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‘There’s a dark side to floristry’: are pesticides making workers seriously ill – or worse?
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of The Guardian
Posted: June 10th, 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/11/theres-a-dar...
Many people don’t think of pesticides when they look at a bouquet of flowers. But they’re full of them. Buying from your local supermarket won’t necessarily put you at risk, say experts – that falls to the growers and florists who handle what the charity describes as “toxic bombs”. Chemicals protect flowers from disease and pests and, as customers want perfect blooms year-round, keep them looking uniform. But research shows they can easily be absorbed through skin contact or inhalation by people exposed for hours every day. Unlike food, there is no upper limit on pesticide residue levels in flowers in the EU, UK or US. Handling flowers every day may well have consequences we don’t yet understand. “There’s a whole group [of pesticides] that cause cancer, or are recognised to probably cause cancer, and [florists] are probably being exposed to them. There’s a whole group that affects reproductive health. They’re probably being exposed to them too,” says [clinical toxicology professor Michael] Eddleston. “What I would worry about as a florist is long-term chronic exposure to multiple pesticides … which are simply not being controlled and that can’t be safe.” Many florists only hear about the risks through word of mouth. Roisin Taylor ... who has mostly worked with locally grown stems, says the chalky film that covers her hands when she touches imported flowers is obvious. And she knows to wash her hands thoroughly before she eats lunch.
Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and toxic chemicals.
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