‘The final Agent Orange raid in Vietnam took place in 1970… areas have begun to bloom again. But 19 years after the war’s end, it seems plain that Agent Orange is killing and maiming human beings, something it never intended to do. The apparent toxic fall out from those clouds … is a crop of human miseries including cancers, miscarriages and birth defects—that may persist for decades.” The offensive substance referred to in the above quotation is
Reviewed by Dalvoy
UPSC Civil Services preparation
- ADDT used as insecticide
- Ba complex mixture of herbicides and weedicides used to increase agricultural output in the then South Vietnam under the US aid programme
- Ca complex mixture of DDT and other insecticides used as aerial sprays for protection against malaria and other tropical diseases
- Ddioxin used as defoliantsCorrect
Explanation
The correct answer is D because Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover and food crops. While the substance itself was a mixture of two herbicides, it was heavily contaminated with TCDD, a highly toxic type of dioxin. This dioxin is a persistent environmental pollutant responsible for the severe long term health issues mentioned in the text, such as cancers and birth defects, because it remains in the ecosystem and human body for decades. Options A, B, and C are incorrect as Agent Orange was specifically used for defoliation in military operations, not as an insecticide or an aid program to increase agricultural output.
