Published: September 03, 2010
Court Denies American Vanguard's Motion to Lift Stop Sale Order
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - American Vanguard Corporation (NYSE:AVD) today announced that the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia has denied the
Company's motion for emergency and injunctive relief from a Stop Sale,
Use or Removal Order that had been issued by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency relating to the Company's
USEPA-registered pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) product line. The
Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Amvac Chemical Corporation,
manufactures, distributes and sells PCNB as a fungicide for use
primarily on turf with the bulk of sales occurring in September and
October.
The agency issued the stop sale order without warning on the ground that
the company did not identify trace impurities in the product in a
submission to the agency called a confidential statement of formula
("CSF" ), despite the fact that the agency was otherwise made aware of
these impurities nearly 20 years ago and that, in the Company's view,
the agency never determined that the impurity had to be listed on the
CSF. In its motion for relief and in oral argument, the Company argued
that the law does not permit the agency to stop sales of an approved
product before giving the registrant due process. Although temporary
relief was denied, the Company remains free to seek a preliminary
injunction against USEPA.
Eric Wintemute, President & Chief Executive Officer of the company,
said, "We are very disappointed with the court's ruling. Not only does
it put our domestic PCNB business at a standstill, but it lends credence
to the issuance of a stop sale order that is inconsistent with USEPA's
own policies on transparency, amounts to a denial of due process, and
creates a bad precedent with responsible registrants. We will, of
course, continue to work expeditiously with USEPA to get the stop sale
order lifted as soon as possible. At the same time, we intend to seek
relief from the court by way of a preliminary injunction." Mr. Wintemute
added, "Given that the situation with USEPA remains fluid, we are still
assessing what effect the stop sale might have on our financial
performance for the balance of the year. We will report on those effects
as we obtain greater clarity on the issue."
About American Vanguard
American Vanguard Corporation is a diversified specialty and
agricultural products company that develops and markets products for
crop protection and management, turf and ornamentals management and
public and animal health. American Vanguard is included on the Russell
2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes. To learn more about American Vanguard,
please reference the Company's web site at www.american-vanguard.com.
The Company, from time to time, may discuss forward-looking information.
Except for the historical information contained in the conference call
referenced in this release, all forward-looking statements are estimates
by the Company's management and are subject to various risks and
uncertainties that may cause results to differ from management's current
expectations. Such factors include weather conditions, changes in
regulatory policy and other risks as detailed from time-to-time in the
Company's SEC reports and filings. All forward-looking statements, if
any, in this release represent the Company's judgment as of the date of
this release.

American Vanguard Corporation
William A. Kuser, 949-260-1200
Director
of Investor Relations
williamk@amvac-chemical.com
or
AVD's
Investor Relations Firm
The Equity Group Inc.
www.theequitygroup.com
Lena
Cati, 212-836-9611
Lcati@equityny.com
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