Amazon, EPA Reach $1.2 Million Settlement Over Online Sales of Illegal Pesticides

Allegations were made that Amazon committed nearly 4,000 violations with pesticide sales.

The Seattle Times

Seattle, Washington-based Amazon has agreed to pay more than $1.2 million in administrative penalties as part of an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the agency says will protect consumers from hazards of illegal and misbranded pesticides sold by the online retail giant.

In a recent announcement, the EPA said the agreement settles allegations that, over the past five years, Amazon committed nearly 4,000 violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act by allowing third-parties to sell and distribute imported pesticide products from their warehouses, even though the pesticides were not licensed for sale in the United States.

“This agreement will dramatically reduce the online sale of illegal pesticides, which pose serious threats to public health in communities across America,” EPA Region 10 Administrator Chris Hladick said in a news statement.

The penalty was one of the largest ever of its kind by the agency, said Ed Kowalski, director of the office of compliance and enforcement at EPA Region 10. While agreeing to the settlement, Amazon neither admitted nor denied the specific facts alleged by the EPA.

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