Updates
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Unsafe-tec
In "Cross Purposes" (July/August 1997), we investigated whether faulty sterilants were linked to hospital-borne infections, reporting that Safetec, a sterilant manufacturer, was marketing three cleaning products to hospitals as disinfectants even though the products were not registered for that purpose with the EPA as required by law. At the time, our investigation prompted Safetec president Scott Weinstein to complain to the Better Business Bureau (Backtalk, September/October 1997) that Mother Jones was attempting to "expose scandals...where they do not exist."
In November, however, the EPA announced that Safetec had agreed to pay a $100,500 penalty for violating the agency's disinfectant registration standards. The EPA cited the company with 44 violations for sales involving four products labeled with claims that were, according to EPA attorney Bruce Aber, "clearly pesticidal in nature. For example, the EZ Cleans wipes claimed "to be effective against 35 pathogenic organisms," and the Speedy Cleanz label claimed to address "the concerns of blood-borne pathogens."
Aber calls the EPA's action against Safetec's three spill-control products—often used in hospitals to clean up blood and other potentially toxic spills—precedent-setting. "This is the first EPA enforcement action in the country against a company with [these] products," he says. "We're putting the regulated community on notice that they cannot continue to make pesticide claims without getting their products registered."
When contacted, Weinstein would not admit or deny any wrongdoing, confirming only that Safetec had consented to the civil penalty.
A Little Bit Louder Now
We reported in "Silent Recall" (November/December) that Kolcraft's Playskool Travel-Lite crib, recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1993, had allegedly been responsible for the deaths of two children last summer. In mid-November, two weeks after Mother Jones hit newsstands, Kolcraft and Playskool announced they were doubling the reward for each returned crib from $60 to $120.
