DowElanco To Pay $876,000 To Settle Adverse Effects Complaint  

DowElanco will pay a total of $876,000 for failing to disclose
adverse effects incidents involving its widely used insecticide
chlorpyrifos, Dursban, under a consent agreement signed by EPA
Environmental Appeals Board Judge Ronald McCallum Aug. 17. The
company has already paid $732,000 of the penalty, under the terms
of an earlier agreement, so a balance of $144,000 is due by Sept.
16. 

The consent agreement covers 327 violations of FIFRA Section
6(a)(2), said EPA Toxics and Pesticides Enforcement Division
attorney James Handley. 

He noted that the EAB remanded the originally proposed settlement
of $732,000 because of concerns over DowElanco's lengthy delay in
reporting, which affected the penalty reduction calculation under
EPA's FIFRA enforcement response policy. EPA was able to
negotiate an increased penalty and provide EAB with supporting
documentation to show that although the proposed settlement
deviates from the FIFRA ERP, it is in the public interest to
disclose violations, even when such disclosure is very late,
Handley said.

He remarked, "Although the penalty is relatively insignificant to
a company as large as DowElanco, and for a profitable product
such as Dursban, it should convey the message that EPA expects
claims-related incidents to be reported, will seek unreported
incident data and will assess penalties for failure to report."  
The consent order stated that DowElanco "agrees to assist EPA by
using its best efforts to review files of its parent companies
for any information concerning health and environmental effects
incidents for pesticide products registered under FIFRA." 
Handley noted that incident reports disclosed in the case will
advance the state of scientific knowledge on chlorpytrifos
effects, "which will be useful to OPP in the reregistration
process."

(From: P&TCN, Vol 23, No. 43)