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EPA FINES BRISBANE JANITORIAL SUPPLY COMPANY $130,000

Release Date: 2/20/2002
Contact Information: Leo Kay, Press Office, 415/947-4306

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency fined a Brisbane-Calif. janitorial supply company $130,000 last week for failing to properly register commercial disinfectants it was selling, a violation of federal pesticide law.

     The EPA cited Easterday Janitorial Supply's facility on South Hill Drive after the company continued to sell and distribute three disinfectants which are considered pesticides under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act 10 years after their product registration had been cancelled.  American Building Maintenance (ABM) Supply Company, formerly Easterday, will pay the penalty for the violations involving products SK-32, SK-45 and MP-45.

     "When companies distribute and sell unregistered products, consumers lack pertinent safety information on the potential hazards associated with using these products," said Enrique Manzanilla, director of the EPA's Cross Media Division in San Francisco.  "This fine should send a message to others in the business that EPA is on the beat when it comes to pesticide registration and labeling requirements."

     EPA and California Department of Pesticide Regulation investigators discovered the violations during inspections at Easterday facilities in Brisbane, San Francisco and Carson, Calif. in March of 1999.

     ABM, headquartered in San Francisco, manufactures and sells commercial janitorial disinfectants.  The company has been in business since 1920 and has numerous facilities throughout the state.