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EPA and Lebanon Seaboard Corp. Resolve Pesticide Labeling Violations

Release Date: 10/15/2007
Contact Information: Donna Heron 215-814-5113

PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 15, 2007) -- Lebanon Seaboard Corp., a maker of lawn and garden care products headquartered in Lebanon, Pa., has resolved 14 violations of the federal law regulating the use of pesticides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited the company for selling and distributing two mislabeled products for controlling weeds.

Lebanon Seaboard will pay a $29,000 fine for violations associated with the labeling and sale of its products Preen Garden Weed Preventer and Preen Garden Weed Preventer Plus Fertilizer. The violations were initially discovered in April 2006 by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) during routine inspections of retail stores. The labeling violations posed no harm to consumers.

NYSDEC discovered that Lebanon had included a sealed booklet over the EPA pesticide registration and establishment numbers on the labels of the two products. Although the booklets contained the correct numbers on an inside page, they were not visible on the booklet cover or the product label as required by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and therefore are deemed to be misbranded products. Any sale or distribution of a misbranded pesticide product is a FIFRA violation.

In May 2006, EPA issued Lebanon a “stop sale” order for these misbranded pesticides, barring the sale or distribution until a sticker containing EPA’s establishment number and product registration number was added to the label.

In 2007, the NYSDEC inspectors found one of the products being sold at two retail stores without bearing a corrected label.

The 14 FIFRA violations include five sales or distributions in 2006 of each of the two misbranded products, two sales in 2007 of one of the products, and two violations of the May 2006 “stop sale” order.

Lebanon has certified that it is currently in compliance with all FIFRA requirements. The company has neither admitted nor denied EPA’s factual allegations.

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