Agent Orange was a 50/50 mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. There was specifically trace contamination in the triphenoloxyacedticacid in the form of 2,3,7,8-T dioxin - THAT was the actual carcinogen. It was thought at the time that there was 3ppm of dioxin in Agent Orange, but later tests showed continual degradation causing actual levels to be over four times higher, at 13ppm.
2,4,5-T was the only active ingredient in Agent Green and Agent Pink, and those two plus Agent Purple (Orange but using Pink's combination of two types of 2,4,5-T IIRC) were the worst by far. More than ten times the dioxin levels of Agent Orange, and the ones that did the most damage to humans.
All of that detail to say: Agent Orange was the "safer" alternative according to the Government. Hmmm.....
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, because the simplest explanation is that government bureaucrats are stupid.
Russia used pure dioxin to try to assassinate the former president of Ukraine, and oddly enough despite developing several other serious conditions he doesn't have cancer..... yet.