In a May 2010 response to inquiries by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense (DoD) certified that a “review of the DoD documentation does not show any use, testing or storage of tactical herbicides, such as Agent Orange, at any location in Alabama, to include Fort McClellan.” The DoD stated, however, that records would not reflect “small scale non-tactical herbicide applications” such as routine base maintenance activities like range management, brush clearing, or weed killing. In 2011, a veteran won his case before the VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals by demonstrating his exposure to Agent Orange during training at Fort McClellan in 1969.
In a 1976 report, the U.S. Army Hygiene Agency, as part of its “Installation Pest Management Program Review,” said that between 1974 and 1976, nearly 12,000 gallons of herbicide 2,4,5-T (trichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and 18,000 gallons of herbicide 2,4-D (dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) were used at Fort McClellan. Agent Orange is a 50/50 mixture of those two herbicides. In 1975, 4,000 gallons of pichloram (#160) was also used at Fort McClellan. These are the herbicide agents outlined in 38 CFR 3.307(a)(6)(i).
