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EPA Fines Insecticide Manufacturer $26,400 for Faulty Packaging

Release Date: 10/3/2002
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA Press Office, 415/947-4306

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined Syngenta Crop Protection of Greensboro, N.C. $26,400 today for selling damaged containers of an agricultural insecticide and miticide called Supracide to California farmers in 1999.

     Supracide is a restricted-use insecticide sold in water soluble bags designed to reduce the user's exposure to the product when it is mixed.  Instead of finding a complete water soluble bag, users were finding torn or dissolved water soluble bags that could have exposed them to unhealthy levels of pesticides.

     "Companies need to ensure that their product meets registration standards when it reaches the consumer," said Enrique Manzanilla, director of the EPA's Cross Media Division in San Francisco.  "We want to ensure that these products do not threaten human health and the environment when properly used."

     As a result of the California Department of Pesticide's investigation and the U.S. EPA's enforcement action, Syngenta recalled Supracide to ensure that all product has intact water soluble bags.  As an extra precaution, future Supracide product will be shipped in foil bags inside of the Supracide container.

     Today's announcement settles an investigation that began in 1999, when a number of California growers notified the California Department of Pesticide Regulation that the Supracide was damaged when the container was opened.  Roughly 95 percent of the illegal sales were made to California farmers.  Supracide is used on almonds, artichokes, cotton, deciduous fruit, citrus fruit, olives, safflowers and walnuts.