Bioremediation of Agent Orange chemicals made in Sydney for Vietnam War

More than 50 years after the Vietnam War, uni students are removing remnants of Agent Orange chemicals from a waterway connected to Sydney Harbour.

During the 20th century, Homebush Bay on the Rhodes peninsula, located about 19 kilometres west of Sydney’s CBD, was an industrial hotspot for herbicide, pesticide and preservative production.

US company Union Carbide, which was responsible for the 1984 Bhopal disaster, produced 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D at the site for the Vietnam War effort — two ingredients found in Agent Orange.