Date: February 27, 2019
Source: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and
Environmental Sciences
Summary: During the Vietnam War, United States aircraft sprayed more
than 20 million gallons of herbicides, including dioxin-contaminated Agent
Orange, on the country's rain forests, wetlands, and croplands. A new article
documents the environmental legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam, including
hotspots where dioxin continues to enter the food supply.
"Existing Agent Orange and dioxin research is primarily
medical in nature, focusing on the details of human exposure primarily through
skin contact and long-term health effects on U.S. soldiers," says Ken
Olson, professor emeritus in the Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Sciences at U of I and co-author on the article. "In this
paper, we examine the short and long-term environmental effects on the
Vietnamese natural resource base and how persistence of dioxin continues to
affect soils, water, sediment, fish, aquatic species, the food supply, and
Vietnamese health."
Olson and co-author Lois Wright Morton of Iowa State
University explain that Agent Orange was a combination of two herbicides, 2,4-D
and 2,4,5-T, neither of which persist longer than a few days or weeks in the
environment when exposed to sunlight. However, during production of Agent
Orange, a toxic byproduct formed: dioxin TCDD, the most toxic of the dioxin
family of chemicals. Once dioxin TCDD gets into the environment, Olson and
Wright Morton say, it can stick around for decades or even centuries. That's
what happened in the Vietnam landscape.
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