Cut flowers sold to consumers in Denmark are imported from non-EU coun-tries and may contain pesticides that are not approved within the EU. Con-sumers can be exposed to the pesticides during flower handling, and the environment can be ex-posed, when flowers are disposed of as waste.
The objective of this study is to assess the risk to consumer health and the environment from pesticide residues in flowers from non-EU countries.
Within this project, a survey of pesticides applied in flower production at several producers in Kenya, Ecuador and Colombia has been conducted. Furthermore, chemical analyses of pesticides in flowers from non-EU coun-tries have been per-ormed. Finally, a risk assessment for selected pesti-cides has been conducted.
For the health risk characterisation, the health-based reference values were com-pared with the exposure estimates, and risk characterisation ratios (RCR) were calculated. All RCR were below 1, meaning the risk can be as-sumed to be con-trolled. For one substance, chlorpyrifos, a RCR could not be calculated due to lack of hazard data. Exposure to pesticides from other sources, for example, imported vegetables and fruit, as well as combined exposure of different substances, have not been considered in the risk characterisation.
For the environmental risk assessment, the risk towards groundwater and surface water was evaluated for the scenario of disposing the flowers in a composting heap in a private garden. Overall, based on the data and assumptions applied, leaching of pesticides from disposed flowers does not pose a risk towards groundwater or surface water.