In the 1980s and 1990s governments across Australia outlawed the use of the herbicide 245T. The ban was introduced for one very good reason – 245T contains dioxin, a chemical impurity with the potential to seriously harm people who are exposed to it. Four Corners has found evidence that herbicides containing 24D, currently being sold, do have levels of dioxin which could pose a potential health risk. Significantly, experts warn that cheap imports might be a source of herbicides contaminated with dioxin and yet those imports haven’t attracted significant scrutiny.
Watch the ABC 4 Corners Chemical Time Bomb program
