User:Jputrasahan/sandbox

Evaluating Content
The current article is pretty bare; there is a very brief lead paragraph, history section, and use section. All of these sections can be expanded upon in defining defoliants more thoroughly, describing different types of defoliants, and describing the historical uses and more current uses of defoliants. There are some grammatical errors that are somewhat distracting as well, and these can be easily edited. Another topic that might be interesting to add, if there is information on this particular area, would be to look into various public opinions on the use of defoliants for specific uses. Also the short-term and long-term effects of defoliant uses would be good topics to add to the article. The article has a handful of links to other related Wikipedia articles, and this should grow as the article grows.

Evaluating Tone
The tone overall seems neutral. There is a greater focus on the use of defoliants in warfare, so it would be good to give representation to other uses and topics of defoliants.

Evaluating Sources
Sources include a BBC News article, a news/research blog post posted to "Science 2.0" (an open/collaborative research approach), and a pest management encyclopedia. The sources seem to be neutral in tone and reliable, although I don't know enough about Science 2.0 to say whether that source is reliable. I can't confirm whether the third source confirms what is said in the article because it is a book which I don't have access to currently. The first article gives slightly different dates for the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam than the article gives.

Evaluating Talk Page
There are limited edits to the talk page from 2005 and 2007. One is a question about distinguishing defoliants from herbicides which was answered by another user. The other point was a comment about a past edit to the article that this user removed because it did not make sense (either bad wording or vandalism). This article is rated as "start-class." It is also listed as a level-5 vital article in Technology. It is also in a few WikiProjects: Chemistry, Environment, Plants, and Technology.

Defoliant intro
A defoliant is any [herbicidal] chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause their leaves to fall off. Two predominant herbicides used as defoliants are 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T). 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T are absorbed by the leaves of plants, killing them by causing excessive hormonal growth. Defoliants are widely used for the selective removal of weeds in managing croplands and lawns. Such use worldwide, along with the development of other herbicides and pesticides, allowed for an increase in agricultural production around the mid-20th Century during what was called the Green Revolution. They are also sometimes used in warfare as a means to deprive an enemy of food crops and/or hiding cover.

Bibliography for Article
Shusterman, Dennis (1992). Critical Review: The Health Significance of Environmental Odor Pollution. Archives of Environmental Health. 47(1): 76-87. DOI: 10.1080/00039896.1992.9935948. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00039896.1992.9935948?journalCode=vzeh20

Zierler, David (2011). Invention of Ecocide. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN: 9786613110404. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n5dg

Tyas, Suzanne; Manfreda, Jure; Strain, Laurel; Montgomery, Patrick (2001). Risk factors for Alzheimer's Disease: A Population-based, Longitudinal Study in Manitoba, Canada. International Journal of Epidemiology. 30(3): 590–597. DOI: 10.1093/ije/30.3.590. https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/30/3/590/736936

Kang, H. K.; Dalager, N. A.; Needham, L. L.; Patterson, D. G.; Lees, P. S.; Yates, K.; Matanoski, G. M. (2006). Health Status of Army Chemical Corps Vietnam Veterans Who Sprayed Defoliant in Vietnam. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 49(11): 875-884. DOI: 10.1002/ajim.20385. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajim.20385

Potter, T.; Marti, L.; Belflower, S.; Truman, C. (2000). Multiresidue Analysis of Cotton Defoliant, Herbicide, and Insecticide Residues in Water by Solid-Phase Extraction and GC−NPD, GC−MS, and HPLC−Diode Array Detection. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 48(9): 4103-4108. DOI: 10.1021/jf9909104. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9909104

Snipes, Charles; Cathey, George (1992). Evaluation of Defoliant Mixtures in Cotton. Field Crops Research. 28(4): 327-334. DOI: 10.1016/0378-4290(92)90018-5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0378429092900185

= Defoliant (Draft) =

Lead Section
A defoliant is any herbicidal chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause their leaves to fall off. Defoliants are widely used for the selective removal of weeds in managing croplands and lawns. Such use worldwide, along with the development of other herbicides and pesticides, allowed for an increase in agricultural production around the mid-20th century during what was called the Green Revolution. Defoliants have also been sometimes used in warfare as a means to deprive an enemy of food crops and/or hiding cover.

Use and application
A primary application of defoliants is the selective killing of plants. Two of the oldest chemical herbicides used as defoliants are 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T). 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T are absorbed broad-leafed plants, killing them by causing excessive hormonal growth. These phenoxy herbicides were designed to selectively kill weeds and unwanted plants in croplands. They were first introduced at the beginning of World War II and became widespread in use in agriculture following the end of the War.

Defoliants have a practical use in the harvesting of certain crops, particularly cotton, in the United States of America as well as a number of other cotton-producing countries. The use of defoliants aids in the effective harvesting of cotton and the cultivation of finer lint quality. The effectiveness of defoliant use in cotton harvesting relies on the type of defoliant(s) used, the number of applications, the amount applied, and environmental variables. Common harvest-aiding, chemical defoliants include tribufos, dimethipin, and thidiazuron. According to a 1998 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), tribufos and thidiazuron accounted for 60% of crop area that was treated by defoliants during that crop year.

Health and environmental effects
In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) claimed that the use of agricultural defoliants led to increased risks of water contamination and dangers to marine life. High doses of tribufos were labeled as a possible carcinogen and a toxin to freshwater and marine invertebrates. Dimethipin has also been labeled as a possible human carcinogen.

A published study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reported that through successive surface runoff events in defoliated cotton fields, the concentration of defoliants within the test area decreased exponentially. Thus they concluded that the use of defoliants in cotton fields could negatively affect marine life in runoff zones.

Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War, has been linked to several long-term health consequences. Agent Orange contains a mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and contains dioxin contaminants. Members of the Air Force Ranch Hand and the Army Chemical Corps who served in the Vietnam War were occupationally exposed to Agent Orange and they have shown a positive relationship between occupational exposure and diagnosis of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and chronic respiratory diseases.

Those who are occupational exposed to defoliants also are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease. Among other occupations, a study has shown that farmers are at a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease due to greater chance of defoliant exposure.