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EPA Judge orders Hing Mau, Inc. to pay penalty for pesticide registration violations

Release Date: 9/3/2003
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, (808) 541-2711

Company to pay $7,920 for unregistered products

     SAN FRANCISCO -- A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrative law judge has ordered a grocery store in the Chinatown area of Honolulu to pay $7,920 for illegally selling and distributing unregistered mothballs.

     The mothballs illegally sold by Hing Mau, Inc. -- Naphthalene No. 108 and Refined Naphthalene Ball -- were not registered with the EPA and did not have approved instruction labels. The mothballs were white or multi-colored and packaged in clear cellophane bags.

     "Children coming across these products in the home could accidentally poison themselves because these mothballs look so much like candy," said Enrique Manzanilla, division director for the EPA Pacific Southwest Region's Cross Media Division. "Without such products going through the proper registration process, we cannot be sure what they contain and whether they are properly packaged and labeled.  These products in particular lacked appropriate packaging, warning statements and directions for use."

     The EPA issued an administrative complaint in September 2001, charging Hing Mau with violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

     When the company decided not to settle the case, an administrative hearing was held in November 2002 before EPA Administrative Law Judge Spencer T. Nissen in San Francisco. In  August 2003, Judge Nissen issued the decision requiring Hing Mau to pay the fine.
 
     The EPA's pesticide regulations require registration and approved labels on all pesticide products before they are sold in the U.S.

     For more information, visit the EPA's websites on pesticide registration at: www.epa.gov/pesticides/regulating/registering/index.htm and on illegal pesticides products at: www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/illegalproducts/
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