Sept. 21 US: Twelve Defendants Arrested for Involvement in the Illegal Distribution and Sale of Pesticides

From: EPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the District Attorney for New York County, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the New York Office of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), and the New York Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), today announced federal criminal charges against two defendants, Chen Yan Huang and Jai Ping Chen, and state criminal charges against 10 defendants, for their respective roles in the illegal distribution and sale of unregistered and misbranded pesticides that were sold out of multiple locations in Manhattan.

The pesticides were particularly dangerous because their packaging and appearance could lead them to be mistaken for cookies or cough medicine. The pesticides were not registered by EPA and were missing required label warnings, so consumers had no way of knowing how dangerous the products were or how best to protect themselves from harmful exposure. In fact, one woman accidentally ingested one of the pesticides, believing it to be medicine, and was hospitalized as a result.

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