courtesy of Patty Fisher of Ohio, via Paul Sutton
There are few things in this world with the long-term
toxicity of Agent Orange, the chemical herbicide used in Vietnam. Polonium-210
in a cup of tea will kill you – just ask former Russian spy Alexander
Litvinenko – but, unlike Agent Orange, its damage isn’t generational.
For the uninitiated, Agent Orange is the moniker given to
the “mixture of butoxyethanol esters of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)
and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T).”1 It was a nasty chemical
compound manufactured primarily by Dow Chemical and Monsanto (and others) at
the instructions of the United States government during the Vietnam war.
From 1962 to 1971, the US Air Force sprayed at least 11
million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam. The purpose of Agent Orange, primarily
distributed through Operation Ranch Hand, was defoliation to improve visibility
for military operations and the destruction of enemy food supplies. It was
mostly sprayed by plane, although it was also sprayed through helicopters,
truck, boat, and backpacks to clear foliage around bases and landing zones.
What made Agent Orange so dangerous was that during
production, a dangerous byproduct formed: dioxin TCDD, a chemical so toxic it
damages is calculated not in years but in decades or even centuries.
Dow Chemical and Monsanto knew the risks of Agent Orange and
dioxin. In 1965, scientists from four rival chemical companies met at Dow
Chemical to discuss the “health hazards of dioxin.” By then, the companies had
been manufacturing Agent Orange and other defoliants for the US war in Vietnam.
It was agreed upon at this meeting that the toxicity of Agent Orange – which
caused “severe” liver damage in animal subjects – would have to remain a secret
because the situation might “explode” and “generate a new wave of government
regulation for the chemical industry.”
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