[4][6] The ingredient was discovered by Air Products and Chemicals, but was registered by Elanco in the United States in 1974, and later sold to Dow AgroSciences.

[8] In 2010, tebuthiuron in the form of Dow AgroSciences Spike 80DF was deliberately used in an act of vandalism to poison the live oak trees at Toomer's Corner on the Auburn University campus following the 2010 Iron Bowl.

[6][9] The lone perpetrator, a University of Alabama fan, was charged with first-degree criminal mischief and was placed in jail on a $50,000 bond.

In 2021, Arthur and Amelia Bond, wealthy summer residents of Camden, Maine poisoned their neighbor's oak trees with tebuthiuron in order to obtain a better view of Camden Harbor.

They paid over $200 thousand in fines to address illegal pesticide use and environmental contamination, and $1.5 million to settle with their neighbor.