Pesticides were added to protect the product from insects during storage, including Storcide II, that was clearly marked as extremely toxic to birds.

Records show that Scotts Miracle-Gro's own experts warned of the risk in the summer and fall of 2007 but they continued to sell the product until March 2008.

[8] Scotts has developed several genetically modified grasses, including herbicide-tolerant Kentucky bluegrass and creeping bentgrass.

In 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Scotts Miracle-Gro $500,000 when DNA from genetically modified creeping bentgrass was found within relative plants of the same genus, (Agrostis),[9] and other native grasses up to 21 km (13 mi) from the test sites.

[10] In 2001, Scotts was involved in a major dispute with nature conservation bodies and the UK Government about the future of several peat bogs in the north of England.

During the course of the dispute Nick Kirkbride, the then managing director of Scotts in Britain, described the peat bogs as having "no more conservation interest than a ploughed field".