A graphic of a multi-colored flame must be included on all aerosol foggers. Additionally, the warning label must include "highly flammable." It must also be listed in both English and Spanish.

This change in labeling comes twelve years after the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) initial efforts were thwarted by aerosol industry lobbyists. As an EPA official wrote in an internal document, "They (industry) have presented no data, tried to bully us into compliance, and have succeeded. (Industry) does not regulate the pesticides industry, EPA does." The changes in effect today reflect the end of industry's bullying of EPA on this issue.

The new labels will caution against using foggers around potential ignition sources such as pilot lights and refrigerators. It will also indicate the proper number of "bombs" which should be used in a given area. Unsuspecting homeowners have lost or damaged their homes to fire when they unwittingly detonated the bug bombs.

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) began working on this problem in 1993, after which they released the report Aerosols Give Business and Public Big Boom: Where is the Protection in the EPA? The report, which documented the EPA's subservience to the aerosol industry, highlighted the problems with the inadequate labeling on the "bug bombs."

Danielle Brian, Executive Director of POGO, stated: These better warning labels will avert hundreds of needless accidents a year, making this a significant victory for consumer safety. After twelve years the EPA has finally stood up to industry and done the right thing.

POGO investigates, exposes, and seeks to remedy systemic abuses of power, mismanagement, and subservience by the federal government to powerful special interests. Founded in 1981, POGO is a politically-independent, nonprofit watchdog that strives to promote a government that is accountable to the citizenry.