The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered an emergency suspension of the pesticide DPCA today, a toxic herbicide commonly used to kill weeds on crops like broccoli, onions, and cabbage. Farmworker organizations applaud the EPA for taking this important step to protect workers and their children.

In April, the agency issued a warning about DCPA’s hazards highlighting the “serious, permanent, and irreversible health risks” that DPCA poses to babies developing in utero. This toxic chemical interferes with fetal thyroid hormone levels, which can cause low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ, and compromised motor skills later in life.

In an assessment completed last year, the EPA found that DCPA poses serious health risks from in utero exposures that cannot be addressed by requiring that applicators wear additional protective clothing or respirators. Pregnant farmworkers are exposed to DPCA at levels 20 times higher than what EPA considers safe. Farmworkers would need to stay out of the fields for 25 days or more after spraying to avoid unsafe exposures. “Spray drift” from application sites into nearby field work sites and communities also poses unacceptable risks to developing babies and pregnant women.

“The EPA’s order will protect farmworker women and girls, who bear the heavy and dangerous burden of pesticide exposure every day. It will spare their children lifelong harm when they are growing food to ensure families around the country have food on their tables,” said Mily Trevino-Sauceda, Executive Director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas.

“Farmworkers should not have to put their children at risk by doing the work needed to grow our food. EPA is taking the right step in immediately stopping use of this pesticide,” said Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers.

“We applaud EPA for taking this important step to protect farmworkers and their children. This pesticide is far too dangerous to be used near residences, schools, and fields where workers are tending crops,” said Anne Katten, CRLA Foundation Pesticide and Work Health and Safety Specialist.