Suburban Chicago company hit with nearly $5M EPA penalty

CHICAGO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says a suburban Chicago company will pay a nearly $5 million administrative penalty for selling and distributing an unregistered pesticide.

The EPA said Thursday its agreement with Medline Industries resolves allegations the company violated federal law on nearly 1,300 occasions.

The EPA says it conducted an inspection at Medline’s Northfield headquarters and documented the distribution or sale of Micro-Kill 70 Isopropyl Wipes to hospitals, clinics, hospice centers, and other health care facilities nationwide. In February, it issued a “stop sale, use, or removal order” to Medline.

Since then, Medline has changed the product’s name to Touch Screen Cleaning Wipes and the label clearly states that it should only be used to clean dirt, grime and smudges from touch screens and energized equipment.

A spokeswoman for Medline, Stacy Rubenstein, said in a statement Thursday that there have been no reported instances of spread of disease and the company is in the process of registering the alcohol wipes with the EPA “for certain pesticidal uses.”