August, 06 2024, 02:58pm EDT

EPA emergency order immediately suspends all uses of highly toxic weedkiller DCPA, sold under brand name Dacthal
Today the Environmental Protection Agency announced an emergency order immediately suspending all uses of the highly toxic weedkiller sold under the brand name Dacthal due to its significant health risks – particularly for farmworkers and pregnant people.
Also known as DCPA, dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate and chlorthal-dimethyl, the herbicide was banned in the European Union in 2009, and the EPA has long known of its potential harm to people.
“The EPA’s decision to finally suspend DCPA is welcome news, but it’s long overdue,” said Environmental Working Group Senior Toxicologist Alexis Temkin, Ph.D. “For years, EWG and other public health advocates have warned about the serious risks the weedkiller poses to farmworkers, pregnant people and other vulnerable populations.”
– nearly 30 years ago – the agency classified DCPA as a “possible carcinogen.”. That decision was based on a study conducted by Dacthal’s manufacturer in 1993, which showed it caused thyroid tumors in animals, suggesting similar potential threats to people.
In 2013, the EPA required AMVAC, the sole DCPA manufacturer in the U.S., to submit an additional study showing the chemical’s effects on the fetal thyroid among other information.
AMVAC’s research, finally submitted to the EPA in 2022, showed even low doses of DCPA exposure can harm the developing fetus.
During the nearly 10 years before it finally complied with the EPA’s requirement, the company continued producing and selling Dacthal.
And AMVAC didn’t submit other data requested. So in August 2023, the agency suspended use of the pesticide, a de facto temporary ban.
Yet three months later the EPA lifted that suspension
, once again allowing Dachtal’s use – until today.
The EPA’s emergency order immediately halts all uses of the herbicide.
Permanently banning DCPA
The new suspension means DCPA is banned even while the EPA begins the cancellation process for the pesticide, which will lead to a permanent ban of DCPA.
It is the first time in nearly 40 years the EPA has exercised its emergency authority to suspend the use of a pesticide to “prevent imminent hazard.”
This means the EPA believes continued use of the pesticide while the lengthy cancellation process plays out would cause harm to people, and that no mitigation measures would be adequate to protect people.
DCPA has been in use in this country since the late 1950s. These days, it can be found on vegetables like cilantro, kale, mustard greens, broccoli and green onions. That’s because, after it’s used to kill weeds, the chemical can linger in the soil for long periods of time, contaminating crops later grown in those fields.
EWG research published in 2019 identified DCPA on nearly 60 percent of kale samples tested by the Department of Agriculture. The USDA also found the pesticide on many collard and mustard green samples.
DCPA’s toxic effects on people
The EPA identified DCPA’s ability to harm the thyroid in the 1990s,
based on studies submitted by the pesticide manufacturer. According to a 2011 agency document, a 2004 human health risk assessment identified the need to understand how DCPA harms the thyroid in the developing fetus.
by EWG scientists identified DCPA as a pesticide of concern, due to its toxicity and capacity to harm the thyroid and its classification as a possible cause of cancer.
Other EWG research found that, even though the EPA had evidence of DCPA’s health risks, up to 200,000 pounds of the chemical were sprayed during some years in California – even as the agency delayed action.
led by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health found that more than half of adolescent girls from farmworker communities in the Salinas Valley had been exposed to DCPA.
Since 2019, EWG has warned about DCPA's risks to human health, calling on the EPA to ban it in 2021 public comments and again in official comments to the agency in July 2023.
“Countless people have been exposed to DCPA while the EPA abdicated its responsibility,” said Temkin. “The agency should have taken action decades ago, when it first identified the human health risks posed by this toxic crop chemical.”
The Environmental Working Group is a community 30 million strong, working to protect our environmental health by changing industry standards.
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Trump Bid to Block $4.9 Billion With 'Pocket Rescission' Blasted as 'Authoritarianism 101'
"Congress—and only Congress—passes budgets. Because the president's job is to take care the laws are faithfully executed, he must spend the money as directed," said Rep. Jamie Raskin, a constitutional scholar.
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Democracy defenders and members of Congress are condemning US President Donald Trump's effort to use a "pocket rescission" process to block $4.9 billion in foreign aid as authoritarian and illegal.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday shared on social media Trump's letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) about the move. According to a White House fact sheet linked in a subsequent post, much of the money was headed for the US Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which Trump has gutted.
As The Associated Press explained:
The 1974 Impoundment Control Act gives the president the authority to propose canceling funds approved by Congress. Congress can within 45 days vote on pulling back the funds or sustaining them, but by proposing the rescission so close to September 30 the White House argues that the money won’t be spent and the funding lapses.
What was essentially the last pocket rescission occurred in 1977 by Democratic then-President Jimmy Carter, and the Trump administration argues it's a legally permissible tool despite some murkiness as Carter had initially proposed the clawback well ahead of the 45-day deadline.
Shortly after the OMB social media posts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that OMB Director Russ Vought was helping shutter USAID, writing on the platform X: "Since January, we've saved the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. And with a small set of core programs moved over to the State Department, USAID is officially in closeout mode. Russ is now at the helm to oversee the closeout of an agency that long ago went off the rails. Congrats, Russ."
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Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) also put pressure on GOP lawmakers, saying that "this is wrong—and illegal. Not only is Trump gutting $5 billion in foreign aid that saves lives and advances America's interests, but he's doing so using an unlawful 'pocket recission' method that undermines Congress' power of the purse. I urge my Republican colleagues to say hell no."
While most Republicans on Capitol Hill have backed Trump's endeavors to claw back funding previously appropriated by Congress, GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted against his $9 billion rescission package earlier this year.
Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also spoke out against Trump's new move, noting in a Friday statement that under the US Constitution, Congress has "the power of the purse," and the Government Accountability Office "has concluded that this type of rescission is unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act."
Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a constitutional scholar, similarly stressed that "Congress—and only Congress—passes budgets. Because the president's job is to take care the laws are faithfully executed, he must spend the money as directed. Trump's 'pocket recissions' are lawless and absurd. If a president opposes legislative spending decisions, he can veto them, subject to override, but once passed, he must execute on them."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, declared in a Friday statement that with the pocket rescission move, the Trump administration "demonstrated yet again its contempt for Congress' power of the purse and the Constitution's separation of powers."
"With this Constitution-mocking action, the administration is bringing us closer to a shutdown on September 30, and it doesn't seem to care," Gilbert said. "We call on Congress to push back, pass and abide by appropriations packages, and fight the administration’s illegal impoundments that harm regular Americans."
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Trump is the first president to impose tariffs by citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977. In a 7-4 ruling, the appellate court's majority found that most of his tariffs are illegal.
The court said that "tariffs are a core congressional power" and "we discern no clear congressional authorization by IEEPA for tariffs of the magnitude of the reciprocal tariffs and trafficking tariffs."
The decision affirms a May ruling from the US Court of International Trade, which also found that Trump exceeded his authority.
Friday's ruling is paused until October 14, to give the White House time to appeal to the nation's highest court. Trump suggested he would do so in a post on his Truth Social platform, writing:
ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end. If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong. The U.S.A. will no longer tolerate enormous Trade Deficits and unfair Tariffs and Non Tariff Trade Barriers imposed by other Countries, friend or foe, that undermine our Manufacturers, Farmers, and everyone else. If allowed to stand, this Decision would literally destroy the United States of America. At the start of this Labor Day weekend, we should all remember that TARIFFS are the best tool to help our Workers, and support Companies that produce great MADE IN AMERICA products. For many years, Tariffs were allowed to be used against us by our uncaring and unwise Politicians. Now, with the help of the United States Supreme Court, we will use them to the benefit of our Nation, and Make America Rich, Strong, and Powerful Again! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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Trump's latest legal loss on the tariff front follows various analyses and polling that show the harm his policies are causing. One Accountable.US report from this month highlights comments from grocery executives about passing costs on to consumers, and a recent survey found that 90% of Americans consider the price of groceries a source of stress.
Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee also released a related report earlier this month. As JEC Ranking Member Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) said at the time, "While President Trump promised that he would expand our manufacturing sector, this report shows that, instead, the chaos and uncertainty created by his tariffs has placed a burden on American manufacturers that could weigh our country down for years to come."
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The Trump administration said Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio "is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority" ahead of next month's United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The US State Department said Friday that "the Trump administration has been clear: It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace."
"Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism—including the October 7 massacre—and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by US law and as promised by the PLO," the statement continues.
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"The PA must also end its attempts to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns, including appeals to the [International Criminal Court] and [International Court of Justice], and efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state," the State Department added. "Both steps materially contributed to Hamas' refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks."
The ICC last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including murder and the forced starvation of Palestinians that is driving a famine that has killed at least hundreds of Palestinians and is starving hundreds of thousands more. The ICJ is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa—not the PA.
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Approximately 150 of the UN's 193 member states have officially recognized Palestine. Since October 2023, countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and Spain have either recognized Palestine or announced their intent to do so.
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