Pesticides; Emergency Order Suspending the Registrations of All Pesticide Products Containing Dimethyl Tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA)

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is issuing an Emergency Order directing the suspension of all registrations issued under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for pesticide products containing the active ingredient dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA), also marketed under the trade name Dacthal. EPA has determined that continued sale, distribution, or use of DCPA products during the time required to cancel such products would pose an imminent hazard and that an emergency exists that does not permit EPA to hold a hearing before suspending such products. These determinations are based primarily on a risk of thyroid hormone perturbations in the fetuses of female bystanders and workers who apply DCPA or who enter treated fields after application. EPA has concerns that pregnant individuals may be currently exposed to DCPA at levels higher than those that cause fetal thyroid hormone disruption, but at which no thyroid effects would occur in the pregnant individual. The downstream effects of such hormone perturbations in the fetus may include low birth weight and irreversible and life-long impacts to children exposed in-utero, such as impa