Thinking of buying a bouquet for Valentine’s Day? While celebrating love is beautiful, it is worth considering what is in flowers. Your gift might be more toxic than romantic. Valentine’s Day falls in winter, a time when few flowers naturally grow in Europe. Yet, stores are filled with vibrant spring and summer blooms — mostly loaded with pesticides. Avoid them and look for a safe and happy alternative.
Conventionally grown flowers are full of pesticides. Unlike food production, European regulations do not impose limits on pesticide levels in flowers. Roses, lilies, tulips or gerberas may contain high doses of toxic substances.
Our member PAN Netherlands tested 13 bouquets — tulips, roses, and mixed bouquets — by a certified laboratory. Residues of pesticides were found in all bouquets. A total of 71 different active substances were found in the 13 bouquets examined, of which 28 (39%) are banned in the EU. They found that, on average, each bouquet contained 25 toxic substances. Two-thirds of the chemicals posed risks to the health of flower growers, buyers, and biodiversity. A third of them, like the bee-toxic imidacloprid, were banned in the EU.
Flowers, imported from countries with looser regulations, tend to have the highest pesticide contamination levels. Imported flowers often carry pesticides banned in the EU, making the situation even worse. Valentine’s roses, typically sourced from Dutch growers with greenhouses or fields in Kenya and Ethiopia, are often heavily contaminated with these harmful chemicals.
The full impact of these “toxic bombs” is still unknown but several scientific studies have linked these pesticides to serious diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS. Concerns in the Netherlands over pesticide use have led to legal action, with villagers successfully seeking to halt lily grower’s operations due to health risks. [2]
Florist daughter poisoned
In France, a florist recently gained recognition for the death of her daughter from cancer, attributed to prolonged exposure to pesticides in flowers. The case, which led to the French government compensating the family, has highlighted the severe health risks associated with handling contaminated flowers. This tragic story has intensified calls for stronger regulations and accountability within this industry. [3]
Valentine's Day is a peak sales period for the floristry industry. But with all this information, it would be better to think twice. So why not go for organic flowers [4], chocolate or another safe alternative instead?
Notes:
[1] Flowers for Valentine's Day: clean appearance with lots of banned poison, press release PAN Netherlands, 12 feb 2025 (EN version below)
[2] ‘Ban them until we know they’re safe’: Dutch flower growers urged to stop using pesticides (The Guardian)
[3] Florists, the ignored victims of pesticides (Le Monde)
[4] In some countries you can find a list of organic flower growers, like this list for Belgium or this one for Germany, or this one for the Netherlands. Beware, some other sites also mention fair trade flowers, that are nice for the workers but not automatically pesticide free. And ‘grown in’ doesn’t say they are without pesticides.
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Press release from PAN Netherlands, 12 February 2025
Flowers for Valentine's Day: clean appearance with lots of banned poison
Pesticide Action Network Netherlands (PAN-NL) had 13 bouquets of flowers tested for pesticides by a certified laboratory. Residues of pesticides were found in all bouquets. A total of 71 different active substances were found in the 13 bouquets examined, of which 28 (39%) are banned in the EU. In the Albert Heijn flowers, PAN NL found the most banned pesticides: in a mixed bouquet 7 different banned pesticides were found and in a bunch of roses even 11 were found.
Margriet Mantingh, president of PAN-NL: ‘For years, the slogan was “flowers love people, bring them into your home”, but we advise not giving poison bouquets on Valentine's Day if you love someone. Ask for unsprayed or organic flowers or choose an alternative. The government should come up with regulations just like for fruits and vegetables. Now flowers are outlaws, there are no maximum limits for poison and we find large amounts of banned poisons every time."
Flowers dangerous poison bombs
In Europe, hundreds of pesticides are banned from use because of high risks of diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's disease, bee mortality, damage to biodiversity, environment and aquatic organisms. Weirdly, these substances are produced here and exported to poor countries with poor regulations. It makes people sick there and the dangerous toxins come back to us on flowers and fruit, among others. Unlike fruit and vegetables, no legal levels of maximum pesticide residue limits (MRLs) are set for flowers and ornamental plants. This makes the sale of cut flowers with high pesticide levels and with banned pesticides outlawed. With dire consequences. In 2022, a 11-year-old French girl Emmy died of leukaemia. After years of investigation and litigation, French experts determined that the leukaemia was caused by Emmy's mother's prenatal exposure to pesticides while working as a florist.
Not just banned pesticides
The current study found 71 active substances, excluding metabolites. Of these 71 pesticides, 28 (39%) are banned in the EU; 14 substances (20%) are classified as Highly Hazardous Pesticides and 7 substances (10%) are Candidates for Substitution (substances that are so toxic that the EU has determined that they should be replaced as soon as possible). In summary, in this sample, two thirds (69%) of the active substances found are high risk to humans and nature.
Apart from flower bulbs, the Netherlands was once the country where roses and other cut flowers were grown. Due to high production costs, much of the cultivation of roses and cut flowers moved to low-wage countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia; to countries with weak pesticide legislation and enforcement. The irony is, many dangerous pesticides banned in the EU are still produced by the chemical giants and exported by and through the Netherlands, among others, to countries outside the EU. Imports of vegetables, fruits and flowers from these countries bring the banned pesticides back into the Netherlands.
The research
PAN-NL bought 7 mixed bouquets, 5 bunches of roses and a bunch of tulips from online shops, AH, Jumbo and a flower shop in Assen, and had them tested in a certified laboratory. Pesticide residues were found in all bouquets
An average of 17.7 different pesticides were found in 7 mixed bouquets, ranging from 12 to 22 residues. The highest number of residues was found in a mixed bouquet from Tuinland. Between 1 and 11 pesticides banned in the EU were found in the mixed bouquets. The highest number (7) of banned pesticides was found in a bouquet from AH. The average level in the mixed bouquets was 4.7 mg/kg; the highest level found was 7.46 mg/kg in a mixed bouquet bought from a flower shop in Assen.
An average of 14 different residues were found in 5 bouquets of roses, ranging from 9 to 21 residues. The highest number of residues found was in a bunch of roses, bought in a flower shop in Assen. Between 1 and 11 banned pesticides were found in 4 bunches of roses. The highest level of 16.4 mg/kg was found in a bunch of red roses from AH with also the highest number of prohibited pesticides (11). In Topbloemen's bunch of roses, 9 different substances were found, but no banned pesticides. Topbloemen's bunch of tulips was contaminated with 3 residues, 2 of which were conversion products.
In the Netherlands, the RIVM warns pregnant women and young women and men, who come into contact with pesticides through their work, about the risks; pesticides that have gone through the strictest authorisation procedure worldwide, according to the Ctgb. At the same time, the government and the floriculture industry allow highly toxic banned pesticides to be exported to low-wage countries. Under the auspices of Dutch certification systems, growers outside the EU are allowed to use EU-banned pesticides. Local growers are exposed to these pesticides and then their products such as cut flowers are imported by the Dutch flower industry; the boomerang effect. Eventually, florists are also exposed to these toxic pesticides.
PAN-NL advises consumers, municipalities and other institutions to buy organically grown flowers of the season or organically grown ornamental plants or an alternative gift for Valentine's Day or other occasions. Do not throw the remains of a gift bouquet on the compost heap or in the organic waste bin, but with residual waste. This prevents the toxins from being recycled into nature.
PAN-NL demands from the government and retailers:
- lobby at EU level for maximum residue limits (MRL) for pesticides in ornamental products and zero tolerance for pesticide residues banned in the EU;
- lobby for a ban on the production and export of pesticides banned in the EU.
