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PA MISS. MEN CHARGED WITH WIDESPREAD PESTICIDE MISUSE

Release Date: 11/29/96
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PA MISS. MEN CHARGED WITH WIDESPREAD PESTICIDE MISUSE

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1996

MISSISSIPPI MEN CHARGED WITH WIDESPREAD PESTICIDE MISUSE

On Nov. 25, Paul Walls Sr. and Dock Eatman Sr., both of Moss Point, Miss., were arrested on charges of violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act for the alleged unlicensed commercial application of the pesticides methyl parathion and Ambush, which contains the chemical permethrin. The charges which were filed on Nov. 22 also alleged that the two men unlawfully distributed methyl parathion. The charges state that homes, day care centers, a restaurant and a hotel in the Pascagoula, Miss., area were the sites of the alleged illegal pesticide application in 1995 and 1996. Methyl parathion and Ambush are powerful pesticides which are only approved for outdoor agricultural uses in uninhabited fields. Exposure to methyl parathion can produce convulsions, coma and death. Walls was charged with 45 counts of illegal pesticide application and three counts of illegally distributing methyl parathion. Eatman was charged with 22 counts of illegal pesticide application and one count of illegally distributing methyl parathion. If convicted, Walls can be sentenced to a term of up to 48 years imprisonment and/or fined up to $4.8 million and Eatman can be sentenced to a term of up to 23 years imprisonment and/or fined $2.3 million. A number of homes in the Pascagoula area have been evacuated in a combined federal-state emergency response as a result of the alleged actions of the defendants. This case is being investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI and authorities from the State of Mississippi.

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