The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached a $1.2 million settlement with Amazon on Thursday over charges that third parties had used the website to sell thousands of illegal pesticides.
“This agreement will dramatically reduce the online sale of illegal pesticides, which pose serious threats to public health in communities across America,” Chris Hladick, the EPA administrator for several northwestern states, said in a statement. “Amazon is committed to closely monitoring and removing illegal pesticides from its website, and EPA will continue to work hard to ensure these harmful products never reach the marketplace.”
The EPA said that it had found nearly 4,000 violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act on the site in an investigation that began in 2014. Investigators found that third-party vendors had been illegally selling foreign and mislabeled pesticides within the U.S.
{mosads}“Regulatory compliance is a top priority at Amazon,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Third-party sellers are required to comply with all relevant laws and regulations when listing items for sale on Amazon. When sellers don’t comply with our terms, we work quickly to take action on behalf of customers.”
In addition to the $1.2 million fine, the settlement also requires Amazon to develop a mandatory training program for all vendors selling pesticides on the online marketplace.