Friday, March 15, 2013

What was Teva doing in Mexico, MO?

Via the EPA's enforcement website, their press release on issues with a Teva Pharmaceuticals facility in Mexico, MO* (emphasis mine):
In 2007, an EPA inspection found the Teva facility was discharging pollutants above permitted levels established by the City of Mexico’s Pretreatment Program, in violation of the CWA. In some cases, these pollutants were causing interference with the city’s ability to treat its domestic sewage, leading to pollutant discharges into the Salt River. A 2008 inspection found that Teva was discharging a green effluent that ultimately discolored a portion of the Salt River in November and December 2008... 
In addition to the penalty, Teva will complete other actions at the facility valued at approximately $2.5 million. These include the installation of equipment to recover and reuse approximately 59.5 tons of methylene chloride and reduce other emissions by 19 tons over a five-year period. 
Soooo.... what were they doing there? Teva's a generics company, so were they doing synthesis with all of that DCM, yes? I wonder...

*Spent a night there on a roadtrip in 2004, actually. Cute little town. 

1 comment:

  1. That is criminal. They probably factored in their fines as a part of "operating costs."

    ReplyDelete

looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20