KEKAHA, Kauai » The federal Environmental Protection Agency fined Vector Tobacco Inc. $65,040 for allegedly misusing six pesticides and then failing to keep workers from getting sick, the EPA announced yesterday.

Vector Tobacco, a subsidiary of Vector Tobacco Group of Durham, N.C., has since moved out of the state, agricultural officials added.

The company allegedly misused pesticides 93 times by failing to follow label directions at its research facility in Kekaha in 2005 and 2006, according to the EPA.

However, “;Vector Tobacco cooperated and received a settlement with the EPA without admitting the EPA's allegations,”; said company spokesman Jonathan Doorley.

The state Department of Agriculture observed the violations during inspections performed in March and June 2006. According to the EPA, Vector failed to provide its workers and pesticide handlers with protective equipment, safety training, decontamination supplies, and other safety precautions mandated by law.

Vector Tobacco also failed to prevent workers from entering areas where pesticides recently had been applied and subsequently denied them prompt transportation to a medical facility after these workers reported adverse health effects due to the pesticide exposure, officials with the EPA added.

State Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi said that Vector, the owner of cigarette brands Ligget Select, Quest, USA, Grand Prix and others, moved out of the state more than a year ago.

Worker complaints triggered the initial investigation, state and federal officials said.