An English photographer and Agent Orange's Victims

17/01/2005
After several years of meeting and photographing people who have been affected by Agent Orange in Vietnam, photo¬grapher Phillip Jones Griffiths has just published a book entitled "Agent Orange Collateral Damage in Vietnam” (Trolley Publishing House).

"During wartime, I had heard about newly born babies without eyes. I began a campaign to find out the truth about their condition." he said. "I tried to visit all the Catholic orphanages in order to learn the truth but I was prohibited from visiting some of them. That>s why I believe that American troops created a law to prevent reporters from searching for the truth".

 

The photographer, age 67, is famous for his work titled "Vietnam Ine", which examined the American war engine’s failures in 1971. He returned to Vietnam in 1980 in order to meet the victims of Agent Orange - the dioxin used in Vietnam during wartime.

 

In the following years, Griffiths took photos of many victims among the 1 million people affected by the dioxin and most of his works have been printed in "Agent Orange: Collateral damage in Vietnam", The book is regarded as a truthful and uncompromising book which criticizes the terrible consequences of the dioxin used by American troops.

 

The author was first introduced to victims by a driver who knew a family with 2 blind daughters affected by the dioxin. ''They were the first Agent Orange victims I had ever seen," he said.

 

Griffiths began his own research o­n the victims of Agent Orange by taking photos of all deformed fetuses affected by the dioxin, in Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. After taking more photos he was able to understand more about the consequences of the use of Agent Orange. He knows that even though the dioxin has not been used in Vietnam since 1971, the country still suffers the consequences, as mothers transmit it to children and the natural landscape has been destroyed.

 

In 1998, Griffiths visited Cam Nghia village, where more than 10% of the population was affected by Agent Orange. "In the worst cases, even fetuses stop developing," he says. So, according to him, Agent Orange is not simply a private Vietnamese issue, but an issue for all people to consider.

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