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U.S. EPA settles with agribusiness firm for $15,600 for failing to report pesticides produced in India and Switzerland

Release Date: 09/20/2006
Contact Information: Mark Merchant, 415-947-4297

(09/20/06 -) LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has settled with Syngenta Crop Protection of Greensboro, N.C., for allegedly failing to report the production of two pesticides that were produced abroad and later shipped to the U.S. through the Port of Los Angeles.

The violations were discovered during an EPA review of the company’s pesticide production and importation records. The records showed that from 2004 to 2005, two of Syngenta’s foreign establishments shipped the pesticides cyproconazole and thiamethoxam to the United States via the Port of Los Angeles. Syngenta failed to report this production, which is a violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

"Like all U.S. companies, foreign establishments that produce pesticides for importation to this country must report their annual pesticide production to the EPA,” said Enrique Manzanilla, director of the EPA’s Communities and Ecosystems Division for the Pacific Southwest Region. “Because pesticides can cause serious health effects, the EPA needs to know what types of products are coming into the U.S. marketplace.”

The EPA tracks pesticide importation through annual pesticide production reports and import notices. The Syngenta establishments, which were based in Switzerland and India, failed to account for these imports in their 2004 and 2005 pesticide production reports.

For more information, visit: https://www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/fifra/