EPA Orders Scotts to Stop Selling Certain Pesticides

As many reader's may know Scotts has determined itself to be the go to company for lawn care. It also believes it is the source for 'organic' care now that green is so trendy.

Scotts is the antithesis of what I have taught for decades in my Green Living programs.

In my book, "My Happy Garden", now a decade old, you can find many helps about how to have a healthy, safe and natural garden with many things you can grow and make yourself.


If that's not your gig, never fear, TerraCycle is here.

CHICAGO, April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --- U. S. Environmental
Protection Agency Region 5 today issued a "stop sale, use or removal" order
against Scotts Miracle Gro Co. and three affiliates, all of Marysville,
Ohio, for illegal, unregistered and misbranded pesticides. EPA will also
issue a stop sale order to Scotts Lawn Care Service.

Scotts has agreed to recall these products from all retail locations
across the United States and to set up a process for consumers to safely
return any unregistered products they may have purchased.

An EPA consumer hotline to answer questions about the action 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). A fact sheet and regularly updated information are posted online
at http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/ptb/news/.

At this time the risks, if any, posed by these unregistered products
are unknown. EPA and its state partner Ohio Department of Agriculture are
conducting a laboratory analysis of these products. Updated information
will be posted online when it becomes available. Until EPA has more
information about the contents of these products, consumers are advised not
to use these products and to store them in a safe, cool and dry place such
as a garage or utility shed. Do not dispose of them down the drain, in the
garbage or at a community disposal site.

EPA ordered the companies, collectively an international producer and
distributor of lawn care products, to immediately stop selling and
distributing two products which can be identified by the invalid "EPA
registration number" listed on the package. Invalid registration number
62355-4 is marketed under names including "Garden Weed Preventer + Plant
Food" and "Miracle Gro Shake 'n' Feed All Purpose Plant Food Plus Weed
Preventer." Invalid registration number 538-304 is used primarily by Scotts
Lawn Service, a lawn care company. It is marketed under names including
"Scotts Lawn Service Fertilizer with .28% Halts," "Scotts Lawn Service
Fertilizer 0-0-7 Plus .28% Halts Pro," "Scotts Lawn Service Fertilizer
14-2-5 Plus .28% Halts Pro" and "Scotts Lawn Service Fertilizer 22-0-8 Plus
.28% Halts Pro."

In an effort to make sure these products are immediately removed from
the marketplace, EPA will also issue stop sale orders to major retailers
that carry these products.

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
risks to human health and the environment.

"A manufacturer such as Scotts cannot ignore the important legal
requirement of registering its pesticides," said Region 5 Administrator
Mary A. Gade. "This is a serious violation of EPA's system for protecting
people and the environment from the potential harmful effects of
pesticides. EPA will fully investigate this violation and take appropriate
actions. We are committed to keeping the public informed about any health
consequences and providing information to assure the safe recall of these
products as soon as possible."

For more information on pesticides, go to
http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/ptb/pest.