United States: For the first time in forty years, the US Environmental Protection Agency has started the procedure of an emergency ban on a pesticide that results in irreversible damage to fetuses when exposed to it while still in utero.
More about the news
The pesticide called dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, Dacthal, or DCPA, has been found to affect pregnant women in a way that causes them to give birth to babies with low weight.
Later in life, these babies exhibit poor cognitive abilities, such as poor IQ and problems with their brains and motor skills.
According to Michal Freedhoff, an assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, “DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” USA Today reported.
An EPA report states that the pesticide was registered in 1958 for weed management in agricultural and nonagricultural crops, especially broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, and onions.
Yasmin, pregnant women may not have known they were exposed in many cases, according to health expert Chris Freedhoff.
The emergency action has been necessitated by the fact that the only producer of the pesticide, AMVAC Chemical Corporation, was found to have supplied limited information on DCPA and its effects on users’ health.
Upon reaching out to the company through USA TODAY for comments, the company did not respond in a commendably short time.
What have the studies shown?
Studies on the effect of this pesticide show that it can harm the thyroid, though the EPA only became aware of this in the 1990s, as noted by the advocacy organization the Environmental Working Group.
By then, the agency had indicated that 80 percent of the DCPA usage was on turf grass, golf courses, or private lawns.
In 2023, the EPA produced an assessment of the pesticide, during which it came to their attention that there is indeed a relationship between health hazards, especially to women with pregnant tumors.
However, the individuals exposed to the chemical were using personal protective gear. Pregnant women may have been exposed to levels of DCPPA up to 20 times greater than what the EPA assumes is safe to expose a fetus, the agency stated.
The manufacturer AMVAC has proposed changes, for which the EPA stated that these changes did not “adequately address” the serious dangers to health for those working with and around DCPA.
According to Mily Treviño Sauceda, executive director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, an organization representing women farmworkers, the group is glad to perceive the EPA in making such an important decision as a “great first step” to protecting farmworkers, according to USA Today.
Additionally, Sylvia Wu, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety who has been advocating for the EPA to prevent the use of DCPA, said, “EPA knew that DCPA was harming farmworkers and their children, and we’re glad that EPA recognized that that harm to this population group required immediate suspension or removal of this toxic pesticide,”