{"id":20706,"date":"2020-07-31T13:29:59","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T20:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=films&#038;p=20706"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:36:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T16:36:49","slug":"the-people-vs-agent-orange","status":"publish","type":"films","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/","title":{"rendered":"The People vs. Agent Orange"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nearly 60 years following the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War\u2014the deadliest use of chemical warfare in history\u2014the devastating aftereffects of the toxin remain lethal, demanding attention both in Vietnam and at home in America. <\/span><b><i>The People vs. Agent Orange <\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">closely follows two activists as they take on the chemical industry, and demand accountability for the pernicious legacy caused by the use of this poisonous herbicide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">French-Vietnamese activist Tran To Nga and American activist Carol Van Strum are joined in mutual pain and purpose in their quest for justice. Tran spent seven years building a legal case against the American chemical industry for poisoning her and her family in Vietnam\u2014causing severe health issues and deformity\u2014after 12 million gallons of the toxic herbicide were used there by the American military in the &#8217;60s and &#8217;70s. Stateside in Oregon, Carol Van Strum fights intimidation and threats by timber interests as she brings to light damning corporate documentation of the deadly impacts of the chemical 24D, even as it was widely used in her community, with no public consultation or warnings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The People vs. Agent Orange<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> unites these two activists nearly halfway around the world from each other, both equally passionate and righteous in their causes, in a staggering examination of corruption for which there has been no accountability.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly 60 years following the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War\u2014the deadliest use of chemical warfare in history\u2014the devastating aftereffects of the toxin remain lethal, demanding attention both in Vietnam and at home in America. The People vs. Agent Orange closely follows two activists as they take on the chemical industry, and demand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":20832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1254,1219,1261,1225,1226,1258],"class_list":["post-20706","films","type-films","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-disease-and-mental-health","topic-health-and-environment","topic-human-rights","topic-politics-and-government","topic-social-justice","topic-war-military"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The People vs. Agent Orange | Doc | Fighting Legacy of Chemical Warfare | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for the devastation caused by Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The People vs. Agent Orange | Doc | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for the devastation caused by Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Independent Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-01T16:36:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Copy-of-PEOPLEVSAGEN_1-6_PubStills_4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The People vs. Agent Orange | Doc | PBS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for the devastation caused by Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/\",\"name\":\"The People vs. Agent Orange | Doc | Fighting Legacy of Chemical Warfare | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Copy-of-PEOPLEVSAGEN_1-6_PubStills_4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-31T20:29:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-01T16:36:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for the devastation caused by Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/the-people-vs-agent-orange\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Copy-of-PEOPLEVSAGEN_1-6_PubStills_4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Copy-of-PEOPLEVSAGEN_1-6_PubStills_4.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"A large group of people in orange shirts march together. 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