There were many forms of herbicide used in Vietnam war. Besides agent orange there were agents purple, green, white, pink, blue, and even an agent orange II. These chemicals were given these color-coded names because of the identifying colored strip on all the fifty five gallon drum concealing these herbicides. All of these have a different chemical makeup, but the ingredient which makes agent orange dangerously toxic compared to the others is that it contained dioxin, hailed by Harvard Professor to be " the most toxic small molecule know to man". A lethal combination of chemicals know as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-Tare also to partly to blame . Dioxin is a known to be an embryotoxin, a carcinogen, and a teratogenic according to rodent studies. Embryotoxin is a property known to kill embryos of the pregnant, and teratogenic means that it causes birth defects. .
The main makers of agent orange were Dow Chemical Corporation, Monsanto, Hooker Chemical, Diamond Alkali, the precedent of Diamond-Shamrock, and the Hercules Powder Co., which eventually became Hercules, Inc. They have indured much critizism becauMany people are misinformed that the armed services concocted the herbicide. Due to the negative attention to federal veteran's services, like the Veterans Administration, which have been constantly accused of unfair service and benefits. This is most vividly represented by John Green's story in which he is accused by doctors representing the VA (Veteran's Administration) of putting ketchup in his urine samples to simulate blood. Since he suffered from bladder cancer at such a young age, doctors ruled it out as a possibility and therefore was the last lab test conducted.
.
