Scotts Miracle-Gro

The Organic Consumers Association's (OCA) and allies has called for a boycott of all Scotts' products. At the request of Scotts Miracle-Gro, the USDA has created a new class of genetically engineered plants, animals and animal drugs that won't have to undergo any government regulation or review. Scotts' new gene-altered lawn grass is 'RoundUp Ready', which will result in a drastic increase in the use of the pesticide in neighborhoods, parks, schoolyards and golf courses, increasing the public's exposure to a toxin that causes endocrine disruption, damage to DNA, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and cancer, as well as birth defects. Scotts markets Monsanto's Roundup products in the USA.
[Source 2012][More on Genetic Engineering]

In 2012 Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. agreed to plead guilty to charges in US federal court and pay $4.5million in fines in two incidents that date to 2008. Court documents state that, from November 2005 to March 2008, Scotts distributed 73 million units of birdseed coated with insecticides called Storcide II and Actellic 5E. This was done to keep insects from eating the seeds during storage. Scotts continued to sell the products despite warnings from a pesticide chemist and an ornithologist in 2007, both of whom worked for the company. Also in 2008, Federal EPA officials discovered that Scotts was selling lawn and garden products with falsified pesticide registrations.
[Source 2012][More on Governance]

This company scores Ethical Consumer's worst rating for the likely use of tax avoidance strategies, and has at least two high risk subsidiaries in tax havens.
[Source 2018][More on Finance]