Dioxin's Dangers Known Beforehand

[allan]

Partial reprint of attached article in PDF format

Mum's the word

A declassified letter by V.K. Rowe

at Dow's Biochemical Research

Library to Bioproducts Manager Ross

Milholland dated June 24, 1965

clearly states that the company knew

the dioxin in their products,

including Agent Orange, could hurt

people.

In reference to 2,4,5,-trichlorophenol

and 2,3,7,8,-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin

(components of Agent Orange), Rowe

stated:

"This material is exceptionally toxic;

it has a tremendous potential for

producing chloracne and systemic

injury."

Rowe worried the company would

suffer if word got out.

"The whole 2,4,5-T industry would

be hard hit and I would expect

restrictive legislation, either barring

the material or putting very rigid

controls upon it."

********

The report quotes a 1988 letter from

Dr. James R. Clary, a former

government scientist with the

Chemical Weapons Branch, to Senator

Tom Daschle. Dr. Clary was involved

in designing tanks that sprayed

herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam,

according to the report.

Clary told Daschle:

"When we (military scientists)

initiated the herbicide program in the

1960's, we were aware of the potential

for damage due to dioxin

contamination in the herbicide. We

were even aware that the 'military'

formulation had a higher dioxin

concentration than the 'civilian' version

due to the lower cost and speed of

manufacture. However, because the

material was to be used on the 'enemy,'

none of us were overly concerned. We

never considered a scenario in which

our own personnel would become

contaminated with the herbicide. And,

if we had, we would have expected our

own government to give assistance to

veterans so contaminated."

Chemical warfare: calling a spade a

spade

Supporters of the US's Agent Orange

Campaign prefer to call it an

"herbicide program" rather than

chemical warfare. But official

documents reveal that the US Senate

knew its real name.

In US Senate Congressional Records

dated August 11, 1969, a table

presented to senators showed that

congress clearly classified 2,4-D and

2,4,5-T (main components of Agent

Orange) in the Chemical and Biological

Warfare category.

The table also includes Cacodylic

Acid, a main component of Agent Blue,

another chemical sprayed on Vietnam

to kill plants, in the official Chemical

and Biological Warfare category. The

table describes it as "an arsenic-base

compound.heavy concentrations will

cause arsenical poisoning in humans.

Widely used in Vietnam. It is

composed of 54.29 percent arsenic."

As Vietnam War Scholar and US

Veteran W.D. Ehrhart put it concisely

in a Thanh Nien Daily interview last

week: "It would be hard to describe

Agent Orange as anything other than

a chemical weapon. Dioxin is a

chemical." So is arsenic.

-----Original Message-----

From: Ney, Gerald A CIV [mailto:gerald.ney@navy.mil]

Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 2:11 PM

To: ColonelDan

Subject: FW: Dioxin's Dangers Known Beforehand

-----Original Message-----

From: Wayne Dwernychuk [mailto:wdwernychuk@telus.net]

Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 15:02

Subject: Dioxin's Dangers Known Beforehand

You should find this of interest.

Wayne

__._,_.___Attachment(s) from Colonel Dan

1 of 1 File(s)

Dioxin's_Dangers_Known_THANHNIEN_p3.pdf "Keep on, Keepin' on"

Dan Cedusky, Champaign IL "Colonel Dan"

See my web site at:

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/VeteranIssues/

[Pete53]

Of course they knew.

[john999]

Every time I see one of those jive DOW advertisements on TV about how they are saving the world I wish an astroid would hit them. I think those in DOW and those who knew about the effects are war criminals because they sprayed that stuff on civilians. AO was sprayed on people we were supposed to be saving from communism. "We are here from the USA and we are going to kill you "

[allan]

Dow's Toxic Century

http://www.thetruthaboutdow.org/article.ph...ype&type=19

Decades Later, Toxic Sludge Torments Bhopal

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/world/asia/07bhopal.html