Agent Purple 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 their

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 purple 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 so-called "

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 Purple and Orange were also used to clear brush in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Agent Purple was chemically similar to the better-known

, both of them were consisting of a mixture of the herbicides

2,4-D 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is usually referred to by its ISO common name 2,4-D. It is a systemic herbicide that kills most broadleaf weeds by causing uncontrolled growth, but most gra ...

and

2,4,5-T 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 ...

and in both cases the 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T constituted equal shares of the Agent.National Defence and the Canadian Forces
Health Information Summary for CF Members
Date Modified: 2012-01-13; Subpage of DND C
The Use of Herbicides at CFB Gagetown from 1952 to Present Day
Project The difference was in the form of 2,4,5-T. While all the 2,4,5-T in Agent Orange was as the ''n''-butyl ester, the 2,4,5-T in Agent Purple was itself mixture of ''n''-butyl and isobutyl ester forms (60%:40% respectively). The Agent Purple had then the following composition: 50% ''n''-butyl ester 2,4-D, 30% ''n''-butyl ester 2,4,5-T, and 20% isobutyl ester 2,4,5-T. Butyl 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate.svg, 2,4-D ''n''-butyl ester Butyl (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy)acetate.svg, 2,4,5-T ''n''-butyl ester Isobutyl (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy)acetate.svg, 2,4,5-T ''iso''-butyl ester Even prior to

Operation Ranch Hand Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of chemicals 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (Agent Orange) during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, it was part of ...

(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,
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 2,4,5-T, and thus Agent Purple,

Agent Pink Agent Pink is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War. The name comes from the pink stripe painted on the barrels to identify the contents. Largely ins ...

, Agent Green, and

, were contaminated with tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD), an extremely toxic and persistent by-product formed during synthesis. Dioxin-levels varied considerably from batch to batch, and even within the same batch; generally, agents produced earlier, such as Agent Purple and

suffered from higher levels of contamination. 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 The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

had reported to a level of 13 ppm, also estimated that Agent Purple may have had 32.8 ppm of TCDD on average. A sample of Agent Purple archived at

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...

had an even higher content of 45 ppm TCDD.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 2013-07-29) Agent Purple was used only in the earliest stages of the spraying program, between 1962 and 1965 as well as in earlier tests conducted by the US military outside of Vietnam. About were sprayed in Vietnam in total. When the need to clear brush around CFB Gagetown in

arose, quantities of Agent Purple and Agent Orange were also sprayed there in a testing program during 1966 and 1967."Agent Orange and Agent Purple"
CBC News, 21 August 2007

References

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