Join Pesticide Watch in protesting ChemLawn's pesticides 10/26

Good turnout at the Chemlawn/Trugreen protest of toxic pesticides. Speeches urging precautionary principle when exposing the public to possible EPA carcinogens used by Chemlawn/Trugreen were given by local Democratic & Green Party political candidates, representatives of pesticide watch and other interested activists. Passersby also expressed their support. Many people who are effected by pesticides on their job (landscaping, maintenence, etc..) are also effected by Chemlawn/Trugreen's toxic pesticides and this includes public school children, teachers etc.. where Chemlawn/Trugreen contracts with..

Chemlawn/Trugreen security (& state security across street) were strict with protesters, forcing us in a corralled herdlike position like so many helpless cattle. We were denied access to the building despite the building being a public space. The Chemlawn representative who reluctantly emerged was openly hostile and refused our literature. He denied our claims that the pesticides were not qualified as organic due to their ingredients being synthetic, petrochemically derived (hello to all us soldiers stationed in Iraq so these corporate criminals at Chemlawn/Trugreen can continue keeping us people dependent on their petrochemical poisonous products. Please come home soon, go awol if needed, GW bush/Cheney regime profits from sales of Iraq's oil deposits are not worth dying over. peace!) and serious health risks to humans. Beyond that there was no dialogue other than amongst the protesters. No photo material of protest yet available..

It is great to witness activists demanding safer products, though many people are also desiring a shift away from purchasing any corporate pesticide products at all, let alone exposing landscape employees to Trugreen/Chemlawn's carcinogens without their knowledge or consent. Author is curious is Chemlawn/Trugreen has accurate translations of medical terminology in Espanol, a language many landscape workers are more fluent in..

In all seriousness, the phrase "go organic" when applied to Trugreen/Chemlawn is so much reformist hoo-ey. Problems with the labeling "organic" involves loosening of standards now that mega-corporations like Wal-mart are capitalizing on the word "organic". Under recent shifts in USDA organic standards, inclusions of many toxic petrochemically derived carcinogen pesticides are now considered organic. There's no need to even continue these sorts of pesticide manufacturing corporations, the wasted building space would be more appropriate as a homeless shelter, ice skating rink, indoor community center, worker's lounge, etc. Other than the futile attempts at reformist politicking, the activists at pesticide watch deserve credit for their long hours of data collecting to build the case against Trugreen/Chemlawn. Solidarity across the vast spectrum of ecoactivist ideas, methodologies, tactics, etc.. is a good thing..

Pesticide watch also has great database of bioregional activist groups;
http://www.pesticidewatch.org/Html/GetInvolved.htm

Cascadia Food not Lawns, SVEF!, etc.. encourages people to not ever subject their bodies (y their neighbors bodies, y otras bios down los rios, etc..) to toxic pesticides and ANY Chemlawn/Trugreen products need to be forever boicotted & banned from all public buildings, especially schools. That is demand of Sacramento Valley Earth First!ers, so Chemlawn/Trugreen employees should prepare for boarding (:) !! ahoy matey !! :) ) at any time in the near future if these demands are not met. Since these products are also responsible for cancers, ecocide, etc.. in San Joaquin Valley, this applies here also. SVEF! members are non-violent towards all life forms and prefer peaceful tactics, though it is our goal to encourage the closing down of certain corporations. Chemlawn/Trugreen is one of these. Various forms of vandalism and sabotage may be employed, all with certainty that no people or animals are harmed..

Chemlawn/Trugreen employees are encouraged to either search for work elsewhere or consider alternative means of employment. Author personally apologizes for any inconvienience or hardship suffered by lay-offs, though we cannot allow our mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, los rios, Madre Tierra, etc.. to be exposed to toxic chemicals in pesticides. As employees, neither should you..

Organizing is needed to demand any medical payments needed for on the job exposure to Chemlawn/Trugreen's carcinogens. This is needed before the CEOs jump ship and bail with the billions hijacked from us taxpayers, worker hours and consumers who were decieved about the known health risks of Chemlawn/Trugreen products..

for help w/ union organizing;
http://www.iww.org/en/organize

"IWW volunteers would be happy to talk with you about strategies for improving your working conditions. The IWW can also provide you assistance if you and your coworkers decide to organize a union with the IWW."

Now is the time we turn to la familia, los amigos and review additional medical data on human health risks from exposure to Chemlawn/Trugreen pesticide/herbicide products..

On the other side of north america residents of Massachusetts have experienced higher rates of breast cancer following prolonged exposure to Chemlawn/Trugreen products. This correlation is a likely outcome of Chemlawn/Trugreen products containing ingredients classified by EPA as known endocrine disrupters. Endocrine disrupters are linked to reproductive cancers. In males endocrine disrupters manifest themselves as various forms of testicular cancer. Depending on the dosage of exposure, cancer can also occur with shorter timed exposures. Other symptoms from exposure listed below;

"A recent analysis by the Toxics Action Center of 32 pesticides available through TruGreen ChemLawn’s residential lawn care program revealed that 35% (11 of 32) of TruGreen ChemLawn’s pesticide products include ingredients that are known or suspected endocrine disrupting compounds.

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds is an emerging area of study for breast cancer risk. Since a woman’s lifetime exposure to natural estrogen is linked to higher breast cancer risk, exposure to compounds that mimic estrogen and other hormones may also increase risk.

A growing pool of research links exposure to the pesticides used by TruGreen ChemLawn to nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, and chronic illnesses like lymphoma, leukemia, bladder cancer, and learning disabilities. Yet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to register these pesticides for commercial and residential use."

read on @;

http://www.mbcc.org/content.php?id=143&PHPSESSID=5f0ea505fefeb32ae7760f492045df02

Boicott of Chemlawn/Trugreen products is called for, also consider educating people on the benifits of growing food on their lawnspace, aka food not lawns, by converting part of their yardspace to growing veggies (garlic, greens, squash, etc..) so that they could find themselves cutting back on work hours and having more time for relaxing at home, eating healthy meals w/ friends and family, a good thing, no??

To encourage the US soldiers stationed in Iraq a quick and safe return home, serious boicotts of petroleum products by US consumers is needed. The more gas and petro products (includes plastic, pesticides, etc..) we guzzle here in the states, the greater the demand on petroleum supplies and the longer the duration of the US soldiers in Iraq..

On a final note, there is nothing more disgusting to this author than the corporate exploitation and propagandizing of the youth. Chemlawn/Trugreen has indeed attempted this criminal endeavor by means of soccer fields, encouraging children's endorsements. This letter written by concerned parents and their legal teams in response to Trugreen/Chemlawn's attempted hijacking of children's mental headspace;

"We are writing to express our concern over the corporate sponsorship agreement between TruGreen/ChemLawn and US Youth Soccer (USYS). We feel strongly that the harm to children and families from this agreement outweighs any financial benefit for USYS.

As part of this promotion, TruGreen/ChemLawn sent a mailer addressed to the “family of” children who are members of US Youth Soccer - presumably after getting each child’s home address from USYS. The mailing, which features pictures of a young boy playing soccer and a soccer ball, features the US Youth Soccer logo and mentions five times that TruGreen/ChemLawn will donate a percentage of each purchase to USYS.

Children are more likely to read a mailing that has their name listed in the addressee line. In addition, pictures of soccer and US Youth Soccer logo are likely to pique the interest of young soccer players. Clearly, TruGreen/ChemLawn wants to enlist children as allies to ask or nag their parents for lawn services so that any parent who chooses not hire ChemLawn will be viewed by their children as not caring about youth soccer. To put it simply, TruGreen/Chem/Lawn marketers want to make it as hard as possible for parents to say no.

And why would parents want to say no to TruGreen/ChemLawn’s services? Because like so much that is marketed to or through children, ChemLawn’s pesticides can be harmful to them. Studies have linked lawn pesticides to birth defects, liver and kidney damage, and neurological disorders.[i] Young children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to the toxic effects of lawn chemicals[ii]; the use of pesticides has been linked to an increased risk of childhood illnesses including non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, brain cancer, and leukemia.[iii] Of the three active ingredients in ChemLawn’s popular Tri-Power system, two (MCPA and Mecoprop-P) are possibly carcinogenic; the third (Dicamba) is classified by the Pesticide Action Network as a developmental and reproductive toxin.[iv]"

Adios Trugreen/Chemlawn, get the liferafts and safety vests out amigos, yer ship's a-goin' on down!!

argh!

above info collected by SVEF!

http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/