Say it with pesticides: why you might want to avoid red roses

Nothingsays “love you” likeabunch of roses on Valentine’s Day, tradition has it, but campaigners say the clas-sicromantic gesture could come with aheavy dose of chemical pesticides.

- Damien Gayle

Lab testing on bouquets in the Netherlands, Europe’s flowerimport hub, found roses had the highest residues of neurological and reproductive toxins when compared with other flowers.

Red roses were found to be the worst, with one bunch containing traces of 26 different pesticides, half of which are banned for EU use.

“Nothing says love like roses coated in a fine chemical cocktail,” said Roisin Taylor, of the Verde Flower Coin Northumberland, whose business focuses on sustainable flow-ersand who hasbeen campaigning to raise awareness of pesticides.

“[This can include] things like clofentezine, a chemical found to disrupt the working of your thyroid, or evencarbendazim, whichisbelieved