How the Global Flower Trade Poisons Workers
Roses account for 66% of Ecuador’s total flower output, a figure that propelled the country in 2024 to become the world’s third-largest exporter, with more than 2 billion stems sold annually, behind only the Netherlands and Colombia.
However, Ecuadorian scholars and campaigners question whether the economic opportunities it offers can really secure producers’ futures – or perhaps trap them in a toxic system marked by the overuse of pesticides.
In Cayambe, a region of more than 100,000 people, nearly half are involved in the growing flower sector. Here, the roses are intensively treated with chemicals to ensure flawless blooms, as required by customers – existing environmental standards in Ecuador are rarely monitored.
Unlike agricultural production, pesticide use in cut-flower cultivation has indistinct limits, causing severe short- and long-term problems for workers and people living nearby.
A report by the Austrian environmental organisation Global 2000 revealed what American and European customers buy with their demand for perfect cut flowers all year round: out of 16 bouquets examined, traces of 79 different pesticides were found – 49 of which can affect hormones, are carcinogenic, damaging to fertility, or classified by the World Health Organization as hazardous to human health.
On average, the study showed that each bouquet contained residues of 14 pesticides; one was tainted with as many as 32. Three-quarters carried chemicals long banned in the EU for being especially toxic.
It’s an uphill battle,” says Dr Jose Suarez of University of California, San Diego. “Many pesticides that have been discontinued or banned in Europe continue to be heavily used in the US.
“Ecuadorian agriculture seems to mirror what the US does – and for the rural communities encircled by the flower plantations, that is bad news.”
A 2024 study of Ecuadorian floriculture workers found that 61% of workers showed symptoms consistent with pneumonitis, attributed to pesticide exposure and other agrochemicals used in flower farming. Skin complaints, such as rashes and eczema, are common from contact with chemicals and plants. Some studies report pesticide poisoning rates of up to 60% among flower workers.
“The risks of the heavy use of agrochemicals extend beyond workers, affecting entire rural communities,” says Suarez.
Since 2008, his research programme studied more than 500 adolescents living in the flower-producing area around Cayambe, where intense pesticide use has led to increases in inflammation among the children. According to his findings, this is directly linked to worse neurobehavioural performance, affecting how children think, learn, remember and socialise.
“After the Mother’s Day harvest, we found that children had way higher pesticide exposure and lower neurocognitive performance than those examined later in the season, when exposure levels declined and abilities improved,” says Suarez.
In light of concerns that young people in the flower-growing regions are more frequently affected by depression, his team of researchers found that exposure to pesticides – specifically organophosphates – plays a role in this.
“We have found higher depression scores among participants who have higher exposures to pesticides. And we found that more strongly in women than in men,” says Suarez, also mentioning reports of more frequent cases of leukaemia, miscarriages, chronic diseases and neurological damage, such as memory problems and fatigue.
– from The Guardian (20 February 2026)
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