GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Agent Orange Herbicide and defoliant used by the US military
in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). Name derived from the orange 55-gallon drums it was shipped in. Agent orange was used from 1961 to 1971, it was produced for the Pentagon by Monsanto, Dow Chemical and DuPont Chemical companies, among others. A dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD), is produced as a byproduct of the manufacture of 2,4,5-T, one of the two components of Agent Orange, and is present in any of the herbicides that used it. The US National Toxicology Program classified TCDD to be a human carcinogen, frequently associated with soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). 2,4,5-T has since been banned for use in the US and many other countries. Bacteria Microscopic single-celled infectious organisms. While some types may be harmless, certain bacteria can cause diseases such as mycobacterium tuberculosis.
