- uploaded: Jul 1, 2012 - Hits: 332 Agent Orange is the code
name for 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. Vietnam
estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000
children born with birth defects. A 50:50 mixture of 2,4,5-T and
2,4-D, it was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense
primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. The 2,4,5-T
used to produce Agent Orange was later discovered to be
contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, an extremely
toxic dioxin compound. It was given its name from the color of
the orange-striped 55 US gallon (208 L) barrels in which it was
shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called
"Rainbow Herbicides". During the Vietnam War, between 1962 and
1971, the United States military sprayed nearly 20,000,000 US
gallons (80,000,000 l) of material containing chemical
herbicides and defoliants mixed wit