ABSTRACT
The amount of 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) used annually in the US prior to 1983 was estimated in 1985 to be approximately 204,000 pounds per year. Release of 2,4,5-T to the environment may have occurred during its use as a herbicide and it can form in the environment as a hydrolysis product of its herbicide esters. The persistence of 2,4,5-T may be greater in soil which received large amounts of the herbicide. 2,4,5-T may also be degraded by photocatalytic processes involving iron species and peroxides. The rates of biodegradation of 2,4,5-T in the environment depends upon numerous factors including temperature, the amounts of moisture and organic matter in the soil, sunlight, and whether there are populations of microbes which have been adapted by repeated treatment with 2,4,5-T or other chlorophenoxyalkanoic acid herbicide. The general public could potentially be exposed by inhalation of particulate matter or ingestion of fruit, milk or drinking water contaminated with 2,4,5-T.
