Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com,
"Bob S." wrote:

Note the following:
"Agent Orange was a 50-50 mix of two chemicals, known
conventionally
as 2,4,D and 2,4,5,T. The combined product was mixed with kerosene
or
diesel fuel and dispersed by aircraft, vehicle, and hand spraying.
An
estimated 19 million gallons of Agent Orange were used in South
Vietnam
during the war."

I thought the biggest problem with exposure to Agent Orange was the
traces of
dioxin present as an impurity.


Some (i.e. the manfacturer) say the dioxin was an impurity. Other's
say it is the 2,4,5,T itself, or at least a by-product of the
manufacturing process.

"Army scientists found that by mixing 2,4-D and
2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) and spraying it on plants,
there would be an almost immediate negative effect on the foliage. What
they didn't realize, or chose to ignore, was that **2,4,5-T contained
dioxin,** a useless by-product of herbicide production. It would be
twenty more years until concern was raised about dioxin, a chemical the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would later call "one of the most
perplexing and potentially dangerous" known to man."

Bob S.