Agent Orange was a chemical herbicide used to destroy forest
cover used by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. In what became a program
codenamed Operation Ranch Hand, the U.S. sprayed more than 19 million gallons
of the chemical over 4.5 million acres of land, including roads, rivers,
forests, crops and military buildings.
It should come as no surprise that Agent Orange was later
revealed to cause very serious health problems, including tumors, birth defects
and cancer among U.S. and Vietnamese personnel and their families.
In addition to Trichlorophenoxyacetic and
Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, Agent Orange also contains
Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin. TCCD is known for being extremely dangerous, even in
small amounts. When troops serving in Vietnam came home, many reported side
effects of cancer, congenital disabilities in their children, miscarriages and
skin diseases among others.
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