What is Agent Orange?
Agent Orange was the code name
for a herbicide developed for the military, primarily for use in tropical
climates. Although the genesis of the product goes back to the 1940's,
serious testing for military applications did not begin until the early
1960's.
The purpose of the product was to deny an enemy cover and concealment in
dense terrain by defoliating trees and shrubbery where the enemy could hide.
The product "Agent Orange" (a code name for the orange band that was used to
mark the drums it was stored in, was principally effective against
broad-leaf foliage, such as the dense jungle-like terrain found in Southeast
Asia.
The product was tested in Vietnam in the early 1960's, and brought into ever
widening use during the height of the war (1967-68), though it's use was
diminished and eventually discontinued in 1971.
Agent Orange was a 50-50 mix of two chemicals, known conventionally as 2,4,D
and 2,4,5,T. The combined product was mixed with kerosene or diesel fuel and
dispersed by aircraft, vehicle, and hand spraying. An estimated 19 million
gallons of Agent Orange were used in South Vietnam during the war.
The earliest health concerns about Agent Orange were about the product's
contamination with TCDD, or dioxin. TCDD is one of a family of dioxins, some
found in nature, and are cousins of the dibenzofurans and pcb's.
The TCDD found in Agent Orange is thought to be harmful to man. In
laboratory tests on animals, TCDD has caused a wide variety of diseases,
many of them fatal. TCDD is not found in nature, but rather is a man-made
and always unwanted by-product of the chemical manufacturing process. The
Agent Orange used in Vietnam was later found to be extremely contaminated
with TCDD.
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