Editing Agent Orange (section)

==Development==
Several herbicides were developed as part of efforts by the United States and the United Kingdom to create herbicidal weapons for use during [[World War II]]. These included 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, [[MCPA]] (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid, 1414B and 1414A, recoded LN-8 and LN-32), and [[isopropyl phenylcarbamate]] (1313, recoded LN-33).<ref name="FAB">{{cite magazine |last1=Perera |first1=Judith |last2=Thomas |first2=Andy |date=April 18, 1985 |title=This horrible natural experiment |journal=New Scientist |pages=34–36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7v_rDK0uOgC&pg=PA34 |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126094940/https://books.google.com/books?id=q7v_rDK0uOgC&pg=PA34 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1943, the [[United States Department of the Army]] contracted botanist (and later bioethicist) [[Arthur Galston]], who discovered the defoliants later used in Agent Orange, and his employer [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]] to study the effects of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on cereal grains (including rice) and broadleaf crops.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.yale.edu/2008/07/18/memoriam-arthur-galston-plant-biologist-fought-use-agent-orange |title=In Memoriam: Arthur Galston, Plant Biologist, Fought Use of Agent Orange |website=Yale News |access-date=2017-03-10 |date=2008-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312070110/http://news.yale.edu/2008/07/18/memoriam-arthur-galston-plant-biologist-fought-use-agent-orange |archive-date=2017-03-12 |url-status=live}}</ref> While a graduate and post-graduate student at the University of Illinois, Galston's research and [[dissertation]] focused on finding a chemical means to make soybeans flower and fruit earlier.<ref name="Schneider2003">{{cite journal|last=Schneider |first=Brandon |date=2003 |title=Agent Orange: A deadly member of the rainbow |url=http://research.yale.edu/ysm/article.jsp?articleID=48 |journal=[[Yale Scientific]] |volume=77 |issue=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125154522/http://research.yale.edu/ysm/article.jsp?articleID=48 |archive-date=2009-01-25}}</ref> He discovered both that 2,3,5-[[triiodobenzoic acid]] (TIBA) would speed up the flowering of soybeans and that in higher concentrations it would defoliate the soybeans.<ref name="Schneider2003" /> From these studies arose the concept of using aerial applications of herbicides to destroy enemy crops to disrupt their food supply. In early 1945, the U.S. Army ran tests of various 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T mixtures at the [[Bushnell Army Airfield]] in Florida. As a result, the U.S. began a full-scale production of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and would have used it against Japan in 1946 during [[Operation Downfall]] if the war had continued.{{sfn|Young|2009}}{{sfn|Verwey|1977|p=111}}

In the years after the war, the U.S. tested 1,100 compounds, and field trials of the more promising ones were done at British stations in India and Australia, in order to establish their effects in tropical conditions, as well as at the U.S. testing ground in Florida.<ref name="FAB" /> Between 1950 and 1952, trials were conducted in [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]], at [[Kikore]] and Stunyansa, to test arboricides and defoliants under tropical conditions. The chemicals involved were 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, and [[endothall]] (3,6-endoxohexahydrophthalic acid). During 1952–53, the unit supervised the aerial spraying of 2,4,5-T in [[Kenya]] to assess the value of defoliants in the eradication of [[tsetse fly]].<ref name="FAB" />