Miracle Gro Boss Says One Employee Acted Alone in Misleading Government Yesterday the Justice Department handed down $12.5 million worth of fines and penalties, but that only lengthened the long line of trouble likely awaiting the world’s largest lawn and garden chemical company. ...

NOTE: As SafeLawns reported back in January, Scotts Miracle Gro pleaded guilty to illegal sales and labeling of pesticides. At the time, the fine was believed to be $4.5 million. Today the EPA announced the total will be $12.5 million: CONTACT: Enesta Jones jones.enesta@epa.gov 202-564-7873 202-564-4355 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 7, 2012 Scotts Miracle-Gro Will Pay $12.5 Million in Criminal Fines and C ...

By Joseph Boardman for SafeLawns [caption id="attachment_5610" align="alignleft" width="324"] Tricia Gourley is a lead member of the group of Durango, Colorado, citizens who advocated for organic lawn care protocols on city property.[/caption] DURANGO, CO. — Completely reversing its course of action in a span of two weeks, the city council of this western community voted unanimously Wednesday night to adopt ...

PAUSING TO RECOGNIZE Rachel Carson's seminal book Silent Spring, originally released by Houghton Mifflin on Sept. 27, 1962, gives all of us in environmental community an opportunity to reflect on successes, failures and future strategies. ...

[caption id="attachment_5582" align="alignleft" width="432"] Chip Osborne, left, has made a career out of teaching other municipalities how to follow the example of his hometown, Marblehead, Mass.[/caption] STORY OF FIRST U.S. TOWN TO BAN PESTICIDES NOW AVAILABLE ON-LINE It was, nearly a decade ago, one of the transformative moments in my personal career as an organic lawn care advocate. When the crew for o ...

HYATTSVILLE, MD — SafeLawns founder Paul Tukey has agreed to join a panel with the Rachel Carson Council on Sunday, Sept. 9, following a screening of his Emmy nominated film, A Chemical Reaction, at Busboys & Poets in Hyattsville, Md., just north of the District of Columbia. The free screening of the film, which details the contentious origins of the organic lawn movement in Canada and the United States, be ...

TUCSON, AZ — As a turf manager at multiple professional levels including minor league baseball, the summer Olympics and numerous college stadiums, Matt Anderson admitted he rolled his eyes at the organic lawn care trials he inherited when he took over the grounds at the University of Arizona last January. ...

Wow. You have to watch this. It is, in its 80 seconds, the most provocative, bold and some would dare say ballsy video ever created in the history of the lawn care industry. And perhaps most stunning of all is the video's creators, the Espoma Company of Millville, N.J., once known as probably the most conservative company in the horticulture industry. Here. Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScYaPV56L ...

[caption id="attachment_5539" align="alignleft" width="540"] Brookside Park is one of two parks in Durango, Colorado, that is managed with organic protocols.[/caption] DURANGO, CO. — Defiantly declaring that pesticides used to control weeds and insects are safe when used as directed and stating "I don't believe we're making any children sick here," the mayor of this remote town led the charge on a 5-0 vote ...

To All Democrats and Independents Who Garden . . . LISTEN UP: If Miracle Gro Votes with its Wallet, So Should The Rest of Us Long miffed by what he considers to be the nuisance of environmental safety regulation, Scotts Miracle Gro Czar Jim Hagedorn is voting with his brand's wallet in 2012. Concluding that his fertilizer and pesticide company will have an easier time of getting its products past regulators ...