The penalty involves the popular Dursban (chlorpyrifos)
and other pesticides and is the largest in US history, the Attorney General
said.
‘By misleading consumers about the potential dangers
associated with the use of their products, Dow’s ads may have endangered human
health and the environment by encouraging people to use their products without
proper care,’ Mr Spitzer said.
In addition to the fine, a court consent order prohibits the
company from making safety claims about its pesticides, and requires it to start
a compliance programme that will include an internal review of all of its ads in
New York state and removal of safety claims.
Litigation more expensive
Dow agreed to the $2 million penalty, but admitted no illegal
or erroneous advertising, said spokesman Garry Hamlin, adding that the company
decided it would cost more to litigate the case than to pay the penalty. Dow
officials said a 1994 agreement between the company and the state attorney
general’s office prohibited advertisements touting the safety of its pesticide
products.
‘The 1994 agreement restricted our ability to support and
defend our products, even if our statements were true.’ said Guy A. Relford,
the company’s head of litigation. Relford said the old agreement was
interpreted by Spitzer as prohibiting telling people that the federal
Environmental Protection Agency had registered one of Dow’s products as a
reduced risk pesticide.
Among the advertised claims cited by Spitzer was: ‘No
significant adverse health effects will likely result from exposures to Dursban
even at levels substantially above those expected to occur when applied at label
rates.’
Toxic to the human brain
Dr Philip Landrigan of the Department of Community and
Preventative Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, who was
involved in the study, said that claim was false.
‘Excellent studies conducted by independent scientists have
shown that chlorpyrifos, the active ingredient in Dursban, is toxic to the human
brain and nervous system and is dangerous to the developing brain of infants,’
Landrigan said.
December 16, 2003, Associated Press http://www.enn.com/news/2003-12-16/s_11336.asp
[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 63, March 2004, page 17]