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U.S. EPA fines pesticide importer $13,000

Release Date: 5/25/2004
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, 213/452-3378

Firm imported pesticide through Port of Long Beach lacking proper registration

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently fined Nichino America, Inc. $13,000 for allegedly attempting to import an unregistered and misbranded pesticide into the Port of Long Beach, Calif.

Nichino America, Inc. is based in Wilmington, Del. In March, the firm allegedly imported a product called Fenpyroximate Technical from Japan without the proper registration from the EPA.

Federal law requires that before importing a pesticide in the United States, companies must register the pesticide with the EPA. Before registering pesticides, the EPA must first ensure that when used according to label directions, the product can be used with a reasonable certainty of no harm to human health and without posing unreasonable risks to the environment.

Any firm that intends to sell imported pesticides within the United States must register its product with the EPA,” said Enrique Manzanilla, director of the Cross Media Division in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office. “We need to know about a product so that we can determine whether it will pose unreasonable risks to people or to the environment.

The agency also ensures that pesticide labels provide consumers with the information they need to use the products safely. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act allows for penalties of up to $6,500 per violation.