Scotts Miracle-Gro to pay $12.5 million over pesticides
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Federal authorities say Ohio lawn and garden company Scotts Miracle-Gro will pay $12.5 million in criminal and civil penalties for violating pesticide laws.
The Department of Justice says the penalties are the largest so far under those federal laws.
The Marysville-based company was sentenced Friday in federal court in Columbus to a $4 million fine and community service for criminal violations.
Scotts pleaded guilty to applying toxic insecticide to its wild bird food products and falsifying pesticide registrations. It also pleaded guilty to distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved labels and distributing unregistered pesticides.
Scotts has agreed to pay more than $6 million in civil penalties and spend $2 million on environmental projects in a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Scotts says it has made changes to improve regulatory compliance.
The Department of Justice says the penalties are the largest so far under those federal laws.
The Marysville-based company was sentenced Friday in federal court in Columbus to a $4 million fine and community service for criminal violations.
Scotts pleaded guilty to applying toxic insecticide to its wild bird food products and falsifying pesticide registrations. It also pleaded guilty to distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved labels and distributing unregistered pesticides.
Scotts has agreed to pay more than $6 million in civil penalties and spend $2 million on environmental projects in a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Scotts says it has made changes to improve regulatory compliance.
And we paid them to develop the pesticides, crush landowners behind living entity status, use our young agribusiness personnel to implement it whose educations we paid for in universities and colleges we paid for. We pay like 6 times for every drop or granule they'll send to another nation, pay their shipping with costs that equal the value of the ship in one delivery, and sometimes even provide them the ship and fuel. We pay again for them to hold back their deliberate overproduction to sit and rot for a while first, though.
Oh yeah. While that deliberate overproduction never even intended for this nation anyway ensures that farmers can't sell crops. Sorry, farmers. Good business plans based in death and destruction.
Let me take a wild guess. Scott's outsources some or all of it's production to China?
So a company with over $4 billion in sales gets a $12 million fine for illegal activity.lol The only way to stop illegal activity by corporations is to make the fines meaningful.
Amazing! Someone should go to prison over this.
@Klondiko You're right but its not likely with no rule of law for business in the US. Hell, Jon Corzine stole 1.6 billion from the personal accounts of MF Globals clients 11 months ago and he hasn't been arrested, recieved a supeona, been indicted or nothing. Pedegrine saw that and took it as a green light from the justice dept and fleeced their clients also now. Scotts will pay a fine and use it for a needed write off and probably do it all over again next year. I wonder how many commercial beekeeper's families are starving from this now?
 @T_BONE_WALKER  @Klondiko With the tax write off that means we taxpayers will pay the fine.