or the first time in nearly four decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday issued an to stop the use of a pesticide linked to serious health risks for fetuses.
The pesticide, dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal), is currently undergoing review as part of a process where registered pesticides get reevaluated every 15 years to ensure that they don’t have any adverse effects on human health or the environment. The emergency order comes after several years of “unprecedented efforts” by the Biden-Harris Administration to get the sole manufacturer of DCPA, AMVAC Chemical Corporation, to submit data on the pesticide and its health risks, the EPA said in a . Here’s everything you need to know.
DCPA is used to control weeds on crops like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and onions. Part of the risk of the pesticide is that pregnant people may be unknowingly exposed to it, according to the EPA. The EPA said that when pregnant people are exposed to DCPA, their fetuses could experience changes to their thyroid hormone levels.
Those changes are associated with low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ, and impaired motor skills later in life—some of which could be irreversible. “DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” Michal Freedhoff, the EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in the agency’s press release. “It’s EPA.