Only if your definition of progress is maximal technological advancement at all costs. Prohibiting dangerous chemicals or processes is progress in terms of human living conditions.
historically speaking, it has occasionally been progress by my definition (you can't do much at all if you're crippled by minamata disease, although the chemicals and processes that caused minamata disease weren't prohibited, just done more carefully) but much more often it has been pure superstition (like the european union borax ban), racist paranoia (like the us ban on marijuana), or regulatory capture aimed at preventing market competition and boosting the profits of the currently dominant lobbyists
