[nnasnet] Scotts Miracle-Gro pleads guilty to selling poisoned bird seed
- From: Nomini3@xxxxxxx
- To: nnasnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:31:06 -0400 (EDT)
This is the second notice I've had on this so I thought it might be
appropriate information to pass on. Pat
____________________________________
Date: Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 4:13 AM
Subject: FW: Scotts Miracle-Gro pleads guilty to selling poisoned bird seed
To: _sce9590@xxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:sce9590@xxxxxxxxxxx)
From: Julie
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 8:37 PM
Subject: Scotts Miracle-Gro pleads guilty to selling poisoned bird seed
Just in case you are feeding the wild birds. 'May want to check your
seed. See the 2 news articles below...
_Business & Technology_ (http://grist.org/business-technology/)
Scotts Miracle-Gro pleads guilty to selling poisoned bird seed
_http://grist.org/list/scotts-miracle-gro-pleads-guilty-to-selling-poisoned-
bird-seed/_
(http://grist.org/list/scotts-miracle-gro-pleads-guilty-to-selling-poisoned-bird-seed/)
By _Sarah Parsons_ (http://grist.org/author/sarah-parsons/) 15 Mar 2012
11:26 AM
(http://grist.org/list/scotts-miracle-gro-pleads-guilty-to-selling-poisoned-bird-seed/#)
(http://grist.org/list/scotts-miracle-gro-pleads-guilty-to-selling-poisoned-bird-seed/#)
(http://grist.org/list/scotts-miracle-gro-pleads-guilty-to-selling-poisoned-bird-seed/#)
(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=ra-4dc04d5824409f84&source=tbx-250&lng=en-us&s=reddit&url=http://grist.org
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(http://grist.org/list/scotts-miracle-gro-pleads-guilty-to-selling-poisoned-bird-seed/#)
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/kables/8367405/in/photostream/)
Photo by Kris.
Scotts Miracle-Gro products are known for zapping weeds dead. But it turns
out they could be killing decidedly more attractive creatures — birds.
Scotts _pled guilty this Tuesday_
(http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2012/2012-03-14-091.html) to charges that
the company illegally put
insecticides in its “Morning Song” and “Country Pride” brands of bird seed.
That’s
right: The company knowingly coated products intended for birds to eat with
substances toxic to birds and wildlife.
According to court records, in 2008, Scotts distributed 73 million
packages of bird seed coated with the insecticides Storcide II, containing the
active ingredient chlorpyrifos, and and Actellic 5E, containing the active
ingredient pirimiphos-methyl, intended to keep insects from destroying the
seed.
The company continued to produce and market the insecticide-coated seeds
despite being alerted to toxicity dangers by a Scotts staff chemist and
ornithologist.
And here’s the icing on the toxin-loaded cake: Storcide II, one of the
insecticides in Scotts seed, comes with a huge warning label that reads: “
Toxic to birds, toxic to wildlife” and “Exposed treated seed may be hazardous
to birds.” Must be that a senior exec at Scotts got shat on by a pigeon one
day and took it real personal.
In addition to the bird seed, Scotts is in big trouble for selling
chemical-loaded gardening products without first obtaining registration from
the
EPA. The federal government alleges that a Scotts manager even went so far
as to fabricate documents and correspondence with the agency. It seems they
find forgery easier than just not poisoning wildlife.
The judge hasn’t decided what, exactly, Scotts’ punishment will be yet,
but the company has proposed paying a $4 million fine and donating $500,000
towards wildlife conservation. Maybe all the house finches, sparrows, and
mourning doves Scotts has poisoned over the years will file a class-action
lawsuit and push for a lot more than that.
straight to the source
* _Scotts Miracle-Gro Pleads Guilty to Breaking Federal Pesticide
Law_ (http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2012/2012-03-14-091.html) ,
Environment News Service
Scotts Miracle-Gro Pleads Guilty to Breaking Federal Pesticide Law
COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 14, 2012 (ENS) - Ohio lawn and garden care company
Scotts Miracle-Gro has pleaded guilty to breaching federal pesticide laws
by using an unapproved insecticide on bird seed sold nationwide for two
years.
In Columbus, U.S. District Court Judge James Graham accepted the company's
guilty plea on Tuesday.
Scotts is proposing to pay a $4 million fine and give $500,000 to help
support wildlife conservation and study. Judge Graham said he will issue his
decision on the plea agreement at sentencing, which has not yet been
scheduled.
The government alleges that beginning in 2005, Scotts produced a line of
wild bird food products under names including "Morning Song" and "Country
Pride" that contained insecticides.
Doves, sparrow and house finch on an Illinois backyard birdfeeder that
does not contain the toxic products mentioned in the Scotts' lawsuit. (Photo
by _Marilee_ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rigib/940318897/) )
The government says the insecticides, which are toxic to birds and other
wildlife, were not approved for use on bird food.
According to court records, in 2008, Scotts distributed 73 million
packages of bird seed coated with the insecticides Storcide II, containing the
active ingredient chlorpyrifos, and and Actellic 5E, containing the active
ingredient pirimiphos-methyl, intended to keep insects from destroying the
seed.
The company continued to produce and market the insecticide-coated seeds
despite being alerted to toxicity dangers by a Scotts staff chemist and
ornithologist.
Storcide II is labeled as "Toxic to birds. Toxic to wildlife," and that
"Exposed treated seed may be hazardous to birds." No such warning exists on
the Actellic 5E label.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's own fact sheet on
pirimiphos-mehtyl states that "Ecological risks are not of concern to the
Agency." Yet
the same fact sheet also states "Although pirimphos-methyl is highly toxic
to birds and fish, these risks are not of concern based on the use pattern
of pirimiphos-methyl."
This would seem to indicate that the EPA did not anticipate this chemical
to be used on anything intentionally fed to birds, says the nonprofit
American Bird Conservancy.
"EPA needs to amend the use label for Actellic 5E and any other pesticide
containing the same active ingredient, pirimiphos-methyl, to agree with
their own fact sheet, and ensure that no other birds are poisoned by seed
dosed with this toxic chemical," said American Bird Conservancy President
George Fenwick.
"This highlights a key problem that it is the pesticide registrant that
writes the labels on pesticides, not EPA," Fenwick said. "In some cases, it
would seem that EPA is not effectively checking that the labels encompass
the agency's responsibilities for birds."
The federal government also alleged that a Scotts manager fabricated
federal documents and correspondence to obtain state registrations for two
products that were being marketed without U.S. EPA registration.
The government alleged that the manager "told EPA that these files proved
that the products had been properly reviewed and registered by EPA when, in
fact, they were not authentic EPA files and when, in fact, the products
had not been approved and registered by EPA."
The government also charged that between 2005 and 2007 Scotts sold two
pesticides without directions required by the EPA and making claims on labels
about the product that the EPA had rejected.
On April 23, 2008, EPA Region 5 today issued a "stop sale, use or removal"
order against Scotts Miracle Gro Co., Scotts Lawn Care Service and three
affiliates, all of Marysville, Ohio, for illegal, unregistered and
misbranded pesticides.
Identified by invalid registration number 62355-4, the two products were
marketed as Garden Weed Preventer + Plant Food and Miracle Gro Shake 'n'
Feed All Purpose Plant Food Plus Weed Preventer.
A Scotts spokesman declined comment until after sentencing.
_Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2012. All rights reserved._
(http://www.ens--newswire.com/)
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