1. Consumers Can Continue to Use Raid® with Confidence
RACINE, Wis., July 31, 2008 – SC Johnson is disappointed with
the misleading story recently issued by the Center for Public
Integrity (CPI) on the potential concerns over the use of
pyrethrins and pyrethroids in products such as Raid®
insecticides. While we respect CPI’s mission, its report on
pesticides containing pyrethrins and pyrethroids does not
present a fair and balanced assessment of the issue.
SC Johnson takes very seriously the responsibility of providing
products that families can use with confidence including our
pest control products. All of our products go through an
extensive risk assessment, which takes into account many
factors such as toxicity, the amount of each of the ingredients, consumer habits and practices that
affect exposure, time spent using the product and activity patterns at the home. We also consider
possible effects on children and pets. In addition, we continually re-evaluate our products when
relevant new findings become available, in order to provide consumers with the most effective
household insecticides and repellents utilizing the minimum necessary amount of active ingredient.
In addition to our own testing, consumers should know that pesticide products are regulated by
EPA. All of our EPA-registered pest control products are reviewed by the EPA Office of Pesticide
Programs for adverse effects on humans, the environment and non-target species, prior to approval
for sale.
Pyrethrins are the insecticide components of pyrethrum, which is an ingredient extracted and
processed from certain types of Chrysanthemum flowers, and both pyrethrins and pyrethroids
(synthetic insecticides), are recognized as very effective insecticides. They have helped control many
public health pests including mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, midges, mites, lice and ticks. Products
containing these substances have been used extensively for decades in consumer and institutional
insecticides due to their effectiveness toward eliminating insects that may carry and transmit
diseases, such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus, from homes and workplaces. Extensive human
and environmental impact research on these substances has demonstrated consistently over several
decades that these insecticides can be used with confidence when used in accordance with label
instructions.
We are disappointed in the story that CPI released and the way in which it characterizes the issue of
pyrethrin and pyrethroid safety using the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pesticide
incident reporting system. We believe it is important that consumers understand that those
incidents in EPA’s system represent a tiny fraction of the number of products being used by
consumers every day without concern. People reviewing CPI’s information should realize that in
many situations the product cited in the reports may have had nothing to do with the cause of the
incident, but may have merely been present at the time of the incident. Also, CPI does not mention
that those incidents could be due to product misuse, and in the majority of situations likely have no
relation to the use of pyrethrins and pyrethroids. SC Johnson complies with EPA’s regulations by
forwarding all of the adverse incident reports it receives without regard for whether they are true or
credible.
Lastly we are troubled by the statement made by the reporter Mike Pell that SC Johnson declined to
comment, which is not true.

2. SC Johnson is very careful in selecting which ingredients we use, and we go beyond regulatory
requirements in selecting materials that reduce risk for the environment and consumers without
compromising performance. We use an award winning Greenlist™ process which is a patented
system that continually reviews products to ensure that they contain materials that lower risks for
consumers and the environment while maintaining high standards of performance. For more
information on our Greenlist™ process, visit http://www.scjohnson.com/community/greenlist.asp
Additionally, as the owner and operator of the world’s largest private entomology research center,
SC Johnson invests heavily in research to consistently bring innovation to the insecticide and
repellents markets
As a family company, nothing is more important to us than the wellbeing of the families who use SC
Johnson products. That’s why it is so important for us to set the record straight, that when used
according to label directions, consumers can continue to use Raid® and all SC Johnson products with
confidence.