The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined Monterey Park, Calif.-based Kinetic Solutions Inc. - doing business as Rabbit Air - $82,400 for allegedly selling unregistered and misbranded pesticides and making unproven claims about their effectiveness.
EPA alleges that Kinetic Solutions Inc. made illegal public health claims for its air purifier branded “Nano Silver Pre filter” and the filter’s ability to control over 650 types of bacteria, a violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. According to EPA, the product's air purifiers did not list a valid EPA Establishment Number on the packaging, a federal requirement that helps regulators keep track of where pesticides and devices are produced.
“Unless these products are properly tested and registered with EPA,” Enrique Manzanilla, the EPA's Communities and Ecosystems Division director for the Pacific Southwest region said in a statement, “consumers will have no information about whether their public health claims are accurate.”
During 2009, Kinetic Solutions Inc. distributed or sold air purifiers containing the Nano Silver Pre Filter. The violations were discovered through an online search and subsequent inspection by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. According to Kinetic Solutions Inc., the Nano Silver Pre Filter incorporates a substance called "nano silver" or "silver nano ions,” a substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate bacteria and mold. Products that kill or repel bacteria or germs are considered pesticides, and must be registered with the EPA prior to distribution or sale.
According to EPA, the Nano Silver Pre Filter is a pesticide and was not registered as such as required by federal law.
