dod tactical herbicide sites - United States Department of Defense

and those who participated in Operation PACER HO, may have received a “measureableexposure” to TCDD. This was most likely true even though participants were generallyinstructed to use face shields or respirators, rubber gloves, and aprons. Many of thesestudies were conducted in subtropical and tropical climates; the wearing of protectiveclothing was very uncomfortable. In Operation PACER HO great care was taken tomonitor the safety of the hundreds of men who participated in the de-drumming andtransfer of the liquid Herbicide Orange and rinse, but the process was not free of minorspills and accidents.Although most of the studies on the disposal options for Herbicide Orange involvedActive Duty military, the use of safety protocols was an important part of the studies, andthey were less likely to be exposed to the liquid Herbicide Orange. Safety protocols werealso required in the site monitoring and remediation programs that followed PACER HOat the Naval Construction and Battalion Center and at Johnston Island. Active Dutymilitary personnel handled contaminated soil. Studies of the binding of TCDD to soilparticles likely minimized the cutaneous availability to naked skin (e.g., hands) and tomany biological organisms associated with that soil [10,11]. Moreover, The handling ofthese soils generally occurred many months to years after the soil had been contaminatedand most the residues would have been degraded by chemical and biological mechanisms[12]. Nevertheless, it cannot be concluded that “no measurable exposure” occurred.Indeed, three of the individuals who had participated in these monitoring programs didhave analyses of their adipose tissue performed in 1978, and levels of 5-7 parts-pertrillion(ppt) TCDD were measured [10]. RANCH HAND personnel who handled theliquid Herbicide Orange a decade before the above individuals still had in 1986 levelsthat were orders of magnitude greater than those involved in the monitoring programs [8].References[1] Young AL, Giesy JP, Jones PD, Newton M (2004): Environmental Fate andBioavailability of Agent Orange and Its Associated Dioxin During the Vietnam War.ESPR – Environ Sci & Pollut Res 11 (6): 359-370[2] Crosby DG, Wong AS (1977): Environmental Degradation of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin(TCDD). Science 195: 1337-1338[3] Harris SA, Solomon KR (1992): Percutaneous Penetration of 2,4-DichlorophenoxyaceticAcid and 2,4-Dimethylamine Salt in Human Volunteers. J Toxicol Environ Health36 (3): 233-240[4] Newton M, Norris LA (1981): Potential Exposure of Humans to 2,4,5-T and TCDD inOregon Coast Range. Fund Appl Toxicol 1: 339-346[5] Lavy TL (1987): Human Exposure to Phenoxy Herbicides. VA Monograph, May1987, Agent Orange Projects Office, Department of Medicine and Surgery, VeteransAdministration Central Office, Washington, DC, 128 pages[6] Hood RD (1985): Cacodylic Acid: Agricultural Uses, Biologic Effects, andEnvironmental Fate. VA Monograph, December 1985, Agent Orange Projects Office,Department of Medicine and Surgery, Veterans Administration Central Office,Washington, DC, 171 pages78