The Environmental Protection Agency this week has issued an emergency order to stop the use of a pesticide that can harm fetuses.
It is the first time in 40 years that the EPA has issued an emergency stop like this.
The order was issued on Tuesday and prevents the use of dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate.
The chemical is also known as DCPA and is used on crops like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions, The Washington Post reported.
According to the EPA, “DCPA is a pre-emergent herbicide used to control annual grasses and broadleaf weeds on ornamental turf and plants, strawberries, seeded and transplanted vegetables, cotton, and field beans.”
It “may be applied at planting, transplant, post-emergence, or posttransplant as a soil treatment. It also may be applied as a foliar broadcast treatment or at layby. It can be applied with either ground or aerial equipment.”
“DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” the assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention said, according to the Post.
If a pregnant farmworker or others are exposed to DCPA, the fetal thyroid hormone levels could be affected and could cause low birth weight, brain development issues, lower IQ and impaired motor skills.
DCPA has been used in the U.S. since the 1950s. Once it is used, it can stay in the soil and contaminate crops.
It was found on 6 of 10 kale samples that the Department of Agriculture tested in 2017, the Post reported.
This isn’t the first time DCPA has been banned. The European Union took similar measures in 2009, The New York Times reported.
Only one company makes DCPA, AMVAC Chemical, selling it under the name Dacthal, but it would not provide information on the effects the pesticide has on thyroid development until last November.
AMVAC pulled the product for use on turf to reduce risks to athletes and workers who maintain sports fields, but the EPA told the company it wasn’t enough, that the move did not protect farmworkers and others exposed to it.
The company did not respond to requests from The Washington Post or The New York Times.
A representative from Griffin Ranches, a farm that grows products that DCPA is used on, said in 2022 that the chemical is “an essential tool for controlling yield-robbing grasses and broadleaf weeds,” the Times reported. The ranch opposed banning DCPA, saying, “the alternative would be hand-weeding, which would entail bringing on additional labor.”
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