Six New England companies settle with EPA for pesticide violations

Six companies based in New England that produce pesticide products recently agreed to pay a total of more than $34,000 to settle claims by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that they failed to properly submit annual production reports to the agency, as required by federal law.

The law that governs pesticide use in the U.S., the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), requires pesticide manufacturers to submit annual production reports to EPA. According to the settlements filed by EPA’s New England office, each of the six companies has failed on at least one previous occasion to properly submit this information.

The companies and what they paid to settle include:

• The Old Mill Troy, Inc. of North Troy, Vermont paid $9,720;
• EFD International, Inc. d/b/a Specialty Products of East Providence, R.I. paid $4,455;
• Harrison Specialty Company of Canton, Mass. paid $9,720;
• Creative Chemicals Inc. of Holyoke, Mass. paid $9,720;
• Traveler’s Supply Inc. of Chicopee, Mass. paid $990; and
• FCS-Chemsupply Inc., d/b/a Chemstation-Boston of Weymouth, Mass./ who received no penalty in exchange for cancelling its establishment registration and agreeing not to produce any pesticides or pesticide devices, or seek re-registration under FIFRA for at least five years.

The companies have addressed all violations and have paid their fines. Penalties were based on several factors including the type of violation and size of the business.

This federal pesticide law requires that any company registered as a pesticide producer submit annual production reports to EPA on or before March 1. These reports are the only means that EPA has for obtaining information on the types and amounts of pesticides being produced, sold or distributed both domestically and for export. EPA uses the information to trace ineffective, contaminated or recalled pesticide products, among other purposes.

Pesticides include insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, antimicrobials and other substances and pest control devices used to control insects, weeds or microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.