On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 17:17:40 GMT, Lar opined:

In article ,
says...
I was the one who
said Monsanto's ad campaign where they say, "Roundup, safe as table salt..." was
pulled by a New York court and was being sued for a number of things. I don't
ever recall YOU saying the phrase

Why is it that Monsanto in New York courts is always
thrown about when in fact it was the total pest control
industry across the country that had to change. No
words or phrases such as "Safe As","Less toxic than",
"EPA registered", "Organic" even when true, are not
allowed to be used in advertising/ solicitation.
Here is part from Texas' laws and regulations...

Uh, yeah, which is why a judge mandated they immediately pull the ad campaign.


(5) a statement directly or indirectly implying that a
pesticide or device is recommended or endorsed by any
agency of the state or federal government, such as "EPA
Registered" or "EPA Approved";
(6) a true statement used in such a way as to give a
false or misleading impression to the consumer;
(7) disclaimers or claims which negate or detract from
labeling statements on the product label;
(8) claims as to the safety of a pesticide or its
ingredients, including statements such as "free from
risk or harm", "safe", "non-injurious", "harmless", or
"non-toxic to humans and pets", with or without such a
qualifying phrase as "when used as directed";
(9) claims that the pesticides and other substances
the licensee applies, the application of such
pesticides, or any other use of them are comparatively
safe or free from risk or harm;
(10) claims that the pesticides and other substances
the licensee applies, the applications of such
pesticides, or any other use of them, are
"environmentally friendly", "environmentally sound",
environmentally aware", environmentally responsible",
pollution approved", "contain all natural ingredients",
"organic", or are "among the least toxic chemicals
known"; and
(11) claims regarding its goods and services for which
the licensee does not have substantiation at the time
such claim is made.

Not sure if it is just an old "exterminator tale", but
have heard that #11 was the strongest argument for the
change. How can a product be compared to table salt when
there has never been any long term studies of table salt
in the environment and who is going to spend the
millions to do the study simply for wording on a label
or advertising.