[CPEO-MEF] HERBICIDES, GLOBAL: "The UK’s use of Agent Orange in Malaysia"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The UK’s use of Agent Orange in Malaysia

Andy Garrity
Toxic Remnants of War (Blog)
November 12, 2104

The use of Agent Orange in Viet Nam during the 1960s and 1970s is a notorious example of widespread and purposeful environmental damage that has subsequently impacted the health of troops and civilians. Less well known is the role that the UK played in developing Agent Orange based herbicides, which included deploying them in Malaysia in the 1950s. Andy Garrity investigates.

The use of Agent Orange (AO) in Viet Nam by the US military in the 1960s and 70s is a well documented case of deliberate environmental destruction. The use of AO herbicides was intended to remove forest cover but resulted in unintended health impacts. Its use eventually helped lead to the creation of the Environmental Modification Techniques Convention (ENMOD). It has also resulted in the payment of compensation to US veterans whose health was affected by exposure to dioxin from the contaminated defoliants.

AO use continues to be closely associated with the US but the role of Britain’s scientists and military in developing, testing and deploying 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) in a mixture identical to Agent Orange is less well known.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.toxicremnantsofwar.info/uk-agent-orange-malaysia/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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