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PA CHICAGO MAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL PESTICIDE SALES
Release Date: 09/11/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1998
CHICAGO MAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL PESTICIDE SALES
James E. Allen of Chicago, Ill., was sentenced on Sept. 8, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in Jackson to one year in prison for having conspired with Reuben Brown, also of Chicago, in a scheme that involved the illegal use of the pesticide methyl parathion in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Between 1993 and 1997, Allen used an agricultural use license to purchase methyl parathion in Mississippi and then delivered it to Brown in Chicago where it was illegally applied in homes to kill roaches. Methyl parathion is a highly toxic pesticide which is approved for use only in open, uninhabited fields where exposure to sunlight causes it to decompose. When sprayed in homes, it can remain toxic for up to two years. Exposure to methyl parathion can cause death, coma, nausea, headaches, vomiting, cramps and muscle spasms in humans and domestic animals. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center.
R-118 ###
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