Orange crush

[cubic-dog]

On Sun, 6 Jan 2002, mattd wrote:

> Agent orange news in Nam... 
> http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=01/12/31/3456415
> 
> Scientists investigating the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam have found 
> that people living in a so-called hotspot have the highest blood levels of 
> its poisonous chemical dioxin ever recorded in the country.
> Agent Orange, which has the dioxin (TCDD - short for 
> 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) as one of its constituents, was last 
> used in 1973.

Agent Orange is a 1-124-1 mixture of n-butyl esters,
245T 2-4-5-trichlorophenoxacetic acid (C8,H5,Cl3,O3), and 24D
2-4-dichloro-phenoxacetic acid (C8,H6,Cl2,O3).

TCDD or, 2-3-7-8-tetrachlorodibenzo-P-dioxin (C12,H4,Cl4,O2), is a
CONTAMINATE artifact of the heat exchangers used in the reaction process 
not a constituent as so often stated. 

None of this stuff is what any of us want in our dinner salad, however
the differences between 245T,24D the most researched herbicides in the
world and TCDD are huge. 

Currently, aside from dioxin like pcbs (which are no longer
manufactured in the US, and wouldn't be around at all hardly
if it weren't for the americans and computer users love
of electricity and plastic lawn furniture) the only real use of dioxin is
in bleaching paper pulp. The understanding of dioxin is still incomplete
and with all the new studies in gene research on, folks are learning
some pretty interesting stuff about some theoretical benificial
capabilities of dioxin. In the short term, it's abilities to bind
up lipophilic chemicals so they can be pissed out as urine, and in the
long run, as a vector for non intrusive reprogramming of cells.

Chlorinated herbicides have been around since the late 1800s, and have
litterally made all the difference in the abilities to produce food
in the last century. While the ability to produce food in the 20th 
century has produced all kinds of new global problems, and food
is still used as a political tool, the problems of world wide
starvation are problems of politics, not agriculture. The techology
exists, and chemicals like 24D and 245T are among the reasons why.

Bad shit happened in the land of bad things to a lot of people. 
I've lost friends, close friends, to health proplems resulting from
exposure to agent orange, so I don't take this lightly. If the herbicide
had been manufactured with a priority on quality instead of the usual 
gov focus on low bid and quantity, it is at least conceivable
that this horror wouldn't be facing those folks now. 

As far as I know the only controlled studies done on agent orange were
done by the principle contractor Dow chemical, and the studies
were done in Midland Michigan. Those studies pointed heavily at 
TCDD contamination. As far as I know, those studies have not
been refuted. 

I am not a biochemist, and I don't even play one on TV, but I do
know how to read, and I wish that if folks wanted to report on this
stuff, they would get their facts straight. 
 
> But today, some residents of Binh-Hoa, near Ho Chi Minh City, have 200 
> times the normal amount of dioxin in their bloodstreams.
> Agent Orange was widely used by the US military during the Vietnam War as a 
> defoliant so that Vietnam's dense jungle could not provide cover for Viet 
> Cong forces.
> 'Startling' results
> It was when US veterans started to become ill with a variety of health 
> problems that investigations suggested that Agent Orange could be involved.
> The most dangerous ingredient was the dioxin, a pollutant that stays in the 
> environment for decades.
> There are still about 12 dioxin hotspots in Vietnam, in areas where very 
> heavy spraying took place. (cont)
> 
> Page 1 breaking news is apparent discovery of highly toxic batch in WA.(ex 
> vietnam)Deaths suspected.