Vietnam Era Weapon Being Used to Clear the Amazon

I'm not seeing an established link to "Agent Orange" here. Also, it might be difficult to get compared to say Roundup - which would make more sense, (agriculturally) if you wanted edible pasture at some point.

Both those links are a good read, but if you lack time and are wondering how smart this practice is, or who to believe

I would say the 4 tonnes found at another location was the link, i cant think of any other reason to have that much herbicide in a rain forest.

2,4-D was found.

Note;

"The defoliant and herbicide Agent Orange, used extensively throughout the Vietnam War, contained 2,4-D. The controversies associated with the use of Agent Orange were associated with a contaminant (dioxin) in the 2,4,5-T component"

Clearly there is no other reason - but if you want to stop this sort of thing - getting the facts right might be of more use than screaming based in flawed emotive relationships - that when brought down, destroy all other credibility.

No proof it was "Agent Orange", either. THERE is the lack of linkage.

Quotes, folks. Cite quotes. Let US look at the original language of the reports. Don't ask us, absent backup, to take the word of an organization whose very name says "dog in the fight" as unbiased, nor completely accurate. Let alone objective.

I see no proof that it was Agent Orange. I see a lot of conjecture, a lot of surmise, and a lot of innuendo.

And a lot of SOME kind of herbicide, maybe. It depends on whether I consider the supposed source to be accurate or honest.

I see no reason to suppose either to be true.

Cite sources. And TreeHugger is by no means an objective source.

By the way, thank you for making that effort. I appreciate it, though I'm in no way qualified to do more than accept your interpretation. At least now the text is out in the open, where I can read it in the only language in which I'm fluent.

And it IS interesting that the text doesn't even mention Agent Orange. I presume that is the diligence for which we should hope? At least that the reporter would report what was written, instead of flinging editorial excoriants (exfoliants?) around?

No problem - the journalistic theatrics got up my nose for the same reasons as yours - I.e. I lost friends to that and one specifically best to Agent Orange specifically. "Trading on that falsely" is quite offensive.

Seems like the poor "journalism" really irked you. Well done with the translation and the other links.

From a personal point of view I used a fair amount of Shirweed 50 (24D 245T mix) when I was an adolescent in the 60s. I don't seem to be affected by it, definitely not to the extent of some diggers returning from Vietnam at least.

There were some Cane Growers around Innisfail who were badly poisoned with some product that was damaged in a warehouse fire in Singapore. It is believed, but not proven, the heat of the fire caused the formation of dioxin. It was available and used in the era when I was killing lantana, luckily my Old Man wasn't cheap enough to buy fire damaged stock.

One of the chemicals in agent orange is 2.4-D, as for difficult to get, if someone wants it someone will make it for example they still sell DDT in India. You may not agree with the link they are trying to make to agent orange as the defoliation used to do the damage pictured and it may not have been, but its a bit of a stretch to allude that you dont even think the defoliatition of the rain forest is happening.

A well established maxim: Part is false, all is false.

The article starts: "Agent Orange is one of the most devastating weapons of modern warfare, a chemical which killed or injured an estimated 400,000 people during the Vietnam War -- and now it's being used against the Amazon rainforest."

Our emotional strings are being plucked. This is an agenda that is being pushed.

Information regarding the purpose of deforestation is sort of fuzzy (nonexistent). Is this land being sterilized cleared for the construction of a hospital? And, just where do poor farmers come up with aerial application equipment to cover a staggering 440 acres?

Too much of a stretch. Go back and read my post. I didn't even refer to argument about WHETHER it is happening. I'm not qualified to say its not, and my friends from that part of the world, who say it IS, are qualified. So, if I thought I was qualified to question IBAMA on THAT point (I don't feel so qualified), I'd only have to refer to those with whom I speak regularly who have lived, or do live, there.

I object only to the linkage to Agent Orange. And finding that one ingredient of Agent Orange is there does not make THIS Agent Orange. Especially since, if I remember correctly, 2-4-D was used in quite a few defoliants, probably even prior to Agent Orange being developed as a defoliant.

But I xo confess to one argument. Agent Orange is uniquely identified with the US. I'm a US citizen. I don't like egregious back-handed attacks on my country.

On the Other Hand (and this justifies spelling it out. I want no mistake here.) I am ashamed of my country's politicians and their pseudo-scientific elite's behavior and conduct of, and during, the Viet Nam War. And Agent Orange IS a mark of that execrable behavior.

Just for the record.