EPA Asks Nine Major Chains to Pull Illegal Pesticides from Shelves
EPA Region 5 has issued "stop sale, use or removal" orders to retailers Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Ace, Do-It-Best, True Value, Sam's Club, Meijer and K-Mart., asking the retailers to remove certain illegal, unregistered and misbranded pesticides distributed by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. from the shelves of stores across the United States.
EPA ordered the Scotts companies early last week, and now its major distributors and retailers, to immediately stop selling and distributing Miracle-Gro Shake 'n Feed All Purpose Plant Food Plus Weed Preventer and related pesticide products which can be identified by the invalid "EPA registration number" 62355-4 listed on the package.
"We're taking these steps to ensure that the product does not end up in consumers' homes," said EPA Region 5 Administrator Mary A. Gade. "Our advice to people who have purchased these products is to not use them and store them in a safe, cool and dry place such as a garage or utility shed."
EPA and its state partner Ohio Department of Agriculture are conducting laboratory analysis of the unregistered pesticides. Updated information about Scott's recall effort will be posted online as it becomes available at http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/ptb/news.
An EPA consumer hot-line to answer questions about the Scotts recall effort has been established at 888-838-1304 (9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time). Questions may also be answered by the National Pesticide Information Center at 800-858-7378 (6:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time, including weekends).
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, all pesticides must be submitted to EPA for review, evaluation and registration to ensure that they do not pose an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment. EPA's review and registration process is internationally recognized. Pesticide products that have not undergone EPA review may pose unwanted risks to human health and the environment.
For more information on pesticides, go to http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/ptb/pest.