What’s in Your Vase?
Did you know that according to some sources the roses in the vase on our kitchen table have toxicity levels fifty times that allowed on food imports and shouldn’t be handled without the use of gloves?
Rose producers in Ecuador use an average of six fungicides, four insecticides, and three nematode poisons, along with several herbicides. Some of these chemicals are restricted heavily or even banned in the United States.
I’d heard some of this when researching my latest novel, Roses in Ecuador, but when I tried to dig deeper, I struggled to find current articles beyond the one that initially piqued my interest in the topic. The problem is this industry only gets attention about every five years, so most of the articles I found were from 2003 and 2008. After reading everything I could find, I started talking to those who’d actually been in Ecuador to confirm this is still the case in the industry as a whole, although I’m happy to say things seem to be heading in the right direction!
The short version of what I learned is this: Ecuador has a few characteristics that make it an ideal exporter of roses. Among those are things like its elevation, nearness to the equator and constant temperature. Unfortunately, things like a lack of human rights laws and a lack of regulation on the use of chemicals also play a role. This means plantation owners can freely use dangerous pesticides and other chemicals without fear of reprisal.
Workers are forced to continue working while the plants are being sprayed, which leaves them in a chemical fog. The majority of these employees are suffering serious side effects from this, like headaches, blurred vision, kidney pain, and tremors. Women comprise 70 – 80% of the workforce, and experience a significantly higher level of still births, sterility and giving birth to children with abnormalities and defects. Children are another fifth of the workforce and they show a higher rate of neurological damage. Setting the impact on the workers aside, this rampant chemical usage is detrimental to the surrounding communities and has catastrophic effect on local agriculture.
Compounding the problem is Ecuador’s low minimum wage, which makes rose production economical viable for the plantation owners, but keeps the workers from being able to provide adequate nutrition for their families or seek medical care, despite working long hours.
If you want to learn more, here are a few of the articles I found helpful when I was hunting for more information:
Deflowering Ecuador by Ross Wehner
Behind Roses’ Beauty, Poor and Ill Workers by Ginger Thompson
TED Case Studies, World Intellectual Property Organization
These are just a start, but they capture a lot of the information out there. Happily, there are responsible plantation owners out there who grow beautiful roses without the high human cost.
Worried about where to find roses for Valentine’s Day? Check out these Fair Trade options that are pesticide free!
