Agent

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* 1961 – First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the U. S. Army.

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U. S. Army Bell UH-1 Iroquois | Huey helicopter spraying Agent Orange over Vietnamese agricultural land

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

The Red Cross of Viet Nam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent Orange.

The 2, 4, 5-T used to produce Agent Orange was later discovered to be contaminated with 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin ( TCDD ), an extremely toxic dioxin compound.

The US began to target food crops in October 1962, primarily using Agent Blue.

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

Numerous studies have examined health effects linked to Agent Orange, its component compounds, and its manufacturing byproducts.

Prior to the controversy surrounding Agent Orange, there was already a large body of scientific evidence linking 2, 4, 5-T to serious negative health effects and ecological damage.

But in 1969, it was 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.

While the two herbicides that make up Agent Orange, 2, 4-D and 2, 4, 5-T, remain toxic over a short period — a scale of days or weeks — they quickly degrade.

Three studies have suggested prior exposure to Agent Orange poses an increased risk of acute myelogenous leukemia in the children of Vietnam veterans.

Starting in 1991, the US Congress asked the Institute of Medicine to review the scientific literature on Agent Orange and the other herbicides used in Vietnam, including their active ingredients and the dioxin contaminant.

Military film footage of U. S. troops spraying Agent Orange from a riverboat in Vietnam

The U. S. military began targeting food crops in October 1962, primarily using Agent Blue ; the American public was not made aware of the crop destruction programs until 1965 ( and it was then believed that crop spraying had begun that spring ).

File: Agent-Orange -- stack-of-55-gallon-drums. jpg | Stacks of 55-gallon ( 200 L ) drums containing Agent Orange

File: US-Army-APC-spraying-Agent-Orange-in-Vietnam. jpg | U. S. Army armored personnel carrier ( APC ) spraying Agent Orange over Vietnamese rice fields during the Vietnam War

Major Tự Đức Phang was exposed to dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange

Vietnamese people | Vietnamese babies, birth defect | deformed and stillbirth | stillborn after prenatal 2, 3, 7, 8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin | dioxin exposure from Agent Orange

The Vietnam Red Cross reported as many as 3 million Vietnamese people have been affected by Agent Orange, including at least 150, 000 children born with birth defects.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4. 8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400, 000 people being killed or maimed, and 500, 000 children born with birth defects.

Children in the areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected and have multiple health problems, including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, and extra fingers and toes.