Yushchenko poisoned by Agent Orange dioxin

UKRAINIAN opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned by TCDD, the most harmful known form of dioxin and a key ingredient of Vietnam War herbicide Agent Orange, the scientist who conducted tests on the presidential candidate’s blood said yesterday.

Abraham Brouwer, professor of environmental toxicology at the Free University in Amsterdam, said the dioxin was TCDD, chemically known as tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin.

TCDD was a key ingredient of Agent Orange, a herbicide blamed for myriad health problems in US veterans of the Vietnam War and local villagers. It is produced inadvertently during manufacturing processes that use chlorine, such as paper and pulp bleaching. It is also given off by incinerator fumes. There is no commercial production of TCDD.

The tests also confirmed that Mr Yushchenko’s blood contained 100,000 units of dioxin, the second-highest concentration ever recorded. “It is a single chemical, not a mix,” said Professor Brouwer. “This tells us ... there is no way it occurred naturally, because it is so pure.

“There were some small signals in the test that may tell us something about where it was made,” he added. Mr Yushchenko, who faces Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych in a repeat presidential election on St Stephen’s Day, fell ill after having dinner with Ukrainian Security Service chief Ihor Smeshko and his deputy Volodymyr Satsyuk in September.

Mr Yushchenko reported having a headache about three hours after the dinner, and by the next day had developed an acute stomach ache.

He later developed pancreatitis and gastrointestinal pain, as well as a severe backache.

About three weeks after his first symptoms, Mr Yushchenko developed severe facial disfiguring, which is the hallmark of dioxin poisoning.