Home Health & Safety EPA emergency order to halt use of hazardous pesticide

EPA emergency order to halt use of hazardous pesticide

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EPA emergency order to halt use of hazardous pesticide

Washington — Citing well being dangers to employees and unborn kids, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken motion – efficient instantly – to discontinue the use of the weed-control pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate.

An emergency order issued Aug. 6 suspends all registrations of the pesticide – also called DCPA or dacthal – beneath the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act of 1947. The transfer is the primary of its variety in nearly 40 years, after “several years of unprecedented efforts by the Biden-Harris administration to require submission of long-overdue data” associated to the pesticide, an company press launch states.

“DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator of the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, stated within the launch.

DCPA is utilized as a weed killer in agricultural and nonagricultural environments and is often used round broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions.

EPA cautions that pregnant girls uncovered to DCPA, even unknowingly, might expertise a damaging affect on fetal thyroid hormone ranges. This might set off probably irreversible results equivalent to low beginning weight, impaired mind growth and motor abilities, and decreased IQ.

A May 2023 company threat evaluation discovered a number of well being dangers related to DCPA use and software, “even when personal protective equipment and engineering controls are used,” the discharge states. Additionally, EPA estimates that pregnant girls dealing with DCPA merchandise could possibly be uncovered to ranges 4 to 20 occasions better than what’s thought-about protected for unborn kids.

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