FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	

ENR

TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1998	

(202) 514-2008

	TDD (202) 514-1888




CLARKSDALE WOMAN SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR IN PRISON


FOR FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME THAT RESULTED IN DEATH





	A Clarksdale, Mississippi woman was sentenced today to one
year, the maximum prison sentence, for selling a deadly pesticide
not bearing the appropriate warnings, announced the Department of
Justice and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of
Mississippi.  The sale of the pesticide without the warnings
resulted in the death of one of her customers.




	In a case that has received national attention, Margaret
Stewart pled guilty on March 31, 1998 to one count of selling the
pesticide endosulfan in improperly labeled containers.  The plea
and sentencing were before U.S. Magistrate Judge Eugene Bogen in
the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.




	"This was a needless tragedy," said Lois J. Schiffer,
Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources. 
"Warning labels on dangerous pesticides are intended specifically
to prevent this type of harm.  If individuals selling pesticides do
not take the regulations seriously, then law enforcement will."




	Ms. Stewart sold the white colored pesticide in a clear one
gallon plastic milk carton bearing its original label to a customer
in Clarksdale.  The customer purchased the pesticide for her
mother, Minnie Lou Rudd of Batesville, Mississippi.  Ms. Rudd
mistakenly drank the pesticide and died, thinking it was milk.




	Endosulfan is an organophosphate poison that is toxic to nerve
cells.  Death may result from respiratory arrest.  It is registered
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency solely for agricultural
use and may not be used in homes for any purpose.




	"The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District will
pursue meritorious allegations of environmental crimes as
vigorously as we pursue other types of criminal activity," said
Calvin "Buck" Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of
Mississippi.  "Making our environment safe for our children and
other citizens is a responsibility that we take seriously."

(more)


	The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the
statute under which Ms. Stewart was charged, regulates the use and
distribution of pesticides.  It requires that all pesticides
distributed in the U.S. be approved by the E.P.A. for specific uses
and that they bear labels providing appropriate warnings and
instructions for their safe and proper use.  Individuals who
violate federal pesticide laws and regulations are subject to up to
one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000.




	This case was prosecuted jointly by the U.S. Attorney's Office
in Oxford, Mississippi and the Environmental Crimes Section of the
Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.  It was investigated by
the Criminal Investigative Division of the Environmental Protection
Agency, the Mississippi Environmental Task Force, the FBI, and the 
Clarksdale and Batesville Police Departments.




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