News Coverage
Poisoned Petals
Pesticide Use in Flower Industry
Published April 1, 2003
Picking a perfect posy isn't as simple as it used to be. Although today's fresh-cut-flower industry has blossomed into a multibillion-dollar business, producing more than 100 million flowers every year, the picture isn't all so rosy, says David Tenenbaum in a May 2002 report in Environmental Health Perspectives. While floriculture work has opened up employment opportunities for about 190,000 people in countries like Colombia, Mexico and India, prodigious pesticide use in gigantic greenhouses, where they process tons of flowers each year, threatens worker health and safety, jeopardizes the environment and could impact consumer health.
To raise ravishingly red roses and other flawless flowers in controlled environments, many greenhouses rely on large quantities of pesticides. More than half of all cut flowers sold in the United States are imported from countries that have fewer restrictions on pesticide use. But even flowers grown in the States have been found to be contaminated with pesticide residues. California-grown roses were found to have 1,000 times the level of cancer-causing pesticides as comparable food products, according to a 1997 Environmental Working Group study.
Improper handling, storage and application of toxic chemicals, not informing workers of pesticide exposure hazards, and the lax enforcement of protective-gear use greatly endangers worker health. In 1990, a report in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health documented use of 127 different pesticides in Colombian greenhouses. A March 2000 article published in Mutation Research reported the use of 36 different chemicals in Morelos State, Mexico, flower greenhouses, including those banned or restricted in the United States, like DDT.
Many of these pesticides, such as organophosphates, are potent neurotoxins--acting on the nervous system--and genotoxins--which negatively affect reproductive health. Epidemiologist Jaime Breihl of the Ecohealth Project of the Health Research and Advisory Center in Quito, Ecuador, says that almost two-thirds of greenhouse workers report headaches, blurred vision and dizziness, which can be manifestations of neurotoxicity. Among these workers, increases in miscarriages, congenital malformations in their newborn children, reduced ability to conceive and lower sperm counts also have been reported. In California, ornamental plants were among the top five crops associated with acute pesticide poisonings. Propagating perfect, pest-free petals also contributes to a poisoned planet. From stem to store, flowers travel an average distance of 1,500 miles, adding significantly to global warming and pollution. Every three hours, one 35-ton cargo plane departs Colombia, jetting flowers around the globe. In some areas, floriculture's liberal use of groundwater has caused water tables to drop. And reports have documented "direct discharge of pesticides and washing of pesticide equipment in waterways, and runoff reaching important aquifer areas," says Claudette Mo, former professor at the Regional Wildlife Management Program of the National University of Costa Rica.
To address these issues, groups are rallying around worker and eco-rights in their own flower-power movement. Several European human rights organizations, notably the FoodFirst Information and Action Network, are promoting a "Flower Campaign" to establish a "humane and ecologically sustainable production of cut flowers." The Flower Label program, initiated by FIAN, has been adopted by about 10 percent of Ecuadorian floriculture businesses. The Rainforest Alliance, in concert with the Sustainable Action Network, is developing floriculture standards that would prohibit use of chemicals banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Union, and the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. Farms certified by SAN could denote their products with the "Rainforest Alliance certified" seal. And Asocolflores, the trade association for the Colombian flower industry, sponsors a voluntary program called Flor Verde, which focuses on sustainable development, including ways to reduce pesticide, energy and water use.
Friendlier Flowers
No one can deny that a bouquet of freshly cut flowers is a delight for the senses. But how many people want to bury their noses in blooms contaminated with chemicals? For organic and pesticide-flee flowers, buy in season from your local farmer's market. Or order organic flowers online by visiting