June, 01 2023, 04:21pm EDT
For Immediate Release
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Biden EPA moves closer to total ban of toxic weedkiller DCPA
‘Most serious risk to fetuses of pregnant individuals,’ warns agency, releasing health assessment now because ban may take years
The Environmental Protection Agency this week released part of its health assessment
showing the weedkiller DCPA, sold under the brand Dacthal and widely used on U.S. food for decades, poses serious risks to humans, particularly those who are pregnant.
The EPA identified concerns about DCPA in its assessment of occupational and residential exposure. As a result, now the agency is considering banning all uses of the herbicide, which is used on produce and on turf for golf courses and athletic fields. The assessment refers to a new study showing DCPA can harm the developing fetus in animals exposed at very low doses, the same levels agricultural workers can be exposed to.
The EPA says it is releasing the health assessment now to inform the public about the potential risks of DCPA, because banning the chemical’s use on produce could take many years.
“We applaud the EPA for informing the public that this dangerous pesticide is in food and water and is highly toxic, in case people want to take steps to avoid exposure, since regulation could take years,” said Ken Cook, president and co-founder of EWG.
EWG’s 2022 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™, which relies on pesticide tests conducted by the Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Data Program, found DCPA widespread on kale, collards and mustard greens. EWG’s own tests confirmed this data.
by EWG scientists identified DCPA as a pesticide of concern due to its toxicity and harm to the thyroid and its classification as a possible cause of cancer. According to EWG’s analysis, about 15,000 pounds were applied each year on farm fields in Ventura County, Calif., between 2016 and 2018. Farmworkers, their families and other residents are at risk as a result.
“By now the American public should assume that just because a pesticide is legal doesn’t mean it is safe. DCPA is the most recent in a very long line of examples,” said Cook.
Potential for ‘serious’ health risks
DCPA was first registered in the U.S. in 1958 for use on turf. It has been used on dozens of food crops, and its breakdown products have contaminated groundwater across the country.
In 1995, the EPA said DCPA might cause cancer in humans,
, and in 2009 it was banned by the European Union. EWG has urged the Biden administration to ban the herbicide.
The new EPA health assessment comes after repeated attempts over the past decade to get DCPA’s manufacturer, agrochemical giant AMVAC, to prove the weedkiller does not pose a risk to human health. The company ignored those requests while continuing to press the agency to allow the chemical to be used on non-organic produce.
“Given the potential for serious, permanent, and irreversible health risks, EPA is considering whether feasible mitigation measures exist that would address these potential risks or whether canceling the registration of all products containing DCPA is necessary,” says the assessment.
“Given the potential that cancellation of this pesticide
could take several years to complete, EPA is releasing this assessment in order to provide the public with timely information about its risks,” the EPA says.
DCPA can drift from the fields where it is sprayed and is regularly detected in dust samples from the homes of farmworkers and those living in agricultural areas. A 2021 study
found an association between DCPA in dust samples and increased risk of childhood leukemia.
More than 50 percent of adolescent girls from farmworker communities in the Salinas Valley were found to have been exposed to DCPA in a 2019 study
led by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health.
"The EPA has begun to take significant steps toward protecting the most vulnerable populations from this highly toxic weedkiller,” said Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., senior toxicologist at EWG.
“Yet the new data showing the risks linked to DCPA exposure during pregnancy require immediate action to stop exposure to this harmful crop chemical,” Temkin said.
LATEST NEWS
'Fragile Political Moment' Is No Time to Silence Concerns Over Biden, Progressives Say
"The greatest consequence of this event may turn out to be fence-sitting Democratic electeds using it as an excuse to avoid a decision on Biden," said one observer.
Jul 14, 2024
Progressives on Sunday pushed back against calls from "top Democratic sources," via CBS News, who said the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump demanded that those pushing to replace President Joe Biden in the presidential race "stand down."
Sources within the Democratic Party, said CBS News correspondent Robert Costa, "believe that those Democrats who have concerns about President Biden are now standing down politically [and] will back President Biden because of this fragile political moment."
"All of that talk about the debate faded almost instantly" after one person was killed and a bullet grazed Trump's right ear at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, according to Costa.
Biden and his allies have vehemently pushed back against calls for him to step aside from lawmakers and commentators following the first presidential debate in which he struggled to deliver a coherent message about his plans for a second term and the threat posed by Trump.
Trump has led Biden in polls for months, and the debate late last month led to calls from Democrats including Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont and 19 House members for Biden to allow another Democrat—such as Vice President Kamala Harris or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer—to run in his place.
"The greatest consequence of this event may turn out to be fence-sitting Dem electeds using it as an excuse to avoid a decision on Biden," said author and podcast host Max Fisher. "Probably the single best thing that could happen to Trump just happened."
Progressive organizer and former U.S. House candidate Aaron Regunberg said he was not convinced that Trump's chances of winning the election would necessarily be "massively helped by having a registered Republican almost shoot him," referring to suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The rally shooting, however—now indelibly associated with an image of Trump raising his fist before being whisked off stage by Secret Service agents—will likely emphasize the former president's claims to "strength and toughness," said Regunberg. "Democrats desperately need a nominee who can similarly demonstrate strength."
With Republican allies of Trump increasingly embracing "violent, authoritarian rhetoric," he added, it is "more urgent—not less—for Democrats to have a real conversation about whether our current nominee is on course to hand Trump a governing trifecta."
With Trump allies including Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) openly accusing Biden of fanning the flames that led to the shooting by speaking out against the former president's anti-democratic agenda, progressive political commentary magazine Current Affairs said the assassination attempt may have "emboldened Trump and his base while Biden remains historically unpopular."
Progressive commentators including Mehdi Hasan applauded Democratic elected officials for displaying "what normal people say and do at times like this" in contrast with Trump and other Republicans' response to violence directed at Democrats such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) husband Paul Pelosi in 2022.
Last year, Trump drew laughter at an event where he asked a crowd of supporters, "How's [Pelosi's] husband doing by the way? Does anyone know?" His son, Donald Trump Jr., spread conspiracy theories about the attack just days after it happened, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was among those who mocked Pelosi shortly after he was injured.
But critics cautioned Biden and the Democrats not to conflate a cruel response to the violence directed at Trump with legitimate attacks on the former president's authoritarian aspirations.
In the eyes of some voters, said University of Washington professor Sasha Senderovich, "The candidate who has to prove he's not senile every day is now running against a fucking superhero whom one is no longer allowed to call fascist because 'inflammatory rhetoric.'"
Financial Times columnist Edward Luce warned that "almost any criticism of Trump is already being spun by MAGA as an incitement to assassinate him. This is an Orwellian attempt to silence what remains of the effort to stop him from regaining power."
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Progressives Condemn GOP Attempts to Blame Biden for Trump Rally Shooting
"This stuff is basically cooked up in a lab to incite further violence," said one critic of comments made by Sen. J.D. Vance, Rep. Mike Collins, and other allies of Trump.
Jul 14, 2024
As federal law enforcement officials launched a full investigation into the shooting at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, journalists and political observers expressed fear that the act of violence would ramp up political division and turmoil in the United States ahead of the November elections.
Boston Globe reporter James Pindell was among the journalists at the rally who shared that Trump supporters "turned on the media"—a frequent target of Trump during his presidency—after the shooting.
"The crowd was angry," he wrote. "Middle fingers were everywhere. They asked the press if they were happy and blamed the media. 'You did this,' they said to reporters."
Allies of Trump including Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), and former White House adviser Stephen Miller immediately placed blame with President Joe Biden, claiming the attack was the result of warnings that electing the former president to a second term would threaten democracy.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) denounced Collins' claim that Biden "sent the orders," calling it "a continuation of the bullshit rhetoric that drives political violence."
"A likely assassination attempt and gun violence on Trump is awful on many levels," said Pocan. "Adding jet fuel to the political climate is unbecoming of a member of Congress."
Trump, who spread baseless lies that the 2020 election was rigged against him and urged his supporters to riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 as Congress was certifying the results, has said he would act as a dictator on "day one" of his potential presidency.
Dozens of people who worked in his administration helped to write Project 2025, a far-right political agenda aimed at consolidating power with the president and dismantling parts of the federal government, and he has named political opponents he aims to prosecute and pledged to deploy the military to stop political protests.
"One response to Trump's attempted shooting (apparently by a registered Republican) we must NOT take is to stop framing the existential nature of this election," said political organizer Aaron Regunberg. "The problem isn't Democrats saying Trump is attacking our democracy—the problem is that he's attacking our democracy."
One audience member was killed and two were seriously injured after the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, fired several shots from a rooftop near Butler Farm Show, where the rally was held.
Trump was escorted off the stage after a bullet "pierced the upper part of his right ear," The New York Timesreported. The Secret Service reported that Crooks had been killed after firing his weapon, and that officials found an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle near his body.
Authorities did not identify a motive for the shooting.
Crooks was registered as a Republican in his hometown; records also showed that someone named Thomas Crooks donated $15 to a liberal voter turnout campaign called the Progressive Turnout Project in January 2021.
"This remains an active and ongoing investigation," said the FBI in a statement Sunday, as law enforcement agents closed down all roads leading to the home of the suspect's family in Bethel Park in the Pittsburgh area.
David Hogg, who survived the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting and co-founded March for Our Lives, said the gunman's ability to fire at the president and kill an audience member while in the presence of Secret Service agents and police is the latest proof that people across the U.S. are vulnerable to gun violence due to a lack of strict gun control laws, which Republican lawmakers have long refused to pass.
"What happened today is unacceptable and what happens every day to kids who aren't the president and don't survive isn't either," said Hogg. "It's insane we have such a major problem with gun violence in America that no one—not even a presidential candidate—is safe."
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Trump Bloodied But 'Fine' After Assassination Attempt
"Political violence is absolutely unacceptable," said Sen. Bernie Sanders after the shooting in which one campaign attendee was killed and the alleged gunman was shot and killed by law enforcement.
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This remains a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
Update (9:45 pm):
President Joe Biden spoke on Saturday evening about the shooting at former President Donald Trump's campaign rally, saying the attack, like all political violence, was "sick" and "one of the reasons we have to unite this country."
"We cannot condone this," said Biden. "The bottom line is, the Trump rally was a rally that should have been able to be conducted peacefully without any problem... Everybody must condemn it."
When asked if he believed the shooting was an assassination attempt, Biden said, "I have an opinion, but I don't have any facts."
Associated Press reporter Seung Min Kim said on social media on Saturday night that law enforcement agents had recovered "an AR-style rifle" at the scene. Later police identified the gunman killed at the scene as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Cooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a town about 35 miles from where the events in Butler took place.
Earlier:
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was reportedly in "fine" condition after being wounded in an apparent assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The former president appeared to be bleeding from near his ear as he was hurried off stage after a series of pops that sounded like gunshots were heard at the event. The Secret Service then brought him to his motorcade.
A spokesperson for Trump, Steven Cheung, said in a statement that the former president was being examined at a local medical facility.
Richard Goldinger, district attorney for Butler County, Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press that the suspected gunman was dead and that at least one rallygoer had been killed.
The apparent shooting happened just minutes into the campaign event, where Trump had been talking about border crossings and immigration just before the shots rang out.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident at about 7:15 pm.
Police cordoned off a section of the bleachers at the rally after the apparent shooting, and the New York Times reported that the Secret Service began "kicking out the press and declaring it a crime scene."
Shortly after the incident, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle issued statements condemning the apparent act of violence against a presidential candidate.
"Violence has NO place in our democracy," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a surrogate of the Biden campaign. "My thoughts are with President Trump and everyone impacted at the rally today."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the attack "absolutely unacceptable."
"I am absolutely appalled by the gunshots fired at Donald Trump," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). "Violence is never acceptable in our democracy. I pray he was not seriously hurt and for our deeply divided nation."
Federal agencies including the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were mobilizing Saturday evening to assist the Secret Service in responding to the incident.
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