Dozens of prominent children's and environmental organizations sent a letter today to U.S. Youth Soccer asking it not to renew its sponsorship agreement with the world's largest lawn care and landscaping company.
The groups cited concerns that TruGreen/ChemLawn, a Servicemaster company, was exploiting children to market what the groups termed "toxic" products.
Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children, a Boston-based advocacy group, which was among 30 groups that signed the letter, charged that TruGreen/ChemLawn uses address lists provided by USYS to send mailings about its services to those families. The mailings state several times that the lawn care company will donate a percentage of each purchase to USYS, the group said.
TruGreen/ChemLawn has been a sponsor of USYS since May 2003 as the "official lawn care provider." The agreement expires in December.
Calls to USYS and TruGreen/ChemLawn were not returned.
Among the 30 groups that challenged the sponsorship include Commercial Alert, the Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association, California Safe Schools, Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment and Dads and Daughter.
