Dutch cut flower industry in hot water over pesticides

The Netherlands is the world’s leader in fresh flower production. Over the past decade, the sector has grown by a fifth. But NGOs have been warning about the high levels of pesticides in Dutch flowers. One study even showed that a third of the substances analysed were banned in the European Union, some of them more than 20 years ago. In France, a florist who worked with flowers from the Netherlands recently obtained recognition of her daughter’s death from cancer from the Pesticide Victims Compensation Fund, putting Dutch flower sellers in the hot seat. Our correspondents report.