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HAWAIIAN ILLEGALLY ORDERED WORKER USE OF PESTICIDE
Release Date: 02/03/2000
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2000
HAWAIIAN ILLEGALLY ORDERED WORKER USE OF PESTICIDE
Kap Dong Kim, owner of a ginger root farm in Hilo, Hawaii, was sentenced to four months in prison and a $5,000 fine and was ordered to pay $6,113 in restitution on Jan. 24, in U.S. District Court in Honolulu. Kim previously pleaded guilty to illegally using the restricted use the pesticide nemacur on his ginger root crop in violation of the Federal Pesticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Kim directed workers to apply it on the crop without following required standards for worker protection. One worker was poisoned and had to be hospitalized. Kim then deliberately failed to disclose the pesticide application when questioned by a government official. Civil charges against Kim are also pending. This case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, and was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.R-13 ###
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