EPA has used emergency authority to ban the sale and use of the herbicide DCPA, sold as Dacthal, citing evidence the chemical could harm unborn children.
“DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff said in a news release.
The agency announced Tuesday it used its emergency authority under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act for the first time in nearly 40 years “because unborn babies whose pregnant mothers are exposed to DCPA, sometimes without even knowing the exposure has occurred, could experience changes to fetal thyroid hormone levels, and these changes are generally linked to low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ, and impaired motor skills later in life, some of which may be irreversible.”
DCPA is registered to control weeds in both ag and non-ag settings, but it’s mainly used on crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions, EPA said.
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The sole registrant of DCPA products, AMVAC Chemical Corp., had halted sales of DCPA products and proposed a series of mitigation measures, including restricting use of the product to Arizona and California, but EPA said none were enough to address concerns about the risk to fetal development.
“EPA has determined that there is no combination of practicable mitigations under which DCPA use can continue without presenting an imminent hazard,” it said in the emergency order.
“Although [AMVAC] has presently unilaterally promised to halt the sale and distribution of DCPA, DCPA products that were sold or distributed prior to this voluntary cessation remain in the hands of growers,” EPA said. “DCPA is used year-round on certain crops, so EPA believes that exposures of concern likely continue to occur.”
In April, EPA took the rare step of warning farmworkers about the risks of exposure
AMVAC has been contacted for comment on the decision, which farmworker groups praised.
Mily Treviño Sauceda, Executive Director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, said “Alianza is pleased to see the EPA make this historic decision. As an organization led by farmworker women, we know intimately the harm that pesticides, including [DCPA] can inflict on our bodies and communities.”
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