Editing Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (section)

==Agent Orange==
[[File:US-Huey-helicopter-spraying-Agent-Orange-in-Vietnam.jpg|thumb|right|300px|U.S. Army [[Huey helicopter]] spraying [[Agent Orange]] over Vietnamese agricultural land]]
{{Main|Agent Orange}}
Agent Orange was the code name for one of the [[herbicide]]s and [[defoliant]]s the [[U.S. military]] used as part of its [[herbicidal warfare]] program, [[Operation Ranch Hand]], during the [[Vietnam War]] from 1961 to 1971. It was a mixture of [[2,4,5-T]] and [[2,4-D]]. The 2,4,5-T used was contaminated with [[2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin]] (TCDD), an extremely toxic [[dioxin compound]].

During the Vietnam war, between 1962 and 1971, the United States military sprayed {{convert|20000000|U.S.gal|L|sigfig=2}} of chemical herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam, eastern Laos and parts of Cambodia, as part of Operation Ranch Hand.<ref name="pellow-2007-159">Pellow, David N. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dhtco1U2AwYC&pg=PA159 ''Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice''], MIT Press, 2007, p. 159, ({{ISBN|0-262-16244-X}}).</ref>

By 1971, 12% of the total area of South Vietnam had been sprayed with defoliating chemicals, which were often applied at rates that were 13 times as high as the legal USDA limit.<ref name="sbsg-1971-p36">SBSG, 1971: [https://books.google.com/books?id=agsAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 p. 36]</ref> In South Vietnam alone, an estimated 10 million [[hectares]] of agricultural land were ultimately destroyed.<ref name="luong-2003-p3">Luong, 2003: [https://books.google.com/books?id=AkIhYEavBrEC&pg=PA3 p. 3]</ref> In some areas, TCDD concentrations in soil and water were hundreds of times greater than the levels considered safe by the [[U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]].<ref name="fawthrop-war-against">Fawthrop, Tom; [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3798581.stm "Vietnam's war against Agent Orange"], ''BBC News'', 14 June 2004</ref><ref name="fawthrop-suffering">Fawthrop, Tom; [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/feb/10/agentofsuffering "Agent of Suffering"], ''Guardian'', 10 February 2008</ref>

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 people being killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with [[birth defects]].<ref name="last-ghost">York, Geoffrey; Mick, Hayley; [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080711.worange1107/BNStory/Front/home/?pageRequested=all "Last Ghost of the Vietnam War"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331090117/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080711.worange1107/BNStory/Front/home/?pageRequested=all |date=2009-03-31 }}, ''The Globe and Mail'', 12 July 2008</ref> The [[Red Cross of Vietnam]] estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent Orange contamination.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/vietnam-us-agent-orange/ |title=U.S. in first effort to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam |author=Jessica King |date=2012-08-10|access-date= 2012-08-11|work=[[CNN]]}}</ref> The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable and unrealistically high.<ref>"Defoliation" entry in {{cite book|editor=Spencer C. Tucker|title=The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-961-0|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>BEN STOCKING (22 May 2010) Vietnam, US still in conflict over Agent Orange Associated Press Writer seattletimes.com/html/health/2011928849_apasvietnamusagentorange.html</ref>