Shared Tragedy

• Prize
  Bronze in Book/Documentary
• Photographer
  Ben Sarao, United States
• Date of Photograph
  2021
• Studio
  Primary Image
• Website
  http://www.primaryimage3d.com

Dioxin is a persistent chemical compound used both in agriculture pesticides and as a defoliant for warfare. Human exposure to dioxin can cause birth defects and degenerative deformities. In 1972, I first documented exceptional children at a small rural Illinois farming community nursing center.

Nearly fifty years later, I documented Vietnamese children that are still being born with birth defects from the dioxin in Agent Orange by the USA during the Vietnam war. The book, Shared Tragedy, was given to all the members of the United Nations. The book is also free online: sharedtragedy.com