In Dr. Young’s 2012 report on Panama he says “This allegation presumes that Agent Orange was used as if it were a commercial product. Furthermore, it presumes that all United States military units had access to its use to control unwanted vegetation on military installations within the Canal Zone. Neither of these presumptions is true.”
If you have followed my blogs about Dr. Alvin Young, he sat in a congressional hearing where the Assistant Surgeon General, General Dittinger stated in 1978, under testimony to congress, there never was anything special made in regards to Agent Orange for the DoD.
Herbicide Orange was a standard item in the Federal Stock Catalog up until 1971, and was ordered by any federal facility that needed it. The FCPC (Federal Committee on Pesticide Control kept track throughout the years of the production and use of all pesticides and herbicides throughout the military.
“Although Agent Orange consisted of the two commercial herbicides, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, it was formulated as a “tactical herbicide” and thus, there were technical (e.g., formulation and concentrations), administrative, and legal differences between tactical and commercial herbicides used by the Department of Defense.
This is simply a mistatement of fact. In Dr. Young’s own report of 1978, he sources the FCPC and the FCPC says Herbicide Orange was shipped to Vietnam via the U.S. Commerce documents, the FT 410. He also states that Herbicide Orange consists of 50/50 2,4-D & 2,4,5-T. In his 1970 and 1978 reports, he never mentions the word “tactical”.
How can Herbicide Orange be historically set in stone in the 1970s as to its contents and now that the Panama veterans need help and can prove by historical U.S. Commerce documents and FCPC historical documents that the exact same item went to Panama and yet when the evidence is submitted, the evidence is ignored?
“The Armed Forces Pesticide Control Board DID NOT work with the chemical companies manufacturing pesticides, rather, these materials were evaluated by ARS, the various State University Experiment Stations, and the State and Federal Extension Services. In addition, AFPCB depended upon CSRS and its University based research and extension system to prepare and publish manuals on pesticide use, plans for certification of pesticide applicators, and the disposal of old pesticides and pesticide containers.”
The Armed Forces Pesticide Control Board kept track of Agent Orange shipments through the Pesticide Reviews over the decades. Those reports show that the same 2,4-D & 2,4,5-T was shipped/stored and used in Vietnam and Panama.
Dr. Alvin Young in his 1978 report which I have posted here on this site as well shows the Rainbows, the contents of the Rainbows and says they are shown on the Federal Pesticide Review Board Reviews in his legend on his chart.
Dr. Young is right that the military did not work with the chemical companies manufacturing pesticides, these materials were already being widely used by the USDA when Ft. Detrick decided to have them tested to see if they would work to defoliate in a jungle envionment.
“Conclusion: Extensive reviews were conducted of Department of Defense directives on commercial use of herbicides maintained by the Armed Forces Pest Management Board, and of the records of the Army Chemical Corps on tactical herbicide. The conclusions of these reviews are that the allegations of the use of Agent Orange in Panama and Canal Zone from 1962 through 1975 are not based on any credible supporting documentation.”
Let us see the records of the Army Chemical Corps on tactical herbicide. Does this document really exist?
Commercial herbicides were used tactically in war, period!
We have provided proof positive from the FCPC, FSC, Dr. Young’s own records, congressional hearings, that the only difference between the commercial and the tactical brand called “Agent Orange” was the stripe.
If you read my blog entitled “1968 memo re use of herbicides listed in the FSC,” the Armed Forces Pest Management Board said anything listed in the FSC was a standard item to be used by any federal facility. And Herbicide Orange was listed in the Federal Stock catalog.
For Dr. Young who has been connected to this debacle about Herbicide Orange for all these decades to say there is no credible evidence does not seem to be true based on historical documents I have found. And yet the VA is ignoring this truth.
“The USDA had no regulatory authority over the selection or use of herbicide formulations developed by the Department of the Army. The extensive documentation of the US Army Chemical Corps evaluations of proposed tactical herbicides did not identify a single site for such tests in Panama or the Canal Zone. The publication in 2006 “The History of the US Department of Defense Programs to the Testing, Evaluation, and Storage of Tactical Herbicides”, by the Department of Defense did not list Panama or the Canal Zone as locations for the testing and evaluation of tactical herbicides.”
And who wrote the report in 2006 of locations of Agent Orange under contract paid by the DoD? Dr. Young himself!
So we are to believe a circular reference? That is not what the historical documents tell us.