(Nick Meyer) In light of recent studies demonstrating the immense harm done to the environment and the health of living things by weed-killing chemicals, more and more people are going back to natural lawn care.
The news that Monsanto’s best-selling Roundup herbicide, sprayed profusely in neighborhoods across the world, is a probable human carcinogen according to the World Health Organization has led even more people to look for better ways.
And despite all this, one lawn care company, one that dumps countless harmful chemicals like these into our environment each day, seems above the same type of criticism directed at similar Roundup pushers like Monsanto.
While most lawn care companies use harsh chemicals like Roundup, one stands above the rest: and supporting them may not be much different than directly supporting Monsanto themselves.
Scotts & The Monsanto Connection
Recently, Monsanto, widely regarded as one of the most hated corporations in the world due to their lawsuits against small farmers, unwanted GMO seeds and harmful agrochemical-based business model, announced a lucrative new partnership with a well known ally that flew under the radar of most activists.
The company recently announced a new $300 million agreement with Scotts Lawn Care, makers of Miracle-Gro and other lawn care products widely sold at most retail giants, to continue to find new ways to “deliver consumers with a diverse range of lawn and garden solutions,” as Kerry Preete, Monsanto Executive Vice President of Global Strategy, said on the company’s website.
While the rest of the world looks for new ways to dump Monsanto’s Roundup over confirmation that it is a likely carcinogen, Scotts is going all-in on Monsanto chemicals and intent on spreading them around our neighborhoods, lawns, schools and parks like never before.
According to the recent press release, Scotts will pay Monsanto a one-time upfront payment of $300 million for a Roundup brand license as well as an extended agency agreement and technology agreement.
Scotts’ Cancer-Linked Roundup Agreement Just the Tip of the Iceberg
While Monsanto has been under public pressure to clean up its act for many years, most people have not yet woken up to the chemical menace lurking in their neighborhoods.
Scotts Miracle-Gro has been partnered with Monsanto since 1999 and has served as Monsanto’s exclusive agent for the distribution and marketing of Roundup within the U.S. and select international markets for years.
And as we wrote about in 2014, Scotts is moving toward essentially becoming an arm of Monsanto itself with its support for genetically modified Roundup Ready grass, a move that has dismayed activists everywhere.
Scotts was fined $500,000 for the escape of experimental GMO bentgrass in 2007 by the USDA, a mere slap on the wrist for a monstrous company. And yet despite the fine, the company is moving forward with a new type of GMO grass that opponents say could easily escape into the wild and contaminate other natural forms of grass across the country.
Meanwhile, while activists work to spread awareness about the health problems of Roundup as well as the dangerously untested GMO grass, Scotts contains to enjoy its place in the spotlight.
The company is still beloved by millions of who have no idea how close they’ve been, both in business terms and ideologically, to one of the most widely-boycotted purveyors of poison the world has ever seen, Monsanto.
Now, the question is whether fans of Scotts will remain that way after seeing the total picture of what they’re supporting with their dollars.