwn
3 жыл бұрын
Thalidomide or lenalidomide save people with multiple mylenoma.
@lynnpayne9519
3 жыл бұрын
This is the same situation as the treatment for real bad pimples. You have to get 2 kinds of birth control to even go on it. Embryo health is affected but lives of adults have been changed for the best.
@Brett_S_420
3 жыл бұрын
Smoke pot for nausea.
@Species-lj8wh
3 жыл бұрын
But Thalidomide was tested more and for longer than the Covid vaccines. Not saying something will happen, just hoping it doesn't.
@jonathanmatthews4774
3 жыл бұрын
Ahhh, humanity. It's amazing we managed to survive so long as we have with continuing to poison ourselves.
@JoshSweetvale
3 жыл бұрын
Eachother
@jamescollins3647
3 жыл бұрын
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, apparently.
@marcuspoosz2190
3 жыл бұрын
@@jamescollins3647 or probably leaves you paralysed for life, idk if thats stronger
@jamescollins3647
3 жыл бұрын
@@marcuspoosz2190 You can't dodge illness forever. I have just read a scientist saying that we must all be vaccinated to get rid of covid in the same way that we have eradicated other diseases. The WHO says that two diseases have been eradicated, smallpox and rinderpest. Unfortunately there is now doubt being cast on this. A check will show you. Disease and death are part of life, sad but true, trying to lock the world down? Do you think this is the right way to do anything.
@rayceeya8659
3 жыл бұрын
Suggestions for a follow up video: Asbestos, Carbon Tetrachloride, CFCs.
@erraticonteuse
3 жыл бұрын
Don't forget triethyl lead!
@rayceeya8659
3 жыл бұрын
@@erraticonteuse Ohhh good one!
@evan5935
3 жыл бұрын
@@erraticonteuse tetra-ethyl lead, but yes! I came to mention that haha
@DefianceOrDishonor
3 жыл бұрын
Funny how J&J had asbestos contamination in their baby powder for thirty years, knew about it, but swept it under the rug without fixing it because it would be too costly to correct. Went on until the late 90s and a lawsuit in the early 2000s. But hey, now we're supposed to trust them with an experimental vaccine.
@thomasfholland
3 жыл бұрын
Roundup!!
@richardmooney6800
3 жыл бұрын
I thank God my mother didn't consume it when she was in Germany as she told me the doctors of the day kept pushing it
@missionslos8856
3 жыл бұрын
oof close one
@systematic101
3 жыл бұрын
Sounds familiar
@00muinamir
3 жыл бұрын
Arthur Galston actually became a bioethicist *because* he saw how his research on Agent Orange got used and realized that no scientist can afford to remain ignorant of the potential ramifications of their research. It's not fair to say it was ironic somehow, it was the direct reason for it.
@Brett_S_420
3 жыл бұрын
He probably saw it on his bio and didn't realize he later went that direction. Sometimes a bio doesn't list everything in a proper timeline.
@George_M_
3 жыл бұрын
Ah, the highlights only approach to researching ones videos ~
@chimarleywai
3 жыл бұрын
It’s called whitewashing your legacy.
@philb1595
3 жыл бұрын
the DDT dumping grounds in the ocean is right off the Catalina island coast where our boy scout camp was, we swam in DDT water for years. ha ha ha. they recently released sonar scans showing the dump is way larger and closer to the island off the coast of southern CA
@wesgraham9588
3 жыл бұрын
Thank you ! Have a good day Simon ! 🙋🏻♂️
@duckydarrick7460
3 жыл бұрын
And look at all the variants of DDT we have now: tornado, double-arm, rope-draping, glorious...
@AsmodeusMictian
3 жыл бұрын
Lost an uncle to Agent Orange. Absolutely horrifying stuff. RIP James Wilcox. :'-(
@Brett_S_420
3 жыл бұрын
You should check out the song "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Tricks.
@gregoryheim9781
3 жыл бұрын
Your opening monolog is now fuel for my nightmares. Thanks Simon.
@ashesfalldown492
3 жыл бұрын
My FiL died of cancer due to ancient orange exposure. (During his tours as a medic) My grandmother’s brother did too. (He let them experiment on him rather than go to combat). Both survived the war only to have it kill them slowly decades later.
@It-b-Blair
3 жыл бұрын
For fun, he’d also be your *maternal great uncle*
@Brett_S_420
3 жыл бұрын
You should check out the song "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Tricks.
@joshuahunt3032
3 жыл бұрын
5:25 I think this one is how one of my college biology professors explained the concept of chirality. If this is what I’m thinking of, I think she implied that the molecule might’ve worked better if it was mirrored the other way around.
@sarahgargani5836
3 жыл бұрын
The problem with thalidomide is that it spontaneously changes from the safe to dangerous handed form.
@anto687
3 жыл бұрын
Exactly correct, "left-handed" Thalidomide performed as intended to prevent morning sickness, but "right-handed" Thalidomide was toxic. It may have been during the mass-manufacture that this came about where in lab conditions only the left handed molecule was used. Or it was just by chance
@Simon-ho6ly
3 жыл бұрын
@@anto687 Close, when do do reactions to make these types of molecules you typically get a 50/50 mix of both versions, at the time the differing effect of these versions were not fully understood
@travisinthetrunk
3 жыл бұрын
@@anto687 I learned about this from Walter White.
@joeylawn36111
3 жыл бұрын
@@sarahgargani5836 Correct. Even if the correct enantomer was used, it switches to the toxic form when metabolized.
@fps079
3 жыл бұрын
When I was a kid we would ride our bikes in the chemical fog created from a fogger that rode on a pickup truck and sprayed DDT throughout our neighborhood as a way to eradicate mosquitoes. It was dense, smelly, fun, and totally toxic.
@cwigs2782
3 жыл бұрын
We had a whole host of kids in my neighborhood that did that. The ‘skeeter fogger’ roused the same excitement in us kids as the sno cone man did.
@mattrobison4251
3 жыл бұрын
Same here. We used to see how long we could ride before we had to take a breath
@robertwilloughby8050
3 жыл бұрын
Do malathion, Opren and TGN1412 next. My grandma took Opren, but apart from making her itchy, she didn't have any other of the effects, which is why I'm interested in it.
@budphillips5968
3 жыл бұрын
The military was using thalidomide in the mid 70s. My wife was prescribed it at the base hospital for her morning sickness
@ellsworth1956
3 жыл бұрын
The problem with DDT ( and a lot of other stuff) is that age old adage if a little is good more must be better. DDT was cheap and easy to make so we humans soak our world in it. I remember watching the planes spray the town with DDT to kill mosquitos. DDT has its place but must be carefully used and monitored.
@stevenclarke5606
3 жыл бұрын
I remember back in the 1970s there was a whole spate of paraquat poisonings , I think that all were fatal as there was no antidote.
@jacksavage4098
3 жыл бұрын
Ah, untested medicines, what could go wrong?
@joeylawn36111
3 жыл бұрын
2:27 The chemicals shown, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, are not the main problem chemical in the mixture that is Agent Orange. It's the unwanted side-product 2,3,7,8 TCDD, commonly known as Dioxin that is the problem.
@angustaylor5204
3 жыл бұрын
What!? Simon Whistler has ANOTHER KZitem channel!? I Only just found Casual Criminalist a couple of weeks ago.
@huddunlap3999
3 жыл бұрын
One of my Uncles saw combat in WWII, Korea and Viet Nam and died of Agent Orange poisoning
@alexisc6136
3 жыл бұрын
Thalidomide was originally an over the counter drug?? I guess I shouldn't be shocked but that is crazy
@SassyGirl822006
3 жыл бұрын
Cocane used to be sold as a health supplement, and is what Coca-Cola is partially named for. So, thalidomide being sold over the counter isn't that crazy.
@michaelgallagher3640
3 жыл бұрын
Same with herion...Ah the good old days...not. The past was the worst.
@paramounttechnicalconsulti5219
3 жыл бұрын
I remember being in an "all-hands" grammar school assemble (K-8 in modern lingo) in the early 70's when the principle proudly announced that some generous donor had donated genuine asbestos curtains for the stage in the cafe-gym-atorium to protect us all from fire. Best laid plans, ang oft agly, etc....
@chrisyanover1777
3 жыл бұрын
DDT also used to be a devastating finishing move by Jake the Snake Roberts. Now it just a normal transitional move in wrestling.
@lokibrux
3 жыл бұрын
Legend
@maryannfascetti6421
3 жыл бұрын
Thank you simon for sharing
@ericclaptonsrobotpilot7276
3 жыл бұрын
The new thumbnail got me. You’ve got a good handle on what works and what doesn’t re: video thumbs .
@jolan_tru
3 жыл бұрын
If we had modern computers back then, almost all of these missteps could have been easily avoided.
@jamie4993
3 жыл бұрын
A significant aspect of the dangers associated with Agent Orange was the presence of polychlorinated benzodioxins ( en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_dibenzodioxins ). Those are common byproducts of the synthesis of the active herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.
@TheRedjack77
3 жыл бұрын
really interesting video. On a recent trip to see my family. I had recommended the many channels by Mr. Whistler, to a few older relativities. EXCEPT business blaze.
@leafyrox
3 жыл бұрын
I'm surprised paraquat and PFAS/PFOS/PFOA didn't make your list.
@twstf8905
3 жыл бұрын
Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," is often attributed to the World's, (America and Europe in particular,) increased attention to environmental factors, the institution of the Environmental Protection Agency, etc. But, it's recently been argued, typically by scholars, (including Astronomers, Historians, Physicists, etc.) that, while Carson's research and the cultural impact of her literary achievements are undeniable, the cultural and sociopolitical landscape concerning humanity's awareness of the fragility of the Planet, and subsequent changes made primarily in the early 70's, from the EPA to Doctors without Borders, imposition of Unleaded Gasoline laws, NOAA, and most other Earth-focused and environmental regulations were most likely more directly attributed to the Apollo Program. They argue that, by traveling to the Moon, humanity had, for the first time in history, the paradigm-altering ability to turn around and suddenly discover the Earth. It was at that moment, with or without Rachel Carson's influence almost a decade earlier, seeing the Planet that every human being that has ever existed came from, in all her "non-School room Globe," glory, without color-coded Countries, only the magnificent blues, greens, and whites of the cloud cover, viewed from that unique perspective was the single most effective influence upon Humanity's view of the Planet motivating absolutely everything within that context to follow. One picture was taken, from the Apollo Mission called; "Earth Rise," (a photograph of the Earth and some of the Moon's surface taken from Lunar Orbit by Astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission.) That nature photographer Galen Rowell declared; "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken." A statement that famous Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has written an entire speech and article in the Journal Nature agreeing with. Anyway, clearly I could never hope to be nearly as eloquent here, in a KZitem comment section lol so, if you care I would recommend checking out Tyson's lecture at the University of Washington, where he discusses the cultural impact of the manned Moon missions, their impact on society, the progress of technology, and unprecedented influence on humanity's appreciation for the Planet Earth. It's arguably the most inspirational speech ever given on the subject, by someone only motivated by making the world a better place through education and the spread of scientific literacy, "if for no other reason," he says, "than to inoculate as much of the population as possible against charlatans, con artists, and anyone else who would try to B.S. you. Pull the wool over your eyes." (But seriously, it's one of the best uses of a mere hour and a half of your time there is, and, you won't even have to leave KZitem!) (Besides, what else do you have to do in this unique, once-in-a-century worldwide Pandemic lockdown quarantine situation we're all enduring, anyway?) 😇✌
@fourtyfivefudd
3 жыл бұрын
I’m a vintage bottle collector, metal detector and antique collector. And one of the things I found have have in my collection is a small narrow glass bottle labeled “Mrs Winslow’s soothing syrup” come to find out it was nicknamed “the baby killer” and was given to babies between 1850 and 1930. It contained a massive amount of morphine and when mothers gave it to their coughing children to help sooth them during the night, many of them never woke up. who knows, maybe the bottle I own was once one of the bottles that actually killed some one.
@robertwalters6508
3 жыл бұрын
I got to see alot of those old timey patent medicines through bottles my great grandmother had collected during her lifetime as her husband was a doctor. Active ingredients always : morphine or opium or diactylmorphine a.k.a heroin or booze or cocaine.
@TH3H0LYJ3BUS
3 жыл бұрын
My father was exposed to agent orange in Vietnam. It gave have him severe psoriasis all over his body. And possibly lead to the cancer that killed him last year. And the government did nothing to help.in fact they flat out denied it, and fought him whenever he requested help.
@hectorsmommy1717
3 жыл бұрын
I grew up in a small town surrounded by water which also meant a lot of mosquitoes in the summer. I remember the DDT sprayer trucks that wandered through town on occasion and we kids thought it was cool to run alongside in the spray itself.
@ryandonegan6374
3 жыл бұрын
Malaria was eradicated in the us using DDT. I'm interested in how many death were a direct result of the DDT.
@davidlium9338
3 жыл бұрын
Especially vs. deaths from DDT!
@asahearts1
3 жыл бұрын
Yeah, gotta admit, malaria has killed more people than anything else in all of history. Now that rich countries have gotten rid of malaria, it's a problem for poor countries to use DDT. Kinda hypocritical.
@dontcallmebaby6927
3 жыл бұрын
I worked for 5 years as a teenager at a company that packed and decanted DDT, Delrin, Aldrin, Mercury dust and a host of other now banned agriculture chemicals. Dust was everywhere in the office where I worked, the stench of the place was indescribable. When they decanted some chemicals my head would spin for ages. I threw out all my work clothes when I left as they stunk. A couple years later when I had my first child, first thing I did was check for defects. None on the outside but since then a few inside defects have been found.
@golfgrabu
3 жыл бұрын
I paused the video at 11:50 and I find that it's really creepy. The terror's expression on the kids face is really contrasting with the "father knows best" expression of the guy.
@Death_Tr00per58
3 жыл бұрын
I've been reading Silent Spring for a few weeks now, and I was waiting for the chemical DDT to come up in this video
@thedethrocker8858
3 жыл бұрын
Well that was utterly fucking depressing ....cheers Simon see you next week 🤣🤣🤣
@williamp2359
3 жыл бұрын
My father was a county agent. At the time, he would assist farmers while they were crop dusting with Agent Orange and DDT. There were 4 men in his office. Three of them died of cancerous brain tumors in their thirties.
@SaraInNH
Жыл бұрын
My Dad enlisted in the army when he was 18. He served in Vietnam, still believing we had no business being over there. He had "significant exposure" to agent orange and developed cancer in the soft tissues of his throat and neck, especially in the tonsils. He can now look back and recognize that his entire life after Vietnam was affected. PTSD, which went untreated into his 50s. Cancer, treated with radiation that left horrible scars, speech difficulties, an inability to swallow for a few years and still causes frequent choking. And damage to his kidneys that has left him in stage 3 renal failure. He was willing to serve his country, but when he returned, his country turned its back on him.
@TwentyNinerR
3 жыл бұрын
I remember reading about DDT from some of my books during my elementary school days and from environmental law classes I took during university. That substance's seriously scary.
@rhobot75
3 жыл бұрын
Enjoyed that it was presented in chapters. Deep chapters.
@marckyle5895
3 жыл бұрын
My best friend in high school was from Vietnam. He and his mother came here in 1975. He died of what was first diagnosed as breast cancer at age 19 that then spread everywhere, laying waste to his body to where he weighed about 70 pounds when he died before he reached 21. I blame Agent Orange
@carolyncasner4806
3 жыл бұрын
I wonder what was the health outcome of the soldier from the film shown spraying agent orange shirtless
@jaredkennedy6576
3 жыл бұрын
Well now you have me wondering if there is a link between DDT and my breast cancer. It's odd enough to get that as a male, but to also not carry the gene for it and having it just randomly occur is even stranger. I've lived in historically agricultural areas for the majority of my life, but also worked around asbestos and nuclear stuff as well, so who knows. Maybe you should do a bit on little studied diseases. It's extremely difficult to find information or support for this for men.
@Opalisk_
3 жыл бұрын
the really sad part about the herbicides used in Vietnam is that they knew Agent Orange's effects on the human body, they told the American Government, who did not care. Agent Orange was also not the only herbicide used in Vietnam, there were a lot more too.
@not-a-raccoon
3 жыл бұрын
The fact that the FDA gave a bunch of these a pass is one of the many reasons I have trust issues
@adamsholzhaus8196
3 жыл бұрын
Simon, you should cover PFAS.
@laurendoe168
3 жыл бұрын
I am surprised this video did not include nerve agents such as Sarin. The title says "medicines and chemicals"; while Sarin isn't a medicine, it most certainly is a chemical.
@travisinthetrunk
3 жыл бұрын
A chemical that nobody ever thought was safe.
@IudiciumInfernalum
3 жыл бұрын
Water is a chemical too.
@mikejones2830
3 жыл бұрын
He has a different "war time" video about sarin and chemical warfare
@laurendoe168
3 жыл бұрын
@@IudiciumInfernalum Yes... but not deadly unless taken to excess.
@TomLaios
3 жыл бұрын
I live near the Sydney Olympic Park.Across Homebush Bay is the former industrial suburb of Rhodes.Union Carbide had a plant there that amongst other things, made agent orange.All the factories liked to hose down their sites into poor old Homebush Bay, making it one of the most toxic polluted bodies of water in Australia .
@timothyoswald8618
3 жыл бұрын
Hearing about these is like watching a train wreck in slow motion... but not in the good way.
@@davidlium9338 No, it's a mineral like talc, which was used for decades as baby powder, though it is very dangerous to inhale.
@danieljones9937
3 жыл бұрын
@@davidlium9338 Asbestos isn't a chemical? That's news to me! What is it then, fairy dust? EDIT: Oh, I see. You mean it's a mineral as in it's mined? That's a pretty fine line to draw.
@rudra62
3 жыл бұрын
@@danieljones9937 It's a chemical. It's a naturally-occurring compound, and is mined. Thus it is not a man-made product. The fact that it is natural does not mean "not harmful".
@danieljones9937
3 жыл бұрын
@@rudra62 I know, Headcynic, I know. Try telling @David Lium that though!
@dougterhune9364
3 жыл бұрын
My Grandfather used DDT on his arms and the brim of his hat when he worked in his garden. He died of sickle cell. Noone in our family had it before or since.
@mbathroom1
3 жыл бұрын
last time I was this early, it was still the 20th century
@asahearts1
3 жыл бұрын
We didn't learn any lessons from the 20th and will get another go round, this time with more dystopia!
@mbathroom1
3 жыл бұрын
@@asahearts1 yes
@perstaunstrup3451
3 жыл бұрын
There is a reason we now environmental and medical approval agencies nowadays… At least we have (to a degree) learned some lessons.
@918guy
6 ай бұрын
Bald eagles, in turn, were poisoned with DDT when they ate the contaminated fish. The chemical interfered with the ability of the birds to produce strong eggshells. As a result, their eggs had shells so thin that they often broke during incubation or otherwise failed to hatch.
@forthexp8649
3 жыл бұрын
My great-uncle was killed by agent orange, by the time he passed a few years back they'd taken out pounds of bone, feet of intestines, around 5% of his skin, and a piece of almost every other organ.
@mudhutproductions
3 жыл бұрын
I remember helicopters spraying Malathion all over the Bay Area around 1980-81 during the Medfly scare. Never heard much about that afterwords.
@lyleslaton3086
3 жыл бұрын
Pharmaceutical lobbies are some of the most dangerous things on the planet. Besides politicians.
@pammmmm
3 жыл бұрын
I’m sure many of these products were known to have bad consequences later on ( opioids) but they didn’t ( don’t) care.... it’s all about $$$😞
@imaginti259
3 жыл бұрын
What about all the medicines and surgeries that do help, the comparison is ridiculous.
@bmxiggy
3 жыл бұрын
Another video on the same topic. Very interesting
@travisinthetrunk
3 жыл бұрын
What about Paraquat? When I was a baby there were airplanes that would drop that stuff over our house. Now they say that it causes Parkinson’s disease.
@spritemon98
3 жыл бұрын
The amount of harmful medicine that they used to pass off as good is horrifying
@suzanneirving7257
3 жыл бұрын
A friend of mine was affected by thalidomide. She has very short arms among other problems. How many pills did her mother take? ONE. Just one pill. My mother had nausea when she was pregnant with me she actually had been given pills by her doctor but never took them only because her nausea got better. The horror in my mother’s voice when she used to talk about this still sticks with me today.
@Varizen87
3 жыл бұрын
My grandfather died from Agent Orange. Survived WW2, Korea, and Vietnam only to die shortly after arriving home in about 1972. He had been awarded a Bronze Star after an attack that killed all the officers and was left as the highest ranking person left and took charge fighting off the Viet Cong and didn’t lose any further people in the fight. He was in the US Air force.
@mdr48371
3 жыл бұрын
I'm surprised to hear any of these are still on the market
@bryce_hitedj
3 жыл бұрын
I'm pretty sure that thalidomide was only causing deaths when the wrong isomer was used. The S isomer interacted with the body in a way that the R isomer did not but doctors didn't think such a distinction was important at the time.
@prettyfar33
3 жыл бұрын
I saw a picture in an old book that showed them spraying down every person and the inside of all planes with DDT when they landed in America from certain countries!!! I have often wondered about the Stewardess and how much it affected them later on in their lives?
@fortusvictus8297
3 жыл бұрын
The TRUE answer? Probably not at all. DDT is bad because it lingers in the environment and if its use hadn't been curtailed the cumulative effect could destroy entire biomes. The 'cancer in humans' thing actually never stood up to scientific review, and legal cases were hit and miss on lawsuit judgements. The mechanism of action (to get into technical lingo) is one that doesn't really affect humans directly though its possible if a single person had a dosage over time far above what anyone would consider reasonable (such as the untrained and uneducated men dispensing tons of it while smoking and breathing it directly) it could have any number of secondary or tertiary effects no study would ever reliably catch. I doubt that's the answer you wanted to hear, but that's how science rolls sometimes.
@user-hf6vy8xc4i
3 жыл бұрын
Would you consider doing an episode on Oxy-Contin?
@Rebar77_real
3 жыл бұрын
Simon's going to start twisting that glorious moustache any day now.
@partyontheobjective
Жыл бұрын
All of these should get their Into the Shadows episodes.
@robsgirl7778
3 жыл бұрын
My grandfather was in a special ops mission when agent orange was sprayed, he ended up battling Hodgkins lymphoma for years.
@shensley27
2 жыл бұрын
Baby powder, or talcum powder, should be on the list. Used in the US as a feminine hygiene product, it been shown to have high levels of Asbestos. Just recently, many women have been shown to have contracted cervical cancer from using baby powder. P&G have only recently pulled the baby powder from the shelves.
@topherd1011
3 жыл бұрын
The “Experts”: The FDA would never approve anything that would harm anyone Everyone Else: 1-800-BAD-DRUG
@benjaminsmith3151
3 жыл бұрын
This is a good overview, but I think it deserves a deeper look. We have short term studies and guess at long term effects. So, we end up with enormous spikes in use at the beginning, followed by years and years of problems never seen before. Maybe instead of chemical companies earning huge sums during the initial phase and getting sued later, that money should be held and only released if there are no damaging effects. Otherwise we are incentivizing negligence. Chemists are encouraged to create substances that appear safe until the patent expires. I never heard that thalidomide was over the counter until seeing this video, and that should shock everyone about governments simply declaring substances are "Safe". The fact that thalidomide was never approved in the U.S. suggests that there were already approved competitors at that time. Pay dumb during the approval process, sell like crazy, then retire rich and send your kids to law school so they can profit from the lawsuits.
@Yupppi
2 жыл бұрын
I just recently watched the episode about rules of war. *US laughs* And it just beats me how easy it is to put poisons out there and never pay the penalties, and how hard it is to get those poisons removed from medicine.
@CompelledFungus
3 жыл бұрын
Simon there was little effort out into this video... What about glyphosate causinng autism and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma currently legal in Europe thanks to the greed of Mairead McGuiness Irish TD? What about the fluoride (considered poison in most countries) added to the water of seven "first World" countries? Dengvaxia in the Philippines? COVID "vaccine"?
@ashproof
3 жыл бұрын
(Crosses fingers) cover agent orang! Simon: I got you bro. First thing.
@skraagthedestroyer
3 жыл бұрын
You should take a look at DNP - dinitrophenol; the wonder diet pill? Takes "burning fat" to a whole new level! 🔥🔥
@davidmunro1469
3 жыл бұрын
This video is a good ROUNDUP. HA HA HA.
@TheGhostOfFredZeppelin
3 жыл бұрын
With a history as drenched in immorality and corruption as this, you'd think more people would be open to the idea of questioning the motives of some of the large actors in this industry.
@walttrotter535
3 жыл бұрын
Very Interesting!
@divarachelenvy
3 жыл бұрын
I have used 2-4-d which was a part of agent orange and DDT as well... sure it's affected me...
@doctorlolchicken7478
3 жыл бұрын
A video about historical pushing of seemingly very beneficial chemicals onto the public with the bare minimum of testing, that later turn out to be disastrous. Hmmm, what made you think of that?
@Zepplin76
3 жыл бұрын
I'd love to know what SWFL sprayed every morning by plane while all the elementary school kids were at bus stops. "Mosquito spray"
@adrianlambert7130
3 жыл бұрын
I always though the thalidomide scandel was due to the fact that they had packaged and sold both compound isomers to the medicine market, when only one isomer was known as safe for consumption and the other highly toxic; but in an unknown manner.....
@prettymiffedbrit
3 жыл бұрын
Vegetable Oils should make it on the list.
@lydiaives733
3 жыл бұрын
My grandmother was still using ddt in her garden when i was a baby, when toddler id garden with her this was in the early and late 90's.... now i have alot of nervous system, muscle and reproductive issue let alone mental problems... could just be related...
@erraticonteuse
3 жыл бұрын
My mom and two of her sisters all developed breast cancer within a year of each other in their 40s, but their genetic tests didn't show any of the known markers for breast cancer. While it's possible they have a yet-unknown genetic marker, my money is on something environmental when the were kids in the '60s, probably DDT.
@carolwest6095
3 жыл бұрын
A friend grew up near farms and her parents would also spray thier own vegetable garden with DDT. She now has uncontrollable migraines and seizures. Even a loud noise can set her off.
@lydiaives733
3 жыл бұрын
@@erraticonteuse 😢 the situation is frightening, are they okay?
@lydiaives733
3 жыл бұрын
@@carolwest6095 omg that sounds like hell 😔
@erraticonteuse
3 жыл бұрын
@@lydiaives733 Fortunately yes, they were all caught early enough and no one has had a recurrence (yet, though it's been about 10 years so it's looking good).
Пікірлер: 625