title: Agent Orange toxicity: a quantitative perspective.
abstract: 1 The minimum toxic dose of tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) for man has been calculated from monkey and human data to be 0.1 microgram kg-1. 2 The amount of TCDD which man takes in from his environment is about 1/2050 of that present in one square metre of his immediate environment. 3 The average concentration of TCDD present in Vietnam immediately after spraying Agent Orange was 8 microgram m-2. 4 A soldier directly sprayed would attain an internal body concentration of 7 X 10(-5) microgram kg-1 or 1/1750 of the minimum toxic dose; soldiers moving through previously sprayed areas would ingest much less. 5 These quantitative aspects indicate that the dioxin sprayed with Agent Orange in Vietnam cannot have caused systemic illnesses in Vietnam veterans or birth defects in their children.
mesh_terms: D015085:2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid / Q000633:toxicity*; D015084:2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid / Q000633:toxicity*; D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000209:etiology; D000075182:Agent Orange; D000818:Animals; D001572:Benzofurans / Q000633:toxicity; D004147:Dioxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D006540:Herbicides / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity; D014744:Vietnam
chemical_list: D001572:Benzofurans; D004147:Dioxins; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006540:Herbicides; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D015084:2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid; D000075182:Agent Orange; D015085:2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid; C014211:2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran