BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 6, 2024
An herbicide used to control weeds on a variety of crops for decades was banned Tuesday under an emergency order by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The risk to unborn babies was too high for the agency to wait, it said. The order to control Dacthal, or dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, is the first action of its kind the EPA has taken in nearly 40 years. Studies found pregnant mothers exposed to the chemical can have children with low birth weight, diminished brain development and IQs, and challenged motor skills from changes in fetal thyroid hormone levels, along with impaired thyroid development.