Since that time, veterans who served in Vietnam have reported numerous adverse health effects. Agent Orange was contaminated with the highly toxic chemical 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, also referred to as TCDD. Of the several herbicides used in Vietnam, the best known and most widely used was Agent Orange. Those herbicides were used as defoliants to help in identifying enemy transportation and communication routes and camps, to reduce cover for enemy forces, and, for a time, to kill crops that might be used by the enemy. In the Vietnam War, the US military had new weapons to help its personnel to penetrate the tropical forests: tactical herbicides. During World War II, US forces that fought in tropical climates with jungle foliage throughout the Pacific theater suffered substantial loss of lives. During that time, over 3 million US military personnel were sent to Southeast Asia. The Vietnam War era is considered by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to have lasted from January 1962 to May 1975.
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