EPA Cites Buffalo Company for Pesticide Violations.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 1997--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has cited Safetec of America Inc. for selling and distributing cleaning wipes and solutions that contain disinfectant pesticides that are not registered by EPA. The company marketed the wipes and solutions with claims that they decontaminate and kill a broad spectrum of microbial pathogens. Under federal pesticide law, any company that sells or distributes a product making such a claim must register that product with EPA. The Agency has proposed a $230,500 penalty for the violations, the largest ever levied in EPA Region 2 and one of the largest in the country for a violation of the pesticide law.

"It's important that disinfectants containing pesticides be registered with EPA because that process allows the Agency to assess the efficacy of the disinfectant claims," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Region 2 Administrator. "In this case, Safetec sold the wipes and solutions to hospitals and medical suppliers. Because the product was not registered, EPA did not evaluate whether the wipes actually lived up to their disinfectant claims."

Inspections conducted in 1996 and 1997 by EPA and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation revealed that Safetec had violated the portion of the pesticide law that prohibits the sale or distribution of an unregistered pesticide at least 49 times and had also failed to submit information about its 1996 pesticide production to EPA on time. Safetec was ordered to halt the sale of products containing microbial disinfectants in November 1996 and January 1997. The company has complied with these orders. The EPA inspection of Safetec was part of a national Agency crack down on companies that sell unregistered anti-microbial pesticides.

CONTACT: United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 2

Mary Mears, 212/637-3669