What Is Agent Orange

Agent Orange or Herbicide Orange (HO) is one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, codenamed 'Operation Ranch Hand', during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971.

The US military used “more than 20 million gallons of herbicides, were sprayed by the US to defoliate forests, clear growth along the borders of military sites and eliminate enemy crops.”

Chemical Description and Toxicology

Chemically, Agent Orange is an approximately 1:1 mixture of two phenoxylherbicides – 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) – in iso-octylester form.

Numerous studies have examined health effects linked to Agent Orange, its component compounds, and its manufacturing byproducts.
A 1969 report authored by K. Diane Courtney and others found 2,4,5-T could cause birth defects and stillbirths in mice. Several studies have shown an increased rate of cancer mortality for workers exposed to 2,4,5-T. In one such study, from Hamburg, Germany, the risk of cancer mortality increased by 170% after working for 10 years at the 2,4,5-T-producing section of a Hamburg manufacturing plant. Three studies have suggested prior exposure to Agent Orange poses an increased risk of acute myelogenous leukemia in the children of Vietnam veterans.
In 1969 it was also revealed to the public that the 2,4,5-T was contaminated with a dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin ( TCDD ), and that the TCDD was causing many of the previously unexplained adverse health effects which were correlated with Agent Orange exposure.
TCDD has been described as "perhaps the most toxic molecule ever synthesized by man".

Health Effects on the people of Vietnamese

The government of Vietnam says that 4 million of its citizens were exposed to Agent Orange, and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses because of it; these figures include the children of people who were exposed. The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to contaminated Agent Orange. The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable.

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