Agent Purple

Agent Purple was the military code name of a defoliant used by the US Forces to defoliate forests during the Vietnam War . It consisted of a mixture of the herbicidal active ingredients 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid n-butyl ester (50%), 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid n-butyl ester (30%) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid isobutyl ester (20 %). The active ingredient content was 1033 gl ⁻¹ , calculated as acid. Agent Purple was the first herbicide to be tested on a large scale by the US Forces for defoliation. These tests took place in 1959 at Camp Drum, New York State. In Vietnam, Agent Purple was the first herbicide used to defoliate forests in September and October 1962. After Agent Orange was available from 1965 , Agent Purple was no longer ordered. According to the spray reports, 1,892,773 liters of Agent Purple were applied, according to the procurement lists only 548,100 liters were purchased.

Agent Purple very likely contained more dioxin than Agent Orange, at 45 ppm according to a sample. In the early 1960s, the dioxin contamination of the active ingredient 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid may have been even higher. Before 1965 the herbicides were applied over a comparatively small area, so that Agent Purple is likely to have led to particularly high levels of dioxin residues locally.

proof

1. ^ ^{A b c} Jeanne Mager Stellman, Steven D. Stellman, Richard Christian, Tracy Weber, Carrie Tomasallo: The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam . In: Nature . tape 422 , no. 6933 , March 17, 2003, p. 681-687 , doi : 10.1038 / nature01537 .