*SAMPLE TEXT TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS*
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Dear [Member of Congress],
As Valentine’s Day approaches many people choose flowers to show their love without understanding the effect they have on flower producers.
For the health of flower workers, from greenhouse laborers to florists in shops across the United States, I urge you to require the monitoring of pesticide residues on flowers and to move toward banning the toxic chemicals that are causing illness and death.
Because of the global structure of the cut flower industry, the vast majority of flowers are produced in countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, and Kenya. The evidence of harm to workers there is extensive. In Colombia, a study of approximately 9,000 flower workers found exposure to 127 different pesticides, along with elevated rates of premature births and birth defects. In Kenya, flower-farm workers have reported severe health problems, including vomiting, organ damage, loss of limb function, and even death.
These harms follow the flowers through the supply chain, exposing florists to the same pesticides used on farms abroad. One study identified 107 pesticides in 90 bouquets, 70 of which were later detected in florists’ urine even when gloves were worn. Exposure to one pesticide, clofentezine, was measured at four times the acceptable threshold. The EPA classifies it as a possible human carcinogen, and the European Union declined to renew its approval in 2023 because of its endocrine-disrupting effects, which can cause cancer and birth defects.
U.S. florists also face unique exposure to methyl bromide, a fumigant that has been banned from agriculture but is allowed to be sprayed on imported flowers. Methyl bromide is a colorless, odorless gas classified by the EPA as a Category I acute toxin and has been linked to nausea, nerve damage, and birth defects.
Unlike food, flowers in the United States are subject to no pesticide residue monitoring, no limits, and no meaningful restrictions. The most straightforward solution would be to apply the same pesticide rules we already use for food to flowers.
The pesticides harming and sickening flower workers should be banned—but that cannot happen without first monitoring them.
Please take action to protect the health of the workers who grow and arrange flowers by monitoring and restricting their pesticide exposure.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]