An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

EPA Advisory Letters to San Francisco Area Companies Regarding Fraudulent COVID-19 Disinfectants

EPA has advised eight Bay Area-based technology companies that unscrupulous dealers are using their platforms to sell illegal disinfectant products. The companies include Facebook, Ebay, Alibaba, Shopify, Qoo10, Joybuy.com, Wish.com and banggood.com.

Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), products that claim to kill or repel viruses, bacteria or other germs are considered pesticides and must be registered with the EPA prior to distribution or sale. Disinfectants and antimicrobial products claiming to control, prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate the virus that causes COVID-19 are thus regulated under FIFRA.

If you experience a problem reading a document with assistive technology, please contact us.
You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.