TruGreen is so Truly Greenwashing

By Paul McGinniss

Lawn care company TruGreen started in 1973. You wonder why they left off the “e” in true. TruGreen later merged with ChemLawn to become TruGreen Chemlawn. ChemLawn speaks for itself. Chemical Lawn. (The Chemical Ali of Lawn care, perhaps?)

Miracle of miracles: TruGreen ChemLawn is now called TruGreen, and the company says the name change was “because one word is all you need for a great lawn. We have shortened our name to make it easier for you to remember that we are the experts of lawn care.” Somehow the corporate marketing department thought that by calling themselves TruGreen (emphasize green) that we would forget that they were putting chemicals on our lawns. Don’t think so.

The Toxics Action Center in Massachusetts asked residents to call TruGreen ChemLawn to inquire about their lawn care service. Through an informal survey anecdotal evidence shows that TruGreen ChemLawn’s customer service procedures make it difficult for potential customers to acquire factual information about the dangers of their pesticide products. When asked, TruGreen ChemLawn phone marketing representatives often did not readily release the names of the pesticides they would use on the customer’s lawn. In addition, the marketers generally did not even know about the public health threats of the products. Written information was often not offered or provided for customers. The TruGreen ChemLawn website has no mention of its roster of pesticide products and their health and environmental impacts. In addition, TruGreen ChemLawn representatives at times misrepresented their pesticide products as “safe”, a possible violation of federal law.

To learn more about all the wonderful green washing going on at Chemlawn—err, I mean TruGreen—a must stop is http://www.refusetousechemlawn.org/

Some of the eco friendly (NOT) things you will find out about TruGreen at the above web site are:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a study of 9,282 people nationwide, found pesticides in 100% of the people who had both blood and urine tested. The average person carried 13 of 23 pesticides tested. The study found that children carried the highest body burden of pesticides. Fat soluble pesticides accumulate over time in our bodies. Pesticides that accumulate in women can be passed to children through breast milk.
• TruGreen ChemLawn is the largest lawn care provider in the United States serving more than 3.4 million households and annually generating more than $1.3 billion in income.
• TruGreen ChemLawn contributes to the yearly application of more than 70 million pounds of pesticides on some of America’s 30 million acres of lawns.
• A USEPA study found that residues from outdoor pesticides are tracked in by pets and people’s shoes, and can increase the pesticide loads in carpet dust as much as 400-fold. These pesticides, intended for outdoor use, will persist for years indoors because they are sheltered from sun, rain and other forces that can degrade them
• 17 of 32 (53%) of TruGreen ChemLawn’s pesticide products include ingredients that are possible carcinogens, as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
• 13 of 32 (41%) of TruGreen ChemLawn’s pesticide products include ingredients that are banned or restricted in other countries.