Document gaKkpZ2yB9X8BO94bkDnK7Q5a

`Monsanto ( ^irnnaOMmi-location- phone, 'y -- s. G. C o llin s - A3ND - 4-3860 "'`Te June 3, 1982 SUajCCT KKrcRENce TO TR.. MT.^Bie^r^einndast *S- B-i2ND C(^SSSSiuMv JG.. RD.. ICnognednrathyfon pAltetaacshee. d is a Q/A on Agent Orange. May I have your comments :cm A ttachm ent \W>, 'v w u i ) 0 ^ Sarah Gainer Collins 'TW CuJtvcJ2 ^ ^ CONFIDENTIAL SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER. IN - IO REV. 0/77 C14203 1 -- isr*. CONFIDENTIAL 3-3-82----- Q/A AGENT ORANGE 1. Q. A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT SAYS THAT A SAMPLE TAKEN FROM THE ,AGENT ORANGE SUPPLIED BY MONSANTO WAS HIGHLY CONTAMINATED WITH DIOXIN. IS .THIS CORRECT? , ,i r io .iL rvcr" . ..... piwpof-h. . A. We are aware of one government document that^hows-numerical ranges for iirdrrieluQl samples from, y-- itrc,/Agent Orange yaAtftu-producersj including -a Monsanto pgeduefr. i^7\ :i 2. Q. WHAT IS MONSANTO's OPINION OF THE DOCUMENT? A *rWe dont^know wKat^ the samples or numbers represent.-- know jbfow the samples were taken, how^tfrqy were ^^^'anaiyzya^ ^Alloyed or/Whether ayc individual saiaple/was representative ot ine prnadug^^qia^g^Thelr^fore, i.% is difficult tn...draw--art-- r n n r n r i T --- _ 3. Q. DOESN'T THE DOCUMENT SHOW THAT THE AGENT ORANGE USED IN VIETNAM WAS HIGHLY TOXIC AND CONTAMINATED WITH DIOXIN? jfe dpTi't Vnnw u h u t iTur n n m h A r g epresent because we don't know what .dioxins were^-found. There are oyi 75 isomers or-m6mhas of the aioxiji yj^nd^-only "one, 2 ,3,7.,8-Tetra-chioroHThentorpHdi.pxi CDD\is the isomer regulated by the goy^ihmentr'Uecause s to\icity. The analyticaL^efTihiqueV^o^solate TCDD.-were\ not developed untjJ^'l&79'>N^i}ie government document is dated*'around, 1977 ^ama does not break dawn~4-he--d-i-ox-in--numbe-r-s--i-nto\.speci~fTc-- --- ,, * icomors-i---- C14204 Q. DID MONSANTO KNOW ITS PRODUCT WAS CONTAMINATED WITH DIOXINS? Lsanto prodnrrd -hff r^tnfin ill ."'if A^rni ni 111^i ? 1 rt T irjii&^-tQ^g.oyernmp.at--speci4cation The the government wj&re--of^Higl^quality surpassed The-~specjLficfTons. At the time of production, we anaxyaOT^^eS^.CiuS^T^compnnt Tising state-of-thej,apt-^rc1inology and did 'findwi^ry^ low levels of dj^xoiirs,,thftt-wQra gQfl^i^rel to bo ncscfraeiitin-.. <iToi4 cl~maoMAj ju&JUcJL,A . fo4 jJ- 6/ 3/82 '[ - 2- 5, Q. DOESN'T THE FACT DIOXINS WERE FOUND MAKE ANY LEVEL FOUND SIGNIFICANT? 6. Q. HOW MUCH AGENT ORANGE DID MONSANTO PRODUCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT? f fA.^Monsanto supplied approximately __?_>_____ -____ million. / gallons for the U.S .government bettwwee*en the years 1963 and 1969. 7. Q..DOES MONSANTO STILL PRODUCE EITHER 2,4,5-T or 2,4-D? A. .No. We got out of those businesses in 1970 for economic reasons. d , A x jS u M . ML K id UA\ ** ' 1 ^ ^' cj/ kIa-aSL C14205 7> A.0. JS? 3 CONFIDENTIAL. SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER. CZ 4 2 06 /}0 AGENT ORANGE___ MONSANTO COMPANY POSITION We genuinely sympathize with the plight of our Vietnam Veterans. The unpopular war they fought has left inevitable scars and Agent Orange has become an outlet for accumulated frustrations. As a result, this controversy has continued to grow despite the lack of virtually *any scientific evidence that this herbicide posed a danger to the veterans. To the contrary, there is a substantial amount of scientific/ medical- evidence on the record- (attached) that says there is no link between Agent Orange and human health problems of the magnitude claimed by the veterans. Monsanto was one of the companies asked to produce this herbicide mixture for the government during the war."' Now, much to our regret, we find that we are both an object of the veterans1 frustrations and a target of the many lawsuits brought on their behalf. Obviously, this conflict is not of our making. However, having been drawn into- it, we have no alternative but to defend ourselves. We are confident that good science will ultimately prevail over the emotions of the moment and exonerate the producers of Agent Orange. At the same time, we sincerely hope that good science will also provide many of the answers the veterans now seek regarding possible service-related health problems. -0O0- Rev. Oct. 23, 1980 For additional information, contact: Dan R. Bishop Environmental Communications Monsanto Company '800 N. Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, Mo. 63166 (314) 694-2891 > to etf ase5 ~ ' C14207