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EPA fines garden store for selling cancelled pesticide product

Release Date: 07/23/2007
Contact Information: Margot Perez-Sullivan, 415/947-4149, [email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today fined an Ely, Nev. garden store $14,000 for allegedly offering for sale cancelled insecticides, a violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

Perfect Expressions, a garden center owned by Reed Inc., was offering for sale Green Light Dursban Granules, Ortho Dursban Lawn Insect Spray, and Ortho Dursban. The pesticides contain the active ingredient chlorpyrifos, which was canceled by the EPA for nearly all home uses because children might be harmed by exposure to the chemical. The Nevada Department of Agriculture discovered the violations during an inspection in 2006.

“When EPA cancelled the registration of these pesticides due to concerns about children's exposure, the cancellation notice stated when retail sales had to stop” said Katherine Taylor, associate director of the Community and Ecosystems Division for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “Companies are required to keep themselves informed about pesticide cancellations, and promptly remove cancelled pesticides from their shelves.”

Retail sales of most residential-use chlorpyrifos pesticides were prohibited Dec. 31, 2001. Consumers may still legally use remaining stocks of chlorpyrifos products, provided that they follow all label directions and precautions. Use of these products according to label directions does not pose an immediate hazard. Consumers who choose to use these products or any pesticide should always read and follow label precautions and directions. Consumers may contact their local solid waste agency for disposal information.

There are a number of free on-line databases where registration status of pesticides can be checked.

For more information, please visit: http://ppis.ceris.purdue.edu/ or http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Index.html

For more information on pesticide regulation and enforcement, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/