Illegal factory of toxic insecticides in Pampanga busted

A SUPPOSED warehouse inside the Global Aseana Business Park in San Simon, Pampanga was raided last Friday and confirmed to be a clandestine factory for fake and toxic insecticides, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) reported on Thursday. Director Felimon L. Ruiz of the BoC-Enforcement and Security Service Enforcement Group said the machines and chemical used in the manufacture of aerosol insecticides were imported from China. The owner, a certain Andy Go, was not present during the BoC’s inspection-raid. Workers at the warehouse failed to present a Certificate of Payment for the imported machines and raw materials nor a business permit for the insecticide production. Ten sets of machines were discovered, forming two production lines for labeling the aerosol insecticide products with the brand name Baolliai. The BoC operatives also seized about 50 drums filled with chemicals, particularly cypermethrin and polyaluminum chloride, various packaging materials and labels bearing the same brand name, and at least 2,000 boxes containing finished products. Products with an almost similar brand name, Baolilai, had been banned by the Food and Drug Administration in the past years for containing cypermethrin, a chemical with neurotoxic effects on rodents, aquatic organisms, mammals, and humans.