The findings of a new report from the U.S. Air Force of a "significant and potentially meaningful" relationship between diabetes and bloodstream levels of the chemical dioxin add new evidence on the dangers of the use of chemical substances in warfare. They demonstrate once more that the harmful effects not only affect military and civilian target populations, but also those who have used the chemical compound with military purposes. The results of this study should convince even the most militant advocates of chemical warfare of the folly of its practice.
Dioxin, or TCDD, is one of a family of compounds that are contaminants of Agent Orange, a herbicide developed for the military, which was extensively used in Vietnam in the early 1960s, particularly at the height of the war in 1967-68. Its use was discontinued in 1971. It was found that the Agent Orange used in Vietnam was highly contaminated with dioxin. Prior to its use in Vietnam, Agent Orange was tested in the United States in Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, Camp Drum in New York, and Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Dioxin is not found in nature; is a by-product of the chemical manufacturing process. It has caused a variety of diseases in animals in laboratory tests, many of them fatal.