ALBANY – Dow AgroSciences will pay a $2 million court-ordered penalty to the state of New York for illegal safety claims in advertising of its pesticides.
Dow agreed to the $2 million penalty, but admitted no illegal or erroneous advertising, said spokesman Garry Hamlin, adding that the firm 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 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,” Guy Relford, the company’s head of litigation, said in a statement. “For instance, the old agreement was interpreted by the New York attorney general as prohibiting our informing people that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had registered one of our products as a Reduced Risk Pesticide.”
State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden in Manhattan issued the consent order that requires the firm to pay the $2 million penalty, prohibits it from making safety claims about its pesticides, and requires it to start a compliance program. That program will include an internal review of all ads and future ads by Dow in New York state and removal of any safety claims. The company will also have to provide training to comply with advertising restrictions.
New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer investigated Dow ads from 1995 to this year.
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.”
Sources: PR Newswire & Newsday