Biotech Updates

EPA Fines Syngenta for Pesticide Violation

September 12, 2008

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has reached a settlement that will have Syngenta Seeds Inc. pay $17, 750 in fines for alleged violations of federal pesticide regulations. In a news release, EPA says that it found pesticide worker protection violations by the company at its Kekaha facility in Kauai, Hawaii. These violations included failing to store all personal protective equipment separately from clothing and apart from pesticide. The Agency also alleged that Syngenta failed to properly post the spraying of the pesticide Liberty.

The settlement is part of three separate administrative complaints totaling $284,050 in civil penalties with Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., and Syngenta Seeds, Inc., for violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

The news release is available at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/fc1d7e992bda81d9852574bf005b97c2?