MARYSVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- A former employee violated product registration policies at a lawn and garden company that has been ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop selling unregistered and mislabeled pesticides, the company said Thursday.
The EPA said Wednesday it ordered Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. and three affiliates to stop selling or using the unregistered pesticides, and Scotts agreed to a recall.
The EPA said the products in question carried invalid EPA registration numbers. Federal law says all pesticides must be submitted to the EPA so risks to people or the environment can be evaluated.
''Over the last several days, we learned that one of our former employees deliberately circumvented company policies, caused invalid product registration forms to be submitted to federal and state regulators and then hid those actions from co-workers and managers,'' said Jim Hagedorn, Scotts chairman and chief executive officer.
Hagedorn said the employee has been fired. It was unclear whether the employee was involved with the products in the EPA order. A message seeking comment was left late Thursday for a company spokesman.
The company said it will immediately take steps to strengthen product registration procedures, including the hiring of a consulting firm to review policies.
Scotts also said Thursday that it would recall fertilizer products sold under the ''Bonus S Max'' and ''Turf Builder Plus 2 Max'' names.
Turf Builder Plus 2 Max is no longer produced or distributed.
The company said the EPA issued registrations for the products but the packaging included labels that differ from the proper registration labels.
The products represent less than 1 percent of the company's more than $2.9 billion in annual worldwide sales, according to Scotts.
Scotts said Wednesday that it had agreed to recall ''Miracle-Gro Shake 'n Feed All Purpose Plant Food plus Weed Preventer.'' The EPA said the product is also sold as ''Garden Weed Preventer + Plant Food.''
The company said it also had stopped using a product provided by its lawn service that was part of the EPA order.
Scotts is based in Marysville, about 30 miles northwest of Columbus.
