- (Agencies) -- A scientist analysing the compound used
to poison Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko have determined
that he was given TCDD, an ingredient of Agent Orange.
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- At the weekend, doctors at an Austrian clinic treating
Mr Yushchenko confirmed that the dramatic transformation in his appearance
- from healthy-faced to bloated and pockmarked - was due to dioxin poisoning.
-
- Though doctors say they do not know who had poisoned
Mr Yushchenko in September, they said the substance had probably been added
to his food, and that just a bit more would have killed him.
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- TCDD is the acronym for tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin
- the most harmful known dioxin. As a component of the herbicide Agent
Orange, which the US military used to clear jungle during the Vietnam war,
it caused a wide variety of health problems for US veterans and Vietnamese
villagers.
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- Tests on Mr Yushchenko's blood were conducted by Abraham
Brouwer, professor of environmental toxicology at the Free University in
Amsterdam. He confirmed that the politician's blood contained 100,000 units
of dioxin, the second highest concentration ever recorded.
-
- "It is a single chemical, not a mix," Mr Brouwer
said. "This tells us ... there is no way it occurred naturally because
it is so pure."
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- Mr Yushchenko, whose party managed to overturn the contested
results of last month's presidential election in Ukraine, will stand again
for president in a re-run of his contest with the country's Kremlin-backed
prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, on December 26.
-
- He was taken ill following a dinner with the head of
Ukraine's state security services.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,15569,1376188,00.html
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