Dec. 19--It cost Neutrogena $400,000 to make one blemish go away.
In 2010, inspectors with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control showed up unannounced at the cosmetic company's manufacturing facility in Los Angeles and found several violations, the agency said in a release.
Neutrogena workers were treating its hazardous waste in a wastewater treatment system without a permit and had failed to perform several precautionary steps in storing and disposing of its materials, inspectors found.
The company brought the plant up to code that same year. But Reed Sato, the agency's lead counsel noted that "these violations created an unnecessary potential for harm to Neutrogena's employees and to the environment."
Neutrogena agreed to pay a $400,000 settlement for the violations, the agency said.
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