Denying the enemy concealment and food are ancient military practices.  Military actions of this nature were used by the Romans in the Third Punic War, by the French in the Indochina War, and by the United States in the Vietnam War.  Vietnam is a heavily foliated country and the North Vietnamese and Vietcong would use the foliation to hide.  Unsuspecting Americans were killed when they couldn’t see the enemy.  In order to reduce the ability of the enemy to kill American soldiers, the United States began using herbicides to defoliate large areas of South Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

A herbicide is a chemical substance used to destroy or stop plant growth and is commonly used by many Americans on their weeds.  The United States used several different types of herbicides in Vietnam and each received names based on the color of the barrel they were in.  The three most widely used herbicides used in Vietnam were Agent Blue, Agent White, and Agent Orange.  Agent Orange, the most widely used defoliant, contained a growth hormone.  When dropped onto trees, it accelerated their development, forcing them to shed their leaves prematurely, thus exposing trails or Vietcong bases.  The use of herbicides also destroyed crops, reducing the enemy’s food supply.

The exact amount of herbicides used in Vietnam is unknown, but it is estimated that from 1961 through 1971, 18 million gallons of chemicals were dropped over 5.5 million acres.  At first the United States believed Agent Orange was relatively harmless to human or animal life, and they even had men go into villages and eat bread dipped in the substance to prove it wasn’t dangerous.  But dioxin, a key ingredient in Agent Orange, was discovered to cause cancer and/or birth defects.  Agent Orange is also considered to be the cause of an abnormally high incidence of miscarriages, skin diseases, cancers, birth defects, and congenital malformations  from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Many U.S., Australian, and New Zealand servicemen who suffered long exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam later developed a number of cancers and other health disorders.  In Vietnam, the countryside today still shows bare areas that may not grow anything for a hundred years.

Initially the chemical companies denied that Agent Orange caused the many problems apparently associated with its use.  They claimed the incidences of cancer and other problems were of no greater a percentage than with the overall population.  In other words, their argument was correlation does not indicate causation.  Still, Dow Chemical and other makers of herbicides established a $180 million fund to compensate those believed to have suffered from the aftereffects of Agent Orange and  other defoliants.
The use of herbicides in Vietnam undoubtedly saved lives but there was an obvious  long-term cost.  In Geneva conferences since the Vietnam War, protection of the environment has been discussed and considered a critical aspect of maintaining life on earth.  Countries have been encouraged not to damage the environment, even when fighting wars.  At the end of the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein had his men set many oil fields in Kuwait on fire.  This was an enormous environmental disaster as it took months to bring the fires under control.  His actions, and other historical actions against nature stirred the Geneva conferees to pursue international laws to protect the environment.

Article 55: Protection of the Natural Environment
Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare which are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population.

Attacks against the natural environment by way of reprisals are prohibited.

The North Vietnamese didn’t observe the Geneva Conference code of conduct for the treatment of prisoners.  American men were treated brutally and some were killed.

The Iraqi military failed to follow the guidelines in the Gulf War, and the Serbians also committed countless atrocities against civilians in their war, all in violation of the Geneva Conferences.  Whenever war was fought, whether it was a Punic War or the Gulf War, both humanity and nature lost.  The Geneva Conferences set good ideals, but it seems that once war starts, those ideals are largely ignored.  When nations don’t observe guidelines established by the Geneva Peace Conferences and American sons and daughters are being killed, it’s difficult to say that the ancient military practice of denying concealment and food to the enemy won’t continue, whether herbicides are used or not.