Toronto Star, February 12th, 2003

Environmentalist issues warning Pesticides can taint flowers and candy

OTTAWA- Think green - not red - on Valentine's Day, say environmentalists urging people to pick their flowers and chocolates carefully.
"If you are looking for a way to express how you feel about someone, you might want to avoid giving toxic flowers and slave grown genetically modified chocolate," said Angela Rickman of the Sierra Club of Canada.
"On a day like this, where people are really focusing on things positive, it's really ironic that the effects can be so negative," she said.
The environmental group is holding a news conference today to warn against flowers laced with pesticides and grown by workers who earn a pittance and suffer terrible health effects, including asthma, headaches, seizures and miscarriages, because of exposure to toxins.
The way much of the chocolate sold in Canada is produced is also a romance-killer, said Rickman.
Cocoa production often relies on heavy pesticide use, including the highly toxic lindane, which is banned for most uses in Canada.
As well, human rights groups have raised concerns about child slaves working on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast, the biggest international producer of the key ingredient in chocolate.

"In the absence of mandatory labelling, if Canadians want to avoid eating genetically engineered ingredients or the products of child slavery, they can either buy organic, fair-trade chocolate, or avoid chocolate altogether."
Buying a diamond can also be fraught with pitfalls for the socially conscious suitor. Rickman recommends asking a jeweller to certify a diamond isn't linked to the arms trade.
Even lighting a candle to add to the Feb. 14 mood isn't always safe. Look at the wick to make sure it doesn't contain a thin lead thread that could release harmful fumes as it burns, Rickman warned.
"It's awful to think you can't have fun on Valentine's Day," she said.
"That's not the point. The point is: You can have fun. You can make better choices."
"On days like Valentine's Day, where there's such an enormous demand, that's an opportune time for consumer demand to change the way things are produced so that they're produced in a more ecologically and ethically sound manner," she said.
The Sierra Club had suggested until recently that people avoid cut flowers and give only Canadian-grown potted plants for Valentine's Day.
Now it points to a Montreal-based company importing eco friendly bouquets.
Sierra Flowers Trading Ltd., which calls itself the country's largest flower importer, has launched a line of flowers certified to have been grown on ecologically and socially responsible farms.
Tom Leckman, the company's president and chief executive, said he was driven to try to change the industry after watching barelegged farm workers in South America standing in vats of pesticide and dipping in bunches of flowers destined for florist shops in Canada and other countries.
"It's the right thing to do," said Leckman, whose company has no connection to the environmental group, despite their similar names.
But convincing flower wholesalers, florists and consumers to pay a bit more - roughly $1.50 extra for a $10 bouquet - hasn't been easy.
The company, which ships 6.5 million kilograms of flowers yearly, estimates 15 to 20 per cent of the roses, carnations and other flowers it imports from South America are of the eco friendly variety.