The doctor says she is one of up to five a day who arrive acutely poisoned at work. Some of the larger, more modern companies do claim to protect their workers. But, according to the women who do most of the work, poverty wages, pesticide poisoning, chronic and severe health problems are faced by the majority of Colombia's 70,000 flower workers. Flower companies are present in 25 out of 27 of the main municipalities in the savannah plains and are major job creators and contributors to local taxes. But a single large company may consume as much water as a community of 20,000 people and the level of the water table has fallen sharply.
Pesticides also pollute water supplies and contaminate milk and meat.
Campaigners outside Colombia are not calling for a boycott of the Colombian flower trade, since working women would be the first to suffer. But they are asking importers to buy only from responsible employers under a new verification system. The idea of a fairly-traded flower is being pioneered in Germany. The kit, which advises students they can stop teachers searching their bags and lockers for drugs, has angered teachers and some politicians. On the one hand, the writers of the kit wonder if children are being persuaded to be unaware of their rights in case it encourages rebellious behaviour.