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Agent Blue is one of the "rainbow herbicides" that is known for its use by the United States during the Vietnam War. It contained a mixture of dimethylarsinic acid (also known as cacodylic acid) and its related salt, sodium cacodylate, and water.
Largely inspired by the British use of herbicides and defoliants during the Malayan Emergency, killing rice was a military strategy from the very start of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. At first, US soldiers attempted to blow up rice paddies and rice stocks, using mortars and hand grenades. But grains of rice were far more durable than they understood, and were not easily destroyed. Every grain that survived was a seed to be collected and planted again. A 1967 report to the International War Crimes Tribunal[ clarification needed ] stated that "The soldiers discovered that rice is one of the most maddeningly difficult substances to destroy; using thermite metal grenades it is almost impossible to make it burn and, even if one succeeds in scattering the rice, this does not stop it being harvested by patient men."[ citation needed ] The purpose of Agent Blue was to kill narrow-leafed plants and trees (grass, rice, bamboo, banana, etc.)
"Operation Ranch Hand", was military code for spraying of herbicides from U.S. Air Force aircraft in Southeast Asia from 1962 through 1971. [1] The widespread use of herbicides in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War was a unique military operation in that it was meant to kill the plants that provided cover. The continued use of Agent Blue and the other "Rainbow Herbicides" by the United States was primarily meant as an operation to take away the enemy's advantage on the terrain as well as deprive them of food.
Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. used an estimated 20,000,000 U.S. gal (76,000,000 L; 17,000,000 imp gal) of herbicides as chemical weapons for "defoliation and crop destruction" which fell mostly on the forest of South Vietnam, but was eventually used in Laos as well to kill crops in order to deprive the communist Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops of food. It was sprayed on rice paddies and other crops in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of the valuable crops the plants provided. Agent Blue is chemically unrelated to the more infamous Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the war.
Agent Blue, a herbicide containing cacodylic acid and sodium cacodylate, was used by the United States military during the Vietnam War to destroy plant life, particularly in rice paddies, which was a major food source for the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. The herbicide caused plants to dry out and become unsuitable for further planting. Agent Blue was also used in areas where the foliage was a hindrance to military operations. The Viet Cong were familiar with the abundant plant life in Vietnam, giving them an advantage in fighting on the battlefield. Approximately 4,000,000 U.S. gal (15,000,000 L; 3,300,000 imp gal) of Agent Blue were used in Vietnam during the war, with delivery of the herbicide primarily done by the Ansul Chemical Company. The US found themselves at a disadvantage and based on the precedent set by the British in Malaya, decided that the best retaliation would be to take the Vietcong's advantage away from them by removing their cover. Along roads, canals, railroads, and other transportation networks, Ranch Hand cleared several hundred yards using the herbicides to make ambushes more difficult for their enemies. In Laos, the herbicide removed the jungle canopy from the roads and trails used for infiltrating men and supplies, making them more vulnerable to attack from the air.
During the Vietnam War, about 4,000,000 U.S. gal (15,000,000 L; 3,300,000 imp gal) of Agent Blue, a herbicide containing 26.4% sodium cacodylate and 4.7% cacodylic acid in water, were used. The Ansul Chemical Company supplied the herbicide Phytar 560 with these chemical compounds from 1965 onwards. [2] [3]
Cacodylic acid is still used on crops throughout the United States. Taken from ZNet Ecology in 1983: [4] "It has been over twelve years since the last herbicide mission that was done. But there is still big controversy going around about the past missions that were sent out." [5]
Arsenical herbicides containing cacodylic acid as an active ingredient are still used today as weed-killers. It sprayed on cotton fields, drying out the cotton plants before harvesting. In 2009, use on athletic fields, parks, residential lawns, forestry, non-bearing fruit and nut trees, and citrus orchards were canceled. [6]
Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the tactical use Rainbow Herbicides.
Herbicides, also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds. Selective herbicides control specific weed species while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed, while non-selective herbicides can be used to clear waste ground, industrial and construction sites, railways and railway embankments as they kill all plant material with which they come into contact. Apart from selective/non-selective, other important distinctions include persistence, means of uptake, and mechanism of action. Historically, products such as common salt and other metal salts were used as herbicides, however, these have gradually fallen out of favor, and in some countries, a number of these are banned due to their persistence in soil, and toxicity and groundwater contamination concerns. Herbicides have also been used in warfare and conflict.
Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, it was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called "Operation Trail Dust". Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 19 million U.S. gallons (72,000 m3) of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover. Areas of Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed to a lesser extent. Nearly 20,000 sorties were flown between 1961 and 1971.
A defoliant is any herbicidal chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause their leaves to fall off. Defoliants are widely used for the selective removal of weeds in managing croplands and lawns. Worldwide use of defoliants, along with the development of other herbicides and pesticides, allowed for the Green Revolution, an increase in agricultural production in mid-20th century. Defoliants have also been used in warfare as a means to deprive an enemy of food crops and/or hiding cover, most notably by the United Kingdom during the Malayan Emergency and the United States in the Vietnam War. Defoliants were also used by Indonesian forces in various internal security operations.
Agent Purple is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in their herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. The name comes from the purple stripe painted on the barrels to identify the contents. Largely inspired by the British use of herbicides and defoliants during the Malayan Emergency, it was one of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" that included the more infamous Agent Orange. Agent Purple and Orange were also used to clear brush in Canada.
Cacodylic acid is an organoarsenic compound with the formula (CH3)2AsO2H. With the formula R2As(O)OH, it is the simplest of the arsinic acids. It is a colorless solid that is soluble in water.
Herbicidal warfare is the use of substances primarily designed to destroy the plant-based ecosystem of an area. Although herbicidal warfare use chemical substances, its main purpose is to disrupt agricultural food production and/or to destroy plants which provide cover or concealment to the enemy, not to asphyxiate or poison humans and/or destroy human-made structures. Herbicidal warfare has been forbidden by the Environmental Modification Convention since 1978, which bans "any technique for changing the composition or structure of the Earth's biota".
Agent White is the code name for a herbicide used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. The name comes from the regulatory requirements of identifying each container of the various herbicides through the addition of colored stripes. The colors used were orange, purple, pink, blue, and white by the manufacturers to ensure that the contents were easily identifiable during shipment and usage, as the colors were selected by the U.S. government. Largely inspired by the British use of herbicides and defoliants during the Malayan Emergency, it was one of the so-called "rainbow herbicides".
Picloram is a systemic herbicide used for general woody plant control. It also controls a wide range of broad-leaved weeds, but most grasses are resistant. A chlorinated derivative of picolinic acid, picloram is in the pyridine family of herbicides.
2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid, a synthetic auxin, is a chlorophenoxy acetic acid herbicide used to defoliate broad-leafed plants. It was developed in the late 1940s, synthesized by reaction of 2,4,5-Trichlorophenol and chloroacetic acid. It was widely used in the agricultural industry until being phased out, starting in the late 1970s due to toxicity concerns. Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the British in the Malayan Emergency and the U.S. in the Vietnam War, was equal parts 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. 2,4,5-T itself is toxic with a NOAEL of 3 mg/kg/day and a LOAEL of 10 mg/kg/day. Agent Pink contained 100% 2,4,5-T. Additionally, the manufacturing process for 2,4,5-T contaminates this chemical with trace amounts of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). TCDD is a carcinogenic persistent organic pollutant with long-term effects on the environment. With proper temperature control during production of 2,4,5-T, TCDD levels can be held to about .005 ppm. Before the TCDD risk was well understood, early production facilities lacked proper temperature controls and individual batches tested later were found to have as much as 60 ppm of TCDD.
Agent Pink is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. The name comes from the pink stripe painted on the barrels to identify the contents. Largely inspired by the British use of herbicides and defoliants during the Malayan Emergency, it was one of the rainbow herbicides that included the more infamous Agent Orange. Agent Pink was only used during the early "testing" stages of the spraying program before 1964.
The Rainbow Herbicides are a group of tactical-use chemicals used by the United States military in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Success with Project AGILE field tests in 1961 with herbicides in South Vietnam was inspired by the British use of herbicides and defoliants during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, which led to the formal herbicidal program Trail Dust. Herbicidal warfare is the use of substances primarily designed to destroy the plant-based ecosystem of an agricultural food production and/or to destroy dense foliage which provides the enemy with natural tactical cover.
A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user, or otherwise requires the equipment, personnel, resources or expertise of a fire brigade. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a hand-held cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent that can be discharged to extinguish a fire. Fire extinguishers manufactured with non-cylindrical pressure vessels also exist but are less common.
Ansul is a corporation headquartered in Marinette, Wisconsin that manufactures fire suppression systems, extinguishers, and offers fire training. Ansul's initial activities included production of cattle feed, refrigerants and selected specialty chemicals. The name Ansul comes from ANhydrous SULfur dioxide (SO2), which was sold to die works and fruit preservers, and later as a refrigerant. Production of fire suppression chemicals began in 1934. Virginia Chemicals, Inc. (now part of Celanese Corporation) acquired the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Products Division of The Ansul Company in 1967, and by 1983 Ansul had discontinued all other production at the facility in Marinette. The US government is a major customer for Ansul.
This is an index of articles relating to pesticides.
The Tata Swach is a water purifier developed by Tata Chemicals, a part of the Tata group in India. Swach was designed as a low cost purifier for Indian low-income groups, who lack access to safe drinking water. The product is sold in three variants as Tata Swach, Tata Swach Smart and Tata Swach Smart Magic.
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula C8H6Cl2O3 which is usually referred to by its ISO common name 2,4-D. It is a systemic herbicide which kills most broadleaf weeds by causing uncontrolled growth in them but most grasses such as cereals, lawn turf, and grassland are relatively unaffected.
Vietnamese units of measurement are the largely decimal units of measurement traditionally used in Vietnam until metrication. The base unit of length is the thước or xích. Some of the traditional unit names have been repurposed for metric units, such as thước for the metre, while other traditional names remain in translations of imperial units, such as dặm Anh for the English mile.
Agent Orange is a herbicide, classified as a defoliant, that was used most notably by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Its primary purpose was strategic deforestation, destroying the forest cover and food resources necessary for the implementation and sustainability of the North Vietnamese style of guerilla warfare. The U.S. Agent Orange usage reached an apex during Operation Ranch Hand, in which the material was sprayed over 4.5 million acres of land in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971.
Herbicidal warfare research conducted by the U.S. military began during the Second World War with additional research during the Korean War. Interest among military strategists waned before a budgetary increase allowed further research during the early Vietnam War. The U.S. research culminated in the U.S. military defoliation program during the Vietnam war known as Operation Ranch Hand.
