Give her a daisy instead

The current issue of Mother Jones offers a reason to reconsider roses on Valentine's Day: laborers who earn $140/month in Ecuador's rose industry are coming down with some scary side-effects:

Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and soil fumigants used in the greenhouses are causing serious health problems for Ecuador's 60,000 rose workers -- especially the women and children who sort and package the flowers prior to shipping. In recent years, studies by the International Labor Organization and Ecuador's Catholic University have found that as many as 60 percent of postharvest workers complain of pesticide-poisoning symptoms, including headaches, blurred vision, and muscular twitching. Women in the industry, who represent 70 percent of all rose workers, experience significantly elevated rates of miscarriages. Children under 18, who make up more than a fifth of the workforce, display signs of neurological damage at 22 percent above average.

Today's New York Times follows up with another story on the thorns in Ecuador's rose business.