EPA bans DCPA pesticide in 'historic' move to protect unborn babies, pregnant women

Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued an "historic" emergency order to stop the use of the pesticide Dacthal, or DCPA, in order to fully look at the serious health risks it poses to unborn babies and pregnant women.

This is the first time in almost 40 years the agency has taken this type of emergency action, according to the EPA.

"DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately," said Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA' Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in a statement .

On Tuesday, it was announced that an emergency suspension had been applied to all registrations of the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, otherwise known as DCPA or Dacthal, under the 1947 Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, which was signed into law by former President Harry S. Truman .

This decision by the EPA arrived due to the fact, the federal agency says, evidence is indicating how pregnant women exposed to the DCPA pesticide can possibly lead to irreversible fetus damage when exposed in utero, with changes linked to it like low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ and impaired motor skills later in life, some of which may be irreversible.

Nearly 20% of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables that Americans eat contain concerning levels of pesticides, a new report finds .

Farmworkers, in particular, face burdensome conditions in the fields and often face exposure to harmful pesticides while working to feed others, according to Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.., who hailed Tuesday's EPA action which he says "prioritizes farmworker health and safety, especially for pregnant women, by suspending this harmful chemical from our agricultural systems."

It comes after "unprecedented efforts" by the White House over the last few years to get what it called "long-overdue" data on the pesticide from its sole manufacturer, U.S- based AMVAC Chemical Corporation, in order to assess its overall risk.

In April of 2022, the Biden EPA issued the hardly-used Notice of Intent to Suspend DCPA based on AMVAC's failure to submit the complete set of required data almost 10 years after the EPA's 2013 request and January 2016 due date for the new data went unanswered. By April this year, the EPA was warning farmworkers about the risks of the pesticide as it reveled the government agency was developing "next steps" to address the risks of Dacthal.

"We must continue to build on this progress and ensure all farmworkers are given the protection, worker's rights, and overtime pay they deserve," said Grijalva.

The EPA says it consulted with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to better understand how growers use DCPA and its likely alternatives to the pesticide.

It was first introduced in 1958 to control weeds in agricultural and non-agricultural settings for crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions, according to an EPA report .

"This emergency decision is a great first step that we hope will be in a series of others that are based on listening to farmworkers, protecting our reproductive health, and safeguarding our families," Mily Treviño Sauceda, executive director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, said.