Today, Scotts Miracle-Gro was sentenced to pay a $4 million file and perform community service for “illegally applying insecticides to its wild bird food products that are toxic to birds, falsifying pesticide registration documents, distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved labels, and distributing unregistered pesticides. This is the largest criminal penalty under FIFRA (the law that governs the manufacture and sale of pesticides) to date.”
In a separate civil agreement with the EPA this week, Scotts also agreed to pay more than $6 million in penalties and spend $2 million on environmental projects for other violations.
This blog has been reporting on the problems at Scotts for a while. But I still have one question — how much money did the company make selling the pesticide-laced birdseed even after it knew about the problem? “According to EPA, by the time it voluntarily recalled these products in March 2008, Scotts had sold more than 70 million units of bird food illegally treated with pesticide that is toxic to birds.” Is a $4 million fine merely a slap on the wrist for a company that donated $200,000 to Romney’s SuperPAC?
2 Comments
Since Scott is considered a person, shouldn’t they be given jail sentences? I think that everyone in the top three tiers of the company should be serving jail time. It wouldn’t have to be very long, maybe a month or two for the first offense. The sentences could get harsher for any later violations. And the penalty should be the same amount as sales of the contaminated products. If they sold 700 million dollars worth, then the penalty would be 700 million dollars. It’s the only way to make a point and show that we are serious about following the law. These people are no less criminals than the guy that steals your car.
Ah, but Scott was fined because they were destroying our environment. They donated to Romney because he would reverse all their fines. Romney, even thought he has five children, has no interest in preserving this earth. Scott know if Romney gets in, there will be no fine.