Agent Purple - Citizendia

Agent Purple 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. A herbicide is used to kill unwanted Plants Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired Crop relatively unharmed A defoliant is any chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause its leaves to fall off The United States Armed Forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States Herbicidal warfare is a form of warfare in which the objective is to destroy the plant-based ecosystem of an area for the purpose of disrupting agricultural food production or destroying The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia The name comes from the purple stripe painted on the barrels to identify the contents. It was one of the so-called "rainbow herbicides" that included the more infamous Agent Orange. The Rainbow Herbicides are a group of chemicals used by the United States military in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange is the code name for a powerful Herbicide and Defoliant used by the U

Agent Purple is chemically similar to the better known Agent Orange, consisting of a mixture of the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. 24-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (24-D is a common systemic Herbicide used in the control of broadleaf weeds 245-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (245-T a synthetic Auxin, is a chlorophenoxy acetic acid herbicide used to defoliate broad-leafed plants It was later discovered that Agents Orange and Purple had been contaminated with varying levels of tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD), a dioxin that is a toxic and persistent substance, as a side-effect of the manufacturing process of 2,4,5-T. Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins ( PCDD s or simply dioxins, are a group of Halogenated Organic compounds which are significant because they act Not to be confused with Dioxane or Digoxin. Dioxin is a heterocyclic, organic, antiaromatic compound Agent Purple is reputed to have three times the dioxin levels of Agent Orange, 45 parts per million as opposed to 13 parts per million in Agent Orange. Not to be confused with Dioxane or Digoxin. Dioxin is a heterocyclic, organic, antiaromatic compound

Agent Purple was used only in the earliest stages of the spraying program, between 1962 and 1964. Only small amounts were sprayed in total.

See also