Victims of Agent Orange – The struggle for justice (IV)

V. Herbicides have been used

A number of herbicides have been used for defoliating the forests and damaging the crops in Vietnam War. Different of herbicides are coded in different names based on the color of the outside paints of the containers. They are Agent Blue/ cacodyl acid, Agent White (a mixture containing 80% tri-isopropanol amine salt of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and picloram), Agent Purple/ a chemical made of 50% n-butyl ester of 2,4D, 30% n-butyl ester of 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,3,5-T) and 20% isobutyl ester of 2,3-D, Agent Green/100% n-butyl ester of 2,4,5T, Agent Pink/60% n-butyl ester of 2,4,5T and 40% isobutyl ester of 2,4,5-T and Agent Orange/ a mixture of equal parts of n-butyl esters of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.

As much as 65% of the herbicides contain 2,4,5-T. A complex pollutant and the inevitable by-product when producing 2,4,5-T is TCDD which is more commonly known as Dioxin, one of the most toxic chemicals ever discovered. The by-product of cacodilic acid contained in the Agent Blue is arsenic, while the by-product of picloram contained in the Agent White is hexachlorobenzene. Both these two chemicals are very poisonous.

From 1962 to 1965, the Agent Purple, Agent Pink, and Agent Green were used, and from 1965 to 1970, came the Agent Orange, Agent White, and Agent Blue. During the 1970 – 1971 period, only Agent White and Agent Blue were sprayed. Agent Orange was the most-used herbicide in Vietnam.

The phenoxy herbicides, such as Agent Orange, Agent Purple, Agent White, Agent Pink, and Agent Green are able to adjust the growing ability. They can destroy some kinds of grass by causing some dysfunctions to biological growth. The Agent Purple and Agent Green were less commonly used after Agent Orange had been brought to South Vietnam in early 1965. Agent Orange is a defoliant which is more effectively when used with high concentration. It is usually sprayed in the areas with broad-leaved trees. Agent White is especially poisonous to coniferales, while Agent Blue is sprayed mostly for damaging the crops.

The spraying system used in the initial phase of Operation Ranch Hand on the C-123 aircraft was Hourglass or MC-1. Although the normal capacity of Hourglass was 1 gallon/hectare, it was specially designed for Ranch Hands operations and could sprayed 3 gallons/hectare. In 1966, the Hourglass was replaced with the module-based spraying system built in all C-123 aircraft.