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PA MISSISSIPPI WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO PESTICIDE CHARGES
Release Date: 04/17/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1998
MISSISSIPPI WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO PESTICIDE CHARGES
On April 8, Margaret Stewart of Clarksdale, Miss., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in Oxford to one count of violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act by illegally selling the pesticide Endosulfan in a container that was not properly marked. Endosulfan is an organophosphate pesticide which is highly toxic to the nervous system. Exposure to it can cause headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, tremors, convulsions, coma and death from respiratory arrest. When Endosulfan is mixed with water it turns a milky white color. Minnie Lou Rudd of Batesville, Miss., died after she mistakenly drank a mixture of endosulfan and water that was purchased from Stewart in a milk container. When sentenced, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI and the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce.
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