AGENT ORANGE FACT AND LINKS PAGE

What is Agent Orange?

Agent Orange was an herbicide employed during the Second Indochina War commonly referred to as the Viet Nam War. Agent Orange was not the only herbicide sprayed in Vietnam although, due to its intensified usage, it is the herbicide most commonly mentioned and blamed for health problems in connection with that period in history. There were two other herbicides, an insecticide and a chemical irritant used during the Second Indochina War. They each were called by code names: Agent Blue, Agent Orange, Agent White, CS and Malathion.

Agent Blue: code name for cacodylic acid (dimethyl arsenic acid; 371.5 km/m3)

Agent Orange: code name for mixture of 2,4,5-T (2,4,5.-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid; 545.4 Kg/m3) and 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; 485.1 kg/m3), altogether weighing 1 285 kg/m3; a herbicide; associated with the (2,4,5-T moiety is the impurity dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p- dioxin).

Agent White: code name for a mixture of an approximate ratio of 4:1 of 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; 239.7 kg/m3) and picloram (4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid; 64.7 kg/m3)

CS (o -chlorobenzalmalonitrile), an anti-personnel (harassing) agent, was used as an irritant from 1964 to 1970.

Malathion (S-(1,2-dicarbethoxyethyl)-0, 0-dimethyldithiophosphate), an insecticide, was sprayed from 1967 to 1972.

Agent Orange (A-O) and Agent White (A-W) contain mixtures of plant hormone mimicking compounds which destroy plants by interfering with their normal metabolism. Agent Blue (A-B) destroys vegetation by preventing plants from retaining moisture. These chemical products were used in Viet Nam during the years 1961 to 1971. The three year period from 1967 to 1969 herbicide usage was at its heaviest. A-O (61% usage) and A-W were effective against dicotyledonous plants (two leaves emerging from seed) and A-B (11% usage) was used for monocotyledonous plants (single leaf emerging from seed). A-W and A-O were used to destroy the forests of South Viet Nam while A-B was mainly used for the destruction of grain crops, particularly the staple crop of rice. The levels of usage for military operations was 20 to 40 times greater than for normal agricultural usages. These chemicals were dispensed by fixed-wing aircraft and ground troops.

Loss of foliage, flower and fruit occurred within two to three weeks after spraying. Not all of the trees died and a large percentage of those surviving trees were permanently damaged. Environmentally, because it was in a tropical area, there was an increase in soil nutrient loss and an acceleration in soil erosion. Dioxin has an environmental half life of about three years or more and has shown up in the food chain. The effect of A-O on humans has been an area of intense debate for the past two decades. It has now been thoroughly established that dioxin is a very potent poison. It can cause a wide range of organ and metabolic dysfunctions. In laboratory animals dioxin has shown to be carcinogenic (causing cancer ) and teratogenic (causing birth defects) and mutagenic (causing genetic damage).

Vietnam and Agent Orange Facts

• Demand for military Agent Orange resulted in higher levels of dioxin contamination than in the 2,4,5-T produced for civilian applications in the U.S. As noted in the above chart.
• The U.S. Air Force military operation Ranch Hand began spraying Agent Orange on areas of South Vietnam in August 1965 (though it was used prior to this date).
• The US Air Force Herb Tapes accounted for just over 8 million gallons of the herbicides used in South Vietnam.
• 18 million gallons of Agent Orange were reported to have been used in South Vietnam.
• Agent Orange caused Vietnamese farmers to lose about 70% of their crops. (One of the goals for using herbicides was to deprive the enemy of food.)
• 6250+ square miles of South Vietnam can not be farmed because of defoliation. This is still true almost 30 years later.
• A C-123 (Provider) could dump 11,000 lbs. of Agent Orange over 300 acres in four minutes.

Brief History of Agent Orange

• In the early years of WWII, a grant was provided by the National Research Council to develop a chemical to destroy rice crops in Japan (the major food source of the Japanese). 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T (Agent Orange) was the result. A discussion between President Roosevelt and White House Chief of Staff, Admiral William D. Leahy determined that this heinous chemical should not be used. Agent Orange was not used during WWII.
• In 1961, President Kennedy signed two orders allowing Agent Orange to be used in Vietnam. One order to destroy crops, and another order to defoliate the jungle. [Note: These orders were signed prior to major U.S. intervention.]
• Agent Orange and other herbicides were used extensively through 1970 (and thereafter until the end of the Vietnam War).
• Vietnam Veterans and their families filed a class action suit against seven chemical companies (Dow Chemical, Monsanto, Uniroyal, Hercules, Diamond Shamrock, Thompson Chemical, and T.H. Agriculture). It was settled out of court in May 1984 for victims and families of those exposed to herbicides for $180,000,000 (the lawyers got a staggering 100 million dollars). The amount given to qualifying families was a pitance. Example: A woman whose husband suffered, and eventually died... leaving her and three children was given just over $3,000.00 (you should have been there the day she told me that). Another friend suffered with a brain tumor along with other herbicide related diseases for over three years. He was awarded $1,860.00.
• Victims and families of those exposed to herbicides in Vietnam had until January 17, 1995 to apply for compensation at: Agent Orange Veteran Payment Program, PO Box 110, Hartford, CT 06104

Agent Orange Spray Map 

Agent Orange Informational Web Page

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense -NEWSBRIEFING   re: Agent Orange

News from the Institute of Medicine

Agent Orange Brief (prepared by the Department of Veteran's Affairs)

Agent Orange Primer