Excerpt from article:

Beauty comes at a steep price in the Ecuadorian flower industry. Perfect petals mean poisonous floricultural practices. Harmful pesticides in flower production weaken the health of both Ecuador’s natural environment and the farm workers.

Traditionally, a flower is a symbol of love, beauty, and purity. After studying abroad in Ecuador last fall I learned that for Ecuadorians a flower represents a harsher reality. In a country as economically unstable as Ecuador, the flower industry is more concerned with maximizing profit than environmental or human welfare...