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O<\/span>n a cold morning in December 2024, florist Madeline King was on a buying trip to her local wholesaler when a wave of dizziness nearly knocked her over. As rows of roses seemed to rush past her, she tried to focus. She quickly picked the blooms she needed and left.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not doing this any more, she thought.<\/p>\n That month, after eight years, she closed her Minneapolis-based florist. She had started the business aged 22, transforming it from a one-woman show operating out of her dad\u2019s warehouse into a 10-person team, creating extravagant floral displays for weddings and building a loyal social media following.<\/p>\n The dizziness she experienced that day wasn\u2019t new. By that point King, 30, had spent years battling fatigue, headaches and nausea. Her brain was foggy. She\u2019d walk into rooms and forget why she was there. Now, she believes her symptoms were a result of pesticide exposure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was definitely earth shattering,\u201d she says over Zoom. \u201cTo find out that I feel this bad because of my job \u2026 is horrible and stressful. And also, why is no one talking about this?\u201d<\/p>\n M<\/span>any people don\u2019t think of pesticides when they look at a bouquet of flowers. But they\u2019re full of them, according to Pesticide Action Network (PAN), a UK charity. Buying from your local supermarket won\u2019t necessarily put you at risk, say experts \u2013 that falls to the growers and florists who handle what the charity describes as \u201ctoxic bombs\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n <\/span>Madeline King spent years suffering fatigue, headaches and nausea.<\/span> Photograph: Caroline Yang\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Unlike food, there is no upper limit on pesticide residue levels in flowers in the EU, UK or US. To a certain extent, this makes sense \u2013 we don\u2019t typically eat flowers. Yet despite a growing sustainable flower industry in Britain, where blooms are grown on small farms, seasonally, with few or no pesticides, the UK still imports roughly 85% of its flowers, according to the British Florist Association (BFA). Many are imported along opaque supply chains from countries such as Ecuador, Colombia, Kenya and Ethiopia, where pesticide use is less regulated, says Nick Mole, policy manager at PAN.<\/p>\n Many florists feel fine. Take Sean Daly, who owns Chelsea Flowers in west London and has worked in the industry for more than two decades. When I ask him about pesticides, he simply replies: \u201cIt\u2019s never come up.\u201d If he wears gloves, he\u2019s not thinking about chemicals. \u201cI\u2019m also a musician,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve got to protect my hands, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are others, like florist Laure Marivain. Her 11-year-old daughter, Emmy, died in March 2022 from cancer. In a landmark case, her death was recognised by France\u2019s Pesticide Victims Compensation Fund, a national body set up to support workers exposed to pesticides. Officials acknowledged a link between Emmy\u2019s cancer and her exposure in utero to pesticides during Marivain\u2019s pregnancy. \u201cIf someone had warned me, my daughter would still be here,\u201d Marivain told Le Monde.<\/p>\n Although the flower industry has long used a wide range of pesticides that can seriously harm human health, what those harms look like exactly is difficult to say because data is scarce, says Jean-No\u00ebl Jouzel, research director at France\u2019s National Centre for Scientific Research. Together with Giovanni Prete, assistant professor at the Sorbonne Paris Nord University, he has been researching the link between parental occupational exposure to pesticides and paediatric diseases, interviewing Marivain and two more florists. One woman\u2019s child also died from cancer, while the third mother\u2019s five-year-old has neurodevelopmental disorders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relationship is never clearcut,\u201d says Jouzel. \u201cAnd so in these three cases, it\u2019s very plausible that there is a link, but, of course, no certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n What few studies exist paint a bleak picture. One, from 1990, found that roughly 9,000 flower workers in Colombia were exposed to 127 pesticides \u2013 and suggested those who were pregnant might have higher rates of premature births and babies with birth defects.<\/p>\n Another, from 2018, identified 107 pesticides in an analysis of 90 bouquets, 70 of which ended up in the florists\u2019 urine, despite them wearing two pairs of gloves to handle flowers. Exposure to one particular pesticide, clofentezine, was four times higher than the acceptable threshold. The US Environmental Protection Agency has classified it as a possible human carcinogen and, in 2023, it wasn\u2019t approved for renewal by the EU because of its endocrine disrupting properties, which can cause cancer and birth defects.<\/p>\n In industries like cotton, there\u2019s been a real effort to reduce chemical usage on farms, explains Michael Eddleston, professor of clinical toxicology at the University of Edinburgh, who has spent decades researching pesticide deaths. The problem with flowers, he says, is that no one\u2019s checking, so there\u2019s no incentive to change decades-old practices.<\/p>\n Now, however, there is a small but growing call to raise awareness among authorities and florists, a predominantly female workforce, who are exposed daily to residues but often don\u2019t wear protective equipment \u2013 or don\u2019t realise that they should.<\/p>\n Roisin Taylor is a Durham-based grower, florist and researcher working in sustainable cut flowers who has started raising awareness of the issue of pesticides on TikTok. \u201cIt\u2019s a very scary thing to hear,\u201d she says. \u201cSo understandably quite a lot of florists are quite resistant to talking about it. And also, it\u2019s women, so no one cares.\u201d<\/p>\n K<\/span>ing\u2019s problems started a few years in. She was spending five days a week, eight hours a day, surrounded by flowers \u2013 cutting stems, designing bouquets and installing displays. But every month, she rotated through a series of illnesses: a stomach bug, flu, nausea. Although she appeared relatively healthy on paper, something wasn\u2019t adding up, she says.<\/p>\n She visited a naturopathic doctor, a trained alternative health professional who specialises in identifying underlying causes of illness (rather than just treating symptoms). Multiple blood tests over a one-year period showed her liver enzymes were high, she says, which can be a sign of liver damage from poisoning. King\u2019s naturopath suggested it could be pesticides.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a lightbulb went off in my head,\u201d says King. When she read the Belgian study, which found pesticides in florists\u2019 urine despite them wearing two pairs of gloves, it blew her mind, she says. She\u2019d spent half a decade using her bare hands.<\/p>\n From then on, she wore protective gear, and ensured her team did, too. She also started using air purifiers in her studio, buying more locally grown flowers and taking daily supplements for her liver. Despite this, things worsened. She remembers travelling to one wedding job where she could barely lift her head off the car seat en route to the venue (her husband was driving).<\/p>\n That King\u2019s symptoms disappeared once she left the industry supports the idea that they were connected to pesticide exposure, says Eddleston.<\/p>\n Many others, however, are simply left guessing. Handling flowers every day may well have consequences we don\u2019t yet understand. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole group [of pesticides] that cause cancer, or are recognised to probably cause cancer, and [florists] are probably being exposed to them. There\u2019s a whole group that affects reproductive health. They\u2019re probably being exposed to them too,\u201d says Eddleston. \u201cWhat I would worry about as a florist is long-term chronic exposure to multiple pesticides \u2026 which are simply not being controlled and that can\u2019t be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Pesticides are used extensively at flower farms in Kenya.<\/span> Photograph: Imago\/Alamy<\/p>\n It is also incredibly hard to prove causality. According to an investigation by Daily Nation, flower-farm workers in Kenya \u2013 where pesticides are used extensively \u2013 have reported a range of worrying health issues, from vomiting to damaged organs, loss of limb function and even death.<\/p>\n The problem, says Mole, is that it is harder for florists to show that their symptoms are being directly caused by this. \u201cYou can\u2019t single things out,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know, I touched this bunch of flowers in 2013 and I\u2019ve got cancer down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n Rashes and skin complaints are also common among florists \u2013 a 2016 study found the prevailing issue among the 25 florists interviewed was skin allergies, irritations and itching. These symptoms can be easily caused by pesticides or chemicals, says Eddleston. But, again, it\u2019s tricky. Angela Oliver, CEO of the BFA, says that the trade body publishes a list of flowers and plants that also cause skin irritations.<\/p>\n One thing most of the florists I interviewed for this piece agreed on is the serious lack of education and awareness about pesticides within the industry. I can also vouch for this. When I decided to train as a florist earlier this year while freelancing as a journalist, I didn\u2019t use gloves for months. I had no idea I should.<\/p>\n Certain floristry courses in the UK, such as those approved by the training and qualifications body City & Guilds, do teach students that employers should provide PPE, including gloves. But these courses are expensive and aren\u2019t a mandatory requirement \u2013 many simply learn on the job.<\/p>\n Beyond that, there are no occupational hazard guidelines publicly available for florists, according to Oliver. The organisation itself publishes information on workplace health and safety policies, but you need to be a paid member to access it.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is part of why the trade association exists,\u201d she says. \u201cTo try to get everybody singing from the same hymn sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n A few years ago, French guidelines listed risks like cuts and working in cold environments, but there was virtually no mention of pesticides. After public outcry over Emmy Marivain\u2019s death, that has gradually started to change. The government also launched a study to assess flower industry workers\u2019 exposure to pesticides. Although the conclusions aren\u2019t expected for another few years, French media say it should lead to proposals for regulatory changes, such as setting maximum pesticide residue limits for flowers. In the meantime, UFC-Que Choisir, a French consumer organisation, is demanding more immediate measures, such as compulsory labelling to better inform people about the chemicals sprayed on flowers.<\/p>\n B<\/span>ut many florists only hear about the risks through word of mouth or reading the news. Roisin Taylor, the Durham-based grower 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. \u201cBut if you had no education in this \u2026 your baseline as a florist is maybe thinking: it\u2019s just dust,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not dust. It\u2019s chemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n Kally Spencer-Townson, a 35-year-old freelance florist and gardener in Gloucestershire in the UK, says she only became aware of the risks of pesticides after reading about Emmy Marivain\u2019s death. She now always wears gloves. \u201cI just thought, I\u2019ve definitely been ingesting whatever pesticides were on these flowers,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is unsettling.\u201d She says she has seen florists cut pizza with their scissors \u2013 the same scissors that have already touched hundreds of stems that day.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018It is unsettling\u2019\u2026 florist Kally Spencer-Townson.<\/span> Photograph: Sarah Larby\/The Guardian<\/p>\n In contrast to the fashion and food industries, where increased scrutiny has helped improve traceability, floristry supply chains are still incredibly opaque. Although large buyers like supermarkets can set standards and source directly from farms, most florists are independent and buy \u201cblind\u201d from wholesalers, according to a report by Cissy Bullock, florist and co-founder of the School of Sustainable Floristry, and Olivia Wilson, founder of Wetherly, a British flower studio. This is because labels on imported flowers typically lack clear information about chemical usage, origin and labour practices.<\/p>\n Amy Aniceto, 41, founder of London-based Sweet Frank Flowers, a floral design studio, says she wants more information about the risks of her job. \u201cBy the time I\u2019m handling these flowers with gloves, what is my exposure level? It\u2019s just impossible to find that research,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Oliver says she\u2019s never come across pesticides affecting florists\u2019 health before \u2013 and the BFA isn\u2019t planning any further discussion on the issue.<\/p>\n For Eddleston, data is key. \u201cWhat you\u2019re telling me makes me think we should be recruiting 1,000 florists and studying their health. Do we find that 10 years later, they all die from cancer? It surprises me that [this] hasn\u2019t been picked up before and it hasn\u2019t been recognised as a problem. But I think it\u2019s something to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n With cut flowers reaching sky-high prices, and margins shrinking, it\u2019s understandable that florists may be unwilling to address something as insidious as pesticides. After all, you can\u2019t see them, so it\u2019s easy to pretend they\u2019re not there.<\/p>\n Although King is one of the rare dissenting voices in an industry that seldom talks about the issue, or perhaps realises that they should, she also doesn\u2019t want to scare anyone. Her advice? Wear gloves, use air purifiers, crack open a window where possible and try to use more locally grown flowers to reduce exposure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you love what you do, it\u2019s worth continuing, as long as you can do it in a healthy way,\u201d she says. \u201cFloristry is beautiful, and there\u2019s so many people that have amazing careers and make amazing things. I don\u2019t want to demonise the industry, but I do think there\u2019s a really dark side to floristry <\/strong>that is just not talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n