Agent Pink is the code name for a powerful

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page f ...

and

defoliant A defoliant is any herbicidal chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause their leaves to fall off. Defoliants are widely used for the selective removal of weeds in managing croplands and lawns. Worldwide use of defoliants, along with the d ...

used by the U.S. military in its

herbicidal warfare Herbicidal warfare is the use of substances primarily designed to destroy the plant-based ecosystem of an area. Although herbicidal warfare use chemical substances, its main purpose is to disrupt agricultural food production and/or to destroy p ...

program during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. The name comes from the pink stripe painted on the barrels to identify the contents. Largely inspired by the British use of

herbicides Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page f ...

and defoliants during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

, it was one of the

rainbow herbicides The Rainbow Herbicides are a group of tactical-use chemical weapons used by the United States military in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Success with Project AGILE field tests in 1961 with herbicides in South Vietnam was inspired by the ...

that included the more infamous

Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the tactical uses of Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1971. T ...

. Agent Pink was only used during the early "testing" stages of the spraying program before 1964. Agent Pink's only active ingredient was

2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (also known as 2,4,5-T), a synthetic auxin, is a chlorophenoxy acetic acid herbicide used to defoliate broad-leafed plants. It was developed in the late 1940s, synthesized by reaction of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol ...

(2,4,5-T), one of the common

phenoxy herbicide Phenoxy herbicides (or "phenoxies") are two families of chemicals that have been developed as commercially important herbicides, widely used in agriculture. They share the part structure of phenoxyacetic acid. Auxins The first group to be discove ...

s of the era. Agent Pink contained about 60%–40% of this active substance. Even prior to Operation Ranch Hand (1962–1971) it was knownBerufliche Akne (sog. Chlorakne) durch chlorierte aromatische zyklische Äther
Von J. Kimmig und K. H. Schulz in ''Dermatologica'' Vol. 115, 1957, p.540-6 (German; with English and French summaries; cited in CA 1958:22227) (accessed 2013-07-29)Table TCDD-UNFÄLLE – Eine Bilanz des Schreckens
pp. 54–59 in ''Seveso ist überall – Die tödlichen Risiken der Chemie'' by Egmont R. Koch, Fritz Vahrenholt; 1978, (accessed 2013-07-29)p. 49 in ''Seveso ist überall – Die tödlichen Risiken der Chemie'' by Egmont R. Koch, Fritz Vahrenholt; 1978, Peter H. Schuck
Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts
p. 17 (accessed 2013-07-29)
by Jon Dillingham; August 10, 2009 (accessed 2013-07-29)REPORT TO SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ON THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS AND EXPOSURE TO AGENT ORANGE
as Reported by Special Assistant Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, Jr., May 5, 1990 (accessed 2013-07-29) that a dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD), is produced as a byproduct of the manufacture of 2,4,5-T, and was present in any of the herbicides that used it, but to greater proportion in the earlier Agents, such as Pink. A 2003 ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' paper by Stellman et al., which re-apprised the average TCDD content of Agent Orange from the 3 ppm that USAF had reported to a level of 13 ppm, also estimated that Agent Pink may have had 65.5 ppm of TCDD on average. The comparatively smaller amounts of Agent Pink and Agent Purple, with the spraying of of Agent Pink is documented, but an additional appear on procurement records, probably depositing a larger percentage of the total dioxin.Stellman, Jeanne et al
The Extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam
Nature, Vol. 422 (17 April 2003) pp. 681 – 687 (accessed 2013-07-28)

References

{{Rainbow Herbicides Auxinic herbicides Defoliants Military equipment of the Vietnam War