The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in a statement on Tuesday the emergency suspension of the pesticide DCPA, or Dacthal, “after evaluating and addressing the risk it poses” to fetuses whose pregnant mothers were exposed to the chemical.
The withdrawal of the pesticide is also a victory for advocates for farmworkers and those who work in the fields, who are exposed to these chemicals.
The agency said that, “after several years of unprecedented efforts by the Biden-Harris Administration to require the submission of long-awaited data,” it took this type of emergency measure, for the first time in nearly 40 years, under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
The EPA assessment found that pregnant women who were exposed to Dacthal, sometimes without knowing it, could “experience changes in fetal thyroid hormone levels” which are then linked to “low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ and reduced motor skills later in life, some of which may be irreversible.”
Commenting on the measure, Rep. Raul Grivalva, D-Ariz., said, “Farmworkers face grueling conditions in the fields and are often exposed to harmful pesticides as they work to feed our nation. I applaud EPA’s emergency action that prioritizes the health and safety of farmworkers, especially pregnant women, by suspending this harmful chemical from our agricultural systems.”
Michal Freedhoff, deputy administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said that “DCPA is so dangerous that it must be removed from the market immediately” for the sake of pregnant women and fetuses.
“The EPA has a job protecting people from exposure to dangerous chemicals. In this case, pregnant women who may never know they were exposed could give birth to babies who experience irreversible lifelong health problems“That’s why, for the first time in nearly 40 years, EPA is using its emergency suspension authority to halt the use of a pesticide,” Freedhoff added.
California-based chemical company AMVAC is the sole manufacturer of the pesticide, which has been banned in the European Union since 2009, The New York Times reported.
DCPA is a registered herbicide for controlling weeds in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings. It is primarily used on crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and onions.
Mily Treviño Sauceda, executive director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, welcomed the EPA’s decision, calling it a “great first step that we hope will be added to a series of others based on listening to agricultural workers, protecting our reproductive health and safeguarding our families.”
