The Americans were among the first to come up with the use of herbicides, forcing plants to shed their foliage, for military purposes. Development went back to the Second World War, but the real plans of the Yankees were born only by the 60s. In Indochina, the American armed forces faced almost the main enemy - lush vegetation, in which not only can you notice an enemy, you can lose a brother-in-arms. The new weapon was given the name "defoliant", declared humane and began to spray over the forests of Vietnam. The paradox of such a humane weapon is that it contains dioxins, which are the most toxic chemicals on earth. More precisely, this is the classic dioxin tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, or 2-, 3-, 7-, 8-TCDD, or simply TCDD. Many people call TCDD a total poison for its ability to destroy almost all forms of life on the planet. Of course, chemists engaged in the development of "humane" chemical weapons did not dare to introduce such a powerful poison into the formulation of new defoliants, but they added close relatives. The most famous is Agent Orange, produced on a large scale by virtually all chemical giants. The leader of this business was Monsanto, founded in the early 20th century by John Francis Queenie. This chemical concern was named in honor of the maiden name of his wife Queenie and for the first time was engaged in a harmless business - the production of components for Coca-Cola and pharmaceuticals. But in the 30s, the company's workers were suddenly struck by the chloracne disease, which manifests itself in inflammation of the sebaceous glands and the appearance of acne. It was all about the herbicide trichlorophenol, which Monsanto was producing back then.
For nearly thirty years, no one associated chloracne with dioxins, until, in 1957, researchers at many industries of this herbicide discovered traces of the ominous TCDD (the most poisonous chemical in the world). He was among the impurities and even in minimal concentrations caused chronic poisoning. Well, now, it would seem, everything is clear, and you can close the production of dangerous herbicides! Moreover, by 1961, the German chemist Karl Schultz had studied in detail and described in his articles how deadly dioxins are. But suddenly all the scientific activity of chemists died out and materials about herbicides of this format ceased to appear in the press. The military took matters into their own hands, in charge of chemical weapons not prohibited by various conventions. This is how the idea came about to use Agent Orange to turn the forests of Indochina into dead space.
The substance is based on a 50% / 50% mixture of 2,4-dichlorophenylacetic acid, or 2, 4-D, and 2, 4, 5-trichlorophenylacetic acid, or 2, 4, 5-T, which, strictly speaking, are not dioxins, but rather similar to them. But because of the mass scale, the production cycle of Agent Orange was simplified, and there were still impurities in the form of real dioxins. Thus, in the production of 2, 4, 5-T, TCDD appears as a by-product, which nobody was going to remove at Monsanto and other enterprises (for example, Dau Chemical), working with the Ministry of Defense. In addition to "Agent Orange", nicknamed because of the specifically colored packaging, the US military used blue, pink, purple, green and several other color formulations, which invariably contained traces of TCDD dioxin. They entered the history of chemistry and military art under the general name "rainbow herbicides". The champion in toxicity was "Agent Green" ("green" formulation), since it consisted entirely of 2, 4, 5-T, and, accordingly, the share of TCDD in it was maximum. For the destruction of food crops, the herbicide "Agent Blue" based on cacodylic acid, which contains arsenic, was mainly used. The Americans added kerosene or diesel fuel to defoliants just before combat use - this improved the dispersibility of poisons.
Causes and consequences
The new defoliant substances turned out to be a wonderful remedy - within a couple of hours after spraying, trees and shrubs lost their foliage, turning forests into a lifeless landscape. At the same time, the main goal was achieved - the review was improved many times. It is worth noting that the trees, if they did not die, took on leaves only after a few months. The Americans have adapted for spraying "Agent Orange" and the like, almost everything that can move - helicopters, airplanes, trucks and even light boats, with the help of which they destroyed vegetation on the banks of rivers. In the latter case, toxic dioxins were abundantly released into the river water with all the ensuing consequences. The most effective and widespread (up to 90% of volumes) was spraying from C-123 "Provider" aircraft delivery vehicles. The operation with the mocking name "Ranch Hand" - "Farmer's Hand" became a sad famous operation. The mission was to open up the supply routes of the guerrillas in South Vietnam for aerial view, as well as destroy agricultural fields and orchards. The scale of the operation was such that in 1967 all the total production of dioxion-like toxin 2, 4, 5-T in the United States went to the needs of the army. At least nine chemical corporations made good money on this, the main among which were Monsanto and Dow Hamical. The "hero" of the operation was the aforementioned C-123, equipped with a 4 m tank for herbicides3 and capable of poisoning a strip of forest 80 meters wide and 16 km long from a height of about 50 meters in 4.5 minutes. Typically, these machines worked in groups of three to five boards under the cover of helicopters and attack aircraft.
The most "minor" impacts of the US military's chemical ecocide have been vast bamboo fields or savannahs on the site of rich virgin forests. The high concentration of herbicides led to a change in the composition of the soil, mass death of beneficial microorganisms and, accordingly, to a sharp decrease in fertility. The biological diversity of species, ranging from birds to rodents, has significantly decreased. At the same time, it is worth remembering that not only Vietnam, but also part of the provinces of Laos and Kampuchea (modern Cambodia) fell under the US chemical attack. In total, from 1961 to 1972. The United States has sprayed more than 100 tons of herbicides, of which more than 50% are TCDD (dioxide) -contaminated defoliants. If we translate these values into pollution with pure dioxide, then the mass will vary from 120 to 500 kilograms of the most toxic substance on the planet. In this case, the chemistry of dioxides is such that they can be formed from the compounds that make up defoliants and herbicides. This requires only heating up to 8000C. And the Americans easily ensured this, the bay of the vastness of Indochina, previously treated with chemistry, with hundreds of tons of napalm. Now, one has to guess how much truly lethal dioxide got into the ecosystems of the war zone. Until now, 24% of Vietnam's territory has the status of defoil, that is, practically devoid of vegetation, including cultivated.
And, finally, the most dire consequences were the mutagenic and toxic effects of "rainbow herbicides" both on the American soldiers themselves and on the population of Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea. Until the 70s, the US Army apparently did not suspect the dangers of herbicides - many fighters sprayed defoliants from back canisters. How many US citizens suffered is still unknown, but in Indochina more than 3 million people fell under the direct harmful influence. In total, one way or another, there are about 5 million sick, of which 1 million are affected by congenital deformities and ailments. Vietnam appealed to the US government and chemical companies several times to pay damages, but the Americans invariably refused. A global war crime has remained unpunished.
