The Life-threatening Cost of Cosmetic Lawn Chemicals We recently received a brochure at our home urging us to sign up for a “Healthy Lawn Analysis” in order to help our lawn “thrive” and “flourish.” Although the brochure warns that our “grass is at risk from serious weed threats,” it fails to acknowledge that treating our lawn with chemicals would threaten the health and safety of our loved ones, our pets, and ourselves. Over the past few months, I have looked at numerous sources, from epidemiological studies to toxicology reports in an effort to learn more about the lawn care companies that operate in our neighborhood and the products they use on our lawns. What I learned, in the more than 60 sources I examined, will forever change my perception of the lawn care industry and what is deemed a “healthy lawn.” Despite a National trend toward living “green” and “eating organic,” a July 2000 report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that
Chemical Lawn Care is Hazardous to our Health
In America, the cosmetic lawn care industry is growing at an alarming rate spreading billions of pounds of hazardous chemicals accross our nation's lawns. Numerous studies have linked lawn care chemicals to breast, lung, prostate, brain and pancreatic cancer, as well as Parkinson's disease, Hodgkin's disease, stillbirth and birth defects. While cosmetic lawn care chemicals are banned throughout many parts of the industrialized world, in the U.S., these deadly products are big buisness.