Science and Medicine

Agent Orange

Agent Orange is a herbicide and defoliant. During the Vietnam War, the United States Armed Forces along with the South Vietnamese military used it in Operation Ranch Hand (1962–1971), part of a broader herbicidal warfare campaign intended to deprive the People's Army of Vietnam/Viet Cong of vegetation cover. It was one of a group of tactical-use herbicides, known as Rainbow Herbicides. Agent Orange was earlier used by the British during the Malayan Emergency which influenced its later use by the U.S. Primarily a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, it contained trace amounts of 2,3,7,8-TCDD, a dioxin compound established as a carcinogen and persistent organic pollutant. Agent Orange was produced in the United States beginning in the late 1940s and was used in industrial agriculture, and was also sprayed along railroads and power lines to control undergrowth in forests. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military procured over 20,000,000 U.S. gal (76,000,000 L; 17,000,000 imp gal). Nine chemical companies produced it, including Dow Chemical Company and Monsanto Company. Agent Orange exposure is linked to increased rates of birth defects, malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes. The science on the causality between exposure and health problems remains incomplete. The U.S. government has documented cases of leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and various kinds of cancer in exposed U.S. veterans, but not concluded a causal relationship or a plausible biological carcinogenic mechanism. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified an increase in the rate of birth defects of the children of exposed U.S. veterans. The impact of Agent Orange in Vietnam includes health and ecological effects. The government of Vietnam says that up to four million people in Vietnam were exposed to the defoliant, and as many as three million people have suffered illness because of Agent Orange, while the Vietnamese Red Cross estimates that up to one million people were disabled or have health problems as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. The government of Vietnam defined victims of Agent Orange by looking at where they live, their family history, and if the health problems have been linked to Agent Orange. The U.S.

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See also

• ▸Kilkenny
• ▸Anshar Sulcus
• ▸Joseph Thomas Clover

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