Chem+A+Group+8

__**Agent Orange**__
//**A helicopter drops Agent orange over a thick forest in Vietnam**//

Agent Orange is a herbicide that was used during the [|Vietnam War] for killing various plants which was used to help the Vietnamese hide, as well as destroy Vietnamese agriculture. Unfortunately, military members began to report side effects from the chemical including birth defects in exposed victim's children and cancer or disabilities in the exposed. The following [|link] is an information site about agent orange for Veterans with health problems due to agent orange. __**Chemistry Involved:**__ Agent Orange was made with a 50:50 mixture of two Phenoxy herbicides, 2, 4 dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and 2, 4, 5-trichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4,5-T). In mixing these two chemicals, an unwanted byproduct is created, TCDD (2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin), which cannot be removed. Due to its toxic nature, Agent Orange was banned from use by President Nixon in 1971.
 * __Event:__**

media type="youtube" key="wgLlkjsg1uo&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" height="344" width="425" __**Key Players:**__ Agent Orange was discovered by accident in 1945 by [|Arthur Galston]. He was making a plant growth hormone in order to make soybeans grow faster, but discovered that if too much of the hormone was given to the plant, it grew too fast and defoliated, meaning that it lost all of its leaves. Galston developed a family of herbicides from the findings. The herbicide was widely used in agriculture, but mainly in the tropical areas. __**Historical Context:**__ In the Vietnam War, the Viet-Cong hid in the thick foliage of the tropical climate of Vietnam. This caused the U.S. military to use 77 million liters of Agent Orange on the vegetation to help them identify the enemy. During the War, 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the chemical and of those, 400,000 deaths and disabilities occurred and 500,000 children were born with birth defects. The use of Agent Orange was a plan that came with many side effects, not only on the Vietnamese residents of the areas sprayed with the chemical, but also the American servicemen. The late understanding of the harmful effects of the byproduct dioxin cost many Vietnamese lives and caused many Americans to face cancer and other diseases. Also, the chemical caused the children of the people exposed to Agent Orange to have birth defects.

__**Importance:**__ Without Agent Orange, many lives would have been saved and children of those who were affected would have been saved from birth defects. The chemical, although quite damaging, was a discovery that helped our society understand the occasionally fatal effects of the byproduct dioxin. Agent Orange, along with other chemicals which include dioxin, is a very dangerous mixture which needed to have its side effects discovered before it affected any more people.

__**Interesting Fact:**__ Agent Orange was part of a series of high power herbicides called the "Rainbow Herbicides" that included Agents Purple, Pink and Green which also contained dioxin. There were other Agents, Blue and White, that didn't include dioxin.


 * __Sources:__**
 * Grisby, Brian K. __Defoliation Agent Spraying__. 26 July 1969. Mekong Delta.
 * "Agent Orange." 3 Oct. 2008. Wikipedia. 5 Oct. 2008 .
 * Vancil, Lloyd. "Agent Orange." 1994. Vietnam Veterans Ventura County. 5 Oct. 2008 .

