EPA pulls Dacthal herbicide from market due to potential harm
Unborn children may experience irreversible health problems due to exposure to Dacthal
A herbicide called Dacthal was ordered immediately taken off the market by the Environmental Protection Agency and has now been recalled because of a danger to unborn children whose pregnant mothers are exposed to it.
The EPA order, issued earlier this month, immediately prohibits any use of the product whatsoever.
“DCPA (Dacthal) is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff in a news release. “It’s EPA’s job to protect people from exposure to dangerous chemicals. In this case, pregnant women who may never even know they were exposed could give birth to babies that experience irreversible lifelong health problems. That’s why for the first time in almost 40 years, EPA is using its emergency suspension authority to stop the use of a pesticide.”
The EPA said unborn children could “experience changes to fetal thyroid hormone levels, and these changes are generally linked to low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ, and impaired motor skills later in life, some of which may be irreversible,” according to the EPA.
Dacthal is used to control annual grasses and broadleaf weeds before they emerge in a variety of agricultural root vegetables, fruiting vegetables, strawberry, sod and nursery ornamental production. Non-agricultural uses include non-residential grass/turf including golf courses and athletic fields, said the EPA.
Pregnant mothers could come into contact with the herbicide without knowing it, according to the EPA. It can remain hazardous up to 40 days after application.
An update from the Colorado Department of Agriculture issued Friday outlines how the return of products must take place.
“Anyone who has Dacthal (DCPA) in their possession should contact the retailer it was purchased from and coordinate the return of the product immediately as part of this recall,” said John Scott, Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Pesticides Program Section Chief in a release.
The EPA order prohibits the use or transport of the products for any reason other than to return it to an authorized retailer for disposal.
