Washington State Attorney General’s Office had claimed that the company allowed industrial-grade pesticides to be sold illegally through its online marketplace. Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle this lawsuit.
The pesticides that were being sold were of a highly regulated category and some of them are not available for sale to the general public. Under Washington State law, sellers must hold licenses to sell the pesticides in question and also record information about the buyers at the time they make a sale. Moreover, for most dangerous pesticides, the buyer should also hold a license as a pesticide applicator.
A repeated investigation of pesticide sales on Amazon has been done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, collecting a $1.2 million settlement in 2018.
“Amazon is a powerful corporation – but it’s not above the law,” said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson in a statement. Attorneys for the state claimed that – “Amazon facilitated thousands of sales involving the high strength pesticides between 2013 and 2020 when the company suspended all restricted pesticide sales.” Further, the state contended that “Amazon failed to inform customers that the agricultural and industrial-use pesticides were different from broadly available products, creating an impression that anyone could buy and use them.”
A spokesperson for the company said that no allegations have been made regarding harm to customers or the environment. But, some of the pesticides that were sold on Amazon, if not used properly, can cause neurological damage in humans, contaminate groundwater, and also harm threatened and endangered species like – Chinook salmon and Orcas.
