Yesterday, June 12th, marked World Day Against Child Labor. For this occasion I highlight the plight of young children employed to work in the tobacco agribusiness in the United States. It is estimated, by Deutsche Welle, that 500,000 children labor in this market; most are exposed to hazardous conditions ranging from exposure to high levels of nicotine and pesticides, farm implements, and long working hours among others. Variances in the standard federal child labor standards permit tobacco growers to employ children–some of whom are under twelve years in age.
After decades of public objection and later government restrictions on advertisements, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products to minors for reasons not limited to just health and nicotine dependency, the cultivation of “green tobacco” by children exposes them often to immediately hazardous levels of nicotine at often unconscionably young ages.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2013 published an extensive study into the child labor practices of the tobacco growers industry in four states: North Carolina; Kentucky; Tennessee; and Virginia. According to this study one hundred and forty one children participating in the tobacco harvests of 2012 and 2013 were interviewed by HRW. Ages of these children ranged from seventeen to as young as seven.
According to this study, “nearly three quarters of those interviewed reported sudden onsets of serious illnesses—including nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, dizziness, skin rashes, difficulty breathing, irritations to their eyes and mouths—while working in the fields of tobacco plants and barns with dried tobacco leaves and tobacco dust. Many of these symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.”
Duties assigned to children in tobacco cultivation and harvesting included seed planting, topping, thinning undesirable leaves, applying pesticides, harvesting leaves by hand or with machinery, cutting plants with sharpened tobacco knives, storage and removal of cured leaves from barns, and stripping and sorting dried leaves.
Resulting from these exposures, often from unprotected skin and lax safety policies, children suffer often from a condition known as Green Tobacco Sickness. This illness is an occupational disease caused by workers absorbing nicotine through their skin after prolonged exposure to the plants. These symptoms, references earlier, are identified by Public and Occupation health officials. The long term effects are currently unknown though other studies on the usage of tobacco products (such as smoking) in adolescents may have links to complications in brain development. Public health research indicates that non-smoking workers in tobacco agriculture have similar levels of nicotine in their bodies as do smokers in the general population.
The study contained interviews consistent with their findings generally, where child workers reported being sprayed by pesticides applied to rows nearby causing illnesses contemporaneously. To mitigate this environment the children often would bring plastic garbage bags with them that they could fashion into ad-hoc raingear to resist spray landing on their clothes and skin—though this did not protect necessarily their hands and faces.
Due to the nature of tobacco cultivation and harvesting occurring within the summer months, the combination of high levels of heat and long hours of labor puts great amount of stresses on children that often culminate with heat stroke and dehydration. Compliance with break time standards is widely varied with some farms providing a reasonable break period for workers and others mandating that workers continue almost without pause.
The introduction of labor contractors, those who sell labor for a fixed price to farmers and where the workers are actually the employees of the contractor, has provided an opportunity for exploitation. Since these contractors retain earnings based on the margin between the revenue from the farm and the labor costs they endure, the temptation to extract more earnings often becomes high; especially in light of the fact that most workers are of an economic underclass that is less likely to report labor abuses and especially in the case of children having not the life experience or foreknowledge of what constitutes a proper and healthy working environment.
Compounding the problem is that current U.S. child labor laws permit children to labor in tobacco farms with liberal policies that permit very young children to work simply with parental permission to do so. It is often the case where this parental permission is granted by parents who also work on these farms where low wages create a need and temptation for parents allowing their children to work to supplement household incomes. Small farms are given the most leeway to employ young children. Agriculture is permitted by federal law to employ children as young as twelve with parental permission but with these small farms children under twelve may labor with parental consent. In all other industries the employment of children under fourteen is prohibited, and children fourteen to fifteen may only be employed in certain jobs with a limited number of hours each day.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour for work in tobacco farms. Some employers caused children to be paid on a piece basis which can in some respects be exploited to motivate children to perform more productively than what is reasonable for their abilities. HRW reported children interviewed expressed that they are often confused as to the actual wage they are paid and some stating they were actually paid less than the minimum permitted. Contractors were said to stoop to the level of charging children for necessities such as water and for inaccurate recording of work performed.
Internationally, treaties ratified by the United States might actually be in conflict with current federal child labor laws and their applicability to the tobacco farming industry. HRW addresses this as follows:
International Standards on Child Labor
via Human Rights Watch
In recognition of the potential benefits of some forms of work, international law does not prohibit children from working. The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, which the US has ratified, obligates
countries to prohibit certain types of work for children under age 18 as a matter of urgency, including work that is likely to jeopardize children’s physical or mental health, safety or morals (also known as hazardous labor). The ILO leaves it up to governments to determine which occupations are hazardous to children’s health. Several countries, including major tobacco producing countries such as Brazil and India, prohibit children under 18 from performing work in tobacco farming. Based on our field research, interviews with health professionals, and analysis of the public health literature, Human Rights Watch has concluded that no child under age 18 should be permitted to perform any tasks in which they will come into direct contact with tobacco plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves, due to the health risks posed by nicotine, the pesticides applied to the crop, and the particular health risks to children whose bodies and brains are still developing.
The ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor
Recommendation states that certain types of work in an unhealthy environment may be appropriate for children ages 16 and older “on the condition that the health, safety and morals of the children concerned are fully protected, and that the children have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity.” Because exposure to tobacco in any form is unsafe, Human Rights Watch has determined, based on our field investigations and other research, that as a practical matter there is no way for children under 18 to work safely on US tobacco farms when they have direct contact with tobacco plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves, even if wearing protective equipment. Though protective equipment may help mitigate exposure to nicotine and pesticide residues, rain suits and watertight gloves would not completely eliminate absorption of toxins through the skin and would greatly increase children’s risk of suffering health related illnesses. Such problems documented by Human Rights Watch in the US seem likely to extend to tobacco farms outside the United States
HRW called upon the tobacco product manufactures and tobacco leaf companies to provide statements of their policy to address the issue of child labor. The NGO queried “companies that source tobacco from the states we visited. Eight of those companies manufacture tobacco products (Altria Group, British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Japan Tobacco Group, Lorillard, Philip Morris International, and Reynolds American), and two are leaf merchant companies (Alliance One International and Universal Corporation).”
In the months prior to the release of this report, HRW sent letters to each company and requested a response along with a request to meeting with company officials to discuss the issue. The HRW report stated the following regarding these exchanges:
Nine companies responded to Human Rights Watch and stated that they took steps to prohibit child labor in their supply chains. Only China National Tobacco did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s letter or repeated attempts to secure a meeting with company executives.
All of the tobacco manufacturing companies and leaf supply merchants that replied to Human Rights Watch expressed concerns about child labor in their supply chain. Only a few of the companies have explicit child labor policies in place. The approaches to child labor in the supply chain varied from company to company, as detailed below. Human Rights Watch correspondence with these companies is included in an appendix to this report, available on the Human Rights Watch website.
Of the companies approached by Human Rights Watch, Philip Morris International (PMI) has developed the most detailed and protective set of policies and procedures, including training and policy guidance on child labor and other labor issues which it is implementing in its global supply chain. PMI has also developed specific lists of hazardous tasks that children under 18 are prohibited from doing on tobacco farms, which include most tasks in which children come into prolonged contact with mature tobacco leaves, among other hazardous work.
Several companies stated that in their US operations they required tobacco growers with whom they contract to comply with US law, including laws on child labor, which, as noted above, do not afford sufficient protections for children. These companies stated that their policies for tobacco purchasing in countries outside of the US were consistent with international law, including with regard to a minimum age of 15 for entry into work under the ILO Minimum Age Convention, with the exception of certain light work, and a prohibition on hazardous work for children under 18, unless national laws afford greater protections. However, most companies did not specify the tasks that they consider to constitute hazardous work. Under these standards, children working in tobacco farming can remain vulnerable to serious health hazards and risks associated with contact with tobacco plants and tobacco leaves. A number of companies stated that they had undertaken internal and third party monitoring of their supply chains to examine labor conditions, including the use of child labor, as defined within the scope of their existing policies.
100 years later are we still doing enough?
To commemorate World Day Against Child Labor it is time to perhaps seek a reassessment of the need to employ children in an occupation that studies have shown is hazardous to their health, especially during their development. We as a society have said no to the notion of children consuming nicotine as end users but we have been mostly blind to the poisonous effect of the substance on children participating in its cultivation. Yet with inconsistent oversight by tobacco companies of their farm suppliers, it is likely that opposition from the tobacco states will result in protective child labor laws. The indifference to the subject by Congress is often due to lack of demands from their constituents and heavy lobbying efforts by the tobacco industry. It is not likely these children will see improvement in their young lives as long as they are employed in an industry that in many ways is shown to be detrimental to their wellbeing.
Since approximately ninety percent of the tobacco produced in the United States comes from these four tobacco states, it is probable that they industry still will survive the additional cost of a tobacco leaf that is harvested by an adult or machine instead of a child but it is unlikely tobacco agribusinesses will want you to believe such a reality.
A true measure of a society is how well it treats its most vulnerable.
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
229 thoughts on “The Tobacco Industry And Child Labor”
Talk about going off on a tangent!
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Green tobacco sickness is a real thing. Here is what wiki says,
Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS) is a type of nicotine poisoning caused by the dermal absorption of nicotine from the surface of wet tobacco plants.[1] Tobacco harvesters, whose clothing becomes saturated from tobacco wet with rain or morning dew, are at high risk of developing GTS. Workers can avoid getting this sickness by waiting to harvest until the tobacco leaves are dry, or by wearing a rain suit. Wet clothing that has come in contact with tobacco leaves should be removed immediately and the skin washed with warm soapy water.
Nicotine from other sources, including nicotine gum, a nicotine patch or electronic cigarette, or other tobacco products like cigarettes or smokeless tobacco, appears to reduce the risk of GTS due to the body adapting to the intake of nicotine. However they bear even more serious health risks.
Symptoms of GTS include nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, and severe weakness.[1] These symptoms may be accompanied by fluctuations in blood pressure or heart rate. Abdominal cramping, chills, increased sweating, salivation and difficulty breathing are also common.[1] The illness will resolve on its own within one to two days, but symptoms may be so severe as to require emergency medical treatment.
In the United States, where tobacco is increasingly being farmed on large farms, seasonal or migrant farmworkers are disproportionately affected by this condition. Worldwide there are an estimated 33 million tobacco farm workers, with a substantial proportion living in developing countries. A recent international review reported that between 8-89% of tobacco harvesters may be affected in the course of a season (this wide variation probably being due to differences between study methodologies as well as a range of working conditions). The long-term health outcomes for individuals exposed to nicotine transdermally for extended periods of time are not known.[2]
I don’t see any excuse for letting young people or older people get exposed to this without proper clothing or training.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
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Liberals could give a rat’s ass if kids are harvesting Belgian endive, arugala, blueberries[all of which I eat]. As I see the usual suspects commenting, the more evidence it’s about making tobacco illegal. The left LOVE to ban stuff. The love to control, from the speech that comes out of our bodies to the substance we put in our bodies. They hate choice and love control. Salon is attacking Jerry Seinfeld. They had an Education Industry bureaucrat write a hit piece. The vapid woman didn’t have the sense to see she was making Seinfeld’s point. Seinfeld has a great series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The hilarious Steve Harvey talks about how the PC fascists work. Seinfeld has thrown down the gauntlet on PC and freedom. It’s on, folks!!
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Don de Drain
We don’t need Davidm2575. We have Nick and Paul, the champions of it’s all right cuz they’re doing it over here and over there.
Tobacco is not the only disgusting industry. However, it is the vanguard of disgusting industries.
OK now for an explanation of how I don’t understand the Constitution, am a progressive, and promote more government like the EPA.
Well nobody understands the Constitution although many interpret it.
I am a progressive and have faith in evolution.
I truly believe in regulating man’s tendency to go after the almighty buck regardless of the consequences for all. Yes to the EPA. Yes to clamping down of crooks and thieves in the private sector. Yes to making politicians accountable for their actions. Yes to taking private money out of the electoral process. Yes to government funding to transport whomever needs transportation to vote. Yes to transferring the subsidies to the fossil fuel industry over to the renewable energy industry. Yes to doubling the penalties for crimes committed by those in positions of responsibility: police, prosecutors, judges, etc. Yes to single payer health insurance with premiums pegged to income tax rates. Yes to raising the tax rate on high earners and getting rid of loop holes. Yes to lowering the corporate tax rate but at the same time penalizing American corporations that locate overseas to avoid US taxes. Yes to increasing the training and wages for teachers while reducing administration and taking all aspects of the public education system out of the private sector. Yes to studying successful systems of other countries and implementing changes based on those successes. Yes to a lot of stuff like that, conversely no to a lot of stuff.
Yes Nick, I know I don’t understand.
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I had a job when I was twelve. So did all of my friends. It was hard physical work. Luckily it wasn’t necessary for my family to survive. I just wanted money.
To buy cigarettes and beer.
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MADE IN THE USA: Child Labor & Tobacco
(May 14, 2014) Child labor is common on tobacco farms in the United States, where children are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers. Child tobacco workers often get sick with vomiting, nausea, headaches, and dizziness while working, all symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.
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Are the farmers who grow produce, wheat, corn, etc. exploiting the children they employ, or is it just EVIL tobacco?
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Nick – all farmers exploit children (usually their own).
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Nick and Paul, I don’t know if you have children or grandchildren but if you do, why don’t you sign them up for this work for the next year or two [not just for a few weeks] and then let us know how they’re doing. In fact, why don’t you sign yourself up for it for a couple of years [not just a few weeks] and let us know how you’re doing.
There’s a huge difference between hard work [good] and exploitation [evil].
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old nurse – I put my time in doing farm work, did you?
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Paul, Absolutely. The hypocrisy is staggering. Tobacco is an easy target if you are a control freak and want to ban a product. This isn’t about “the children.” Just look @ the title of this piece. If it was about “the children” wouldn’t that lead off the title? “The Children” play second fiddle to THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY.
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Remember the movie The Green Berets? The tobacco companies sponsor such products. John Wayne has the troops out in the jungle in Nam on a long march. They pull up for a rest and he says: “Smoke em if ya gottem.” And the chumps all light up. Meanwhile the Cong are out there with their noses up trying to follow the stink so they can attack the Americans.
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I think the only thing about this article that bothered my was the possible and I say possible cheating of the kids on their pay. Even that is iffy. The same problems the kids have with tobacco dust they have with wheat dust or corn dust, etc. I have worked a wheat harvest and I know how dirty and how hot you can get. How dusty it gets. How you are covered with wheat hulks and you spend all day itching. Farming is not for special snowflakes.
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Virtually all farmers use some type of child labor. There are pesticides and herbicides used on virtually all crops grown. Why aren’t liberals concerned about that?? Liberals will not be happy until tobacco becomes illegal. This isn’t about “the children.” This is about tobacco! I don’t smoke. I think smoking is stupid. But, “There is no freedom w/o choice.” People are AMPLY warned on the dangers. Liberals only like some kinds of choice. Libertarians love freedom of choice.
“The sisters trudged into dense rows of bright green tobacco plants. Their task was to tear off flowers and remove small shoots from the stalks, a process called “topping and suckering.” They walked the rows, reaching deep into the wet leaves, and before long their clothes were soaked in the early morning dew. None of them knew that the dew represented a health hazard: when wet, tobacco leaves excrete nicotine, which is absorbed by the skin. One study estimated that on a humid day—and virtually every summer day in North Carolina is humid—a tobacco worker can be exposed to the nicotine equivalent of thirty-six cigarettes.”
This is an excellent expose on just WHY child labor is allowed in tobacco fields. We should hang our heads in shame for not fighting against this, of course we need to be made aware of it to begin with. It’s all about profit, surprise. Also, those who advocate for the repeal or weakening of child labor laws should stop painting others as hang wringers. I say they should send their own children into these fields to prove their theory about tempests in teapots.
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There are poor white, Hmong and Mexican kids picking strawberries within the next couple weeks all across this country. “Oh, the humanity!” These are the kids who will make something of themselves.
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Apparently Human Rights Watch hasn’t heard about Hmong families, including children, picking the chewing tobacco grown in southern Wi. Better get out here soon, the picking starts in July! Or, maybe Hmong don’t matter. This country has crapped on them for decades now.
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Interesting piece. When I was 14 myself and a friend worked picking tobacco in Ct. The Ct. River Valley grows shade tobacco, used as leaf wrapper for cigars. If you ever fly into Bradley Field outside Hartford and wonder what the white cloth draping fields are, that is the shade provided for the tobacco. Buses would pick young people up and take them to the fields. It was hard work for minimum wage. Most of the workers were Puerto Rican. There weren’t any upper middle class kids working this back breaking job. We started later in the season and only did it for a few weeks. We learned some Spanish, much not usable in polite company. I am a better and stronger person for the experience. We have kids de-tassling corn here in the Midwest. They go out onto fields that use pesticide and herbicide. Is anyone outraged @ that? Of course not, it’s not evil tobacco!
I am sure the hand wringers will castigate me for this. But, I will save my outrage for children being raped and murdered in the world. I’ve seen that close up and personal working the mean streets. This is a tempest in a teapot. But, well researched and passionate.
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Yes, we discussed child labor yesterday on the Lemonade thread. The picture of the child coal mine workers was one I used to try to illustrate the continuation child labor laws. Obviously the current child labor laws are not strong enough to see children in the tobacco fields coming down with Green Tobacco Sickness. That there are those that advocate for the repeal of child labor laws or the weakening of child labor laws is mindboggling. Thanks for posting this article highlighting this. Some might say, “Well at least it’s not black lung”.
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Darren
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. This is a big deal.
I’m wondering how long it will be before we get a post from davidm extolling the virtues of child labor or a post from wadewilliams wondering when squeeky will make a post about putting feral blacks to work picking tobacco. (Running for cover after stirring the pot. )
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America intentionally tries to keep its population down– by suppressing long life. The primary method is tobacco which is sold everywhere. Now the vaping method is on the loose. The industry has the eyes and ears of the political establishment. I dont even see Bernie Sanders speaking out on this issue. Dumb schmuck probably smokes. The are quicker methods of suicide than smoking. There are less painful methods than dying of lung cancer. But the medical industry prospers from all this. Go to a hospital and look at all the schmucks who work there who are outside smoking at the suicide canister–doctors, nurses, and clean up people. Tobacco growers are subsidized by the government. If you have a child or young adult offspring who smokes then consider your own failings in not educating the dumb schmuck. Oh, if you are over 80 you can maybe say that you did not know any better when you were a young schmuck and got hooked yourself. But what if you are 50 and you are a smoker? Your kid and grandkids watch you and think all is good. It is good for the tobacco industry, the Koch Brothers, the medical industry, and the one child left behind society. Some of you are sitting there at the computer stinking up the house and smoking away and thinking: Who is this arse? Well, I am just a truth teller from the South. If you live up North and know everything then skip over this comment and keep on truckin.
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It’s interesting that OSHA is barely mentioned in this column.
International agencies and standards are frequently cited.
Darren…do you know where OSHA stands on this issue, if they stand at all?
Yesterday, June 12th, marked World Day Against Child Labor. For this occasion I highlight the plight of young children employed to work in the tobacco agribusiness in the United States. It is estimated, by Deutsche Welle, that 500,000 children labor in this market; most are exposed to hazardous conditions ranging from exposure to high levels of nicotine and pesticides, farm implements, and long working hours among others. Variances in the standard federal child labor standards permit tobacco growers to employ children–some of whom are under twelve years in age.
Resulting from these exposures, often from unprotected skin and lax safety policies, children suffer often from a condition known as Green Tobacco Sickness. This illness is an occupational disease caused by workers absorbing nicotine through their skin after prolonged exposure to the plants. These symptoms, references earlier, are identified by Public and Occupation health officials. The long term effects are currently unknown though other studies on the usage of tobacco products (such as smoking) in adolescents may have links to complications in brain development. Public health research indicates that non-smoking workers in tobacco agriculture have similar levels of nicotine in their bodies as do smokers in the general population.
The introduction of labor contractors, those who sell labor for a fixed price to farmers and where the workers are actually the employees of the contractor, has provided an opportunity for exploitation. Since these contractors retain earnings based on the margin between the revenue from the farm and the labor costs they endure, the temptation to extract more earnings often becomes high; especially in light of the fact that most workers are of an economic underclass that is less likely to report labor abuses and especially in the case of children having not the life experience or foreknowledge of what constitutes a proper and healthy working environment.
Talk about going off on a tangent!
Green tobacco sickness is a real thing. Here is what wiki says,
I don’t see any excuse for letting young people or older people get exposed to this without proper clothing or training.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Liberals could give a rat’s ass if kids are harvesting Belgian endive, arugala, blueberries[all of which I eat]. As I see the usual suspects commenting, the more evidence it’s about making tobacco illegal. The left LOVE to ban stuff. The love to control, from the speech that comes out of our bodies to the substance we put in our bodies. They hate choice and love control. Salon is attacking Jerry Seinfeld. They had an Education Industry bureaucrat write a hit piece. The vapid woman didn’t have the sense to see she was making Seinfeld’s point. Seinfeld has a great series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The hilarious Steve Harvey talks about how the PC fascists work. Seinfeld has thrown down the gauntlet on PC and freedom. It’s on, folks!!
Don de Drain
We don’t need Davidm2575. We have Nick and Paul, the champions of it’s all right cuz they’re doing it over here and over there.
Tobacco is not the only disgusting industry. However, it is the vanguard of disgusting industries.
OK now for an explanation of how I don’t understand the Constitution, am a progressive, and promote more government like the EPA.
Well nobody understands the Constitution although many interpret it.
I am a progressive and have faith in evolution.
I truly believe in regulating man’s tendency to go after the almighty buck regardless of the consequences for all. Yes to the EPA. Yes to clamping down of crooks and thieves in the private sector. Yes to making politicians accountable for their actions. Yes to taking private money out of the electoral process. Yes to government funding to transport whomever needs transportation to vote. Yes to transferring the subsidies to the fossil fuel industry over to the renewable energy industry. Yes to doubling the penalties for crimes committed by those in positions of responsibility: police, prosecutors, judges, etc. Yes to single payer health insurance with premiums pegged to income tax rates. Yes to raising the tax rate on high earners and getting rid of loop holes. Yes to lowering the corporate tax rate but at the same time penalizing American corporations that locate overseas to avoid US taxes. Yes to increasing the training and wages for teachers while reducing administration and taking all aspects of the public education system out of the private sector. Yes to studying successful systems of other countries and implementing changes based on those successes. Yes to a lot of stuff like that, conversely no to a lot of stuff.
Yes Nick, I know I don’t understand.
I had a job when I was twelve. So did all of my friends. It was hard physical work. Luckily it wasn’t necessary for my family to survive. I just wanted money.
To buy cigarettes and beer.
MADE IN THE USA: Child Labor & Tobacco
(May 14, 2014) Child labor is common on tobacco farms in the United States, where children are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers. Child tobacco workers often get sick with vomiting, nausea, headaches, and dizziness while working, all symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.
Are the farmers who grow produce, wheat, corn, etc. exploiting the children they employ, or is it just EVIL tobacco?
Nick – all farmers exploit children (usually their own).
Nick and Paul, I don’t know if you have children or grandchildren but if you do, why don’t you sign them up for this work for the next year or two [not just for a few weeks] and then let us know how they’re doing. In fact, why don’t you sign yourself up for it for a couple of years [not just a few weeks] and let us know how you’re doing.
There’s a huge difference between hard work [good] and exploitation [evil].
old nurse – I put my time in doing farm work, did you?
Paul, Absolutely. The hypocrisy is staggering. Tobacco is an easy target if you are a control freak and want to ban a product. This isn’t about “the children.” Just look @ the title of this piece. If it was about “the children” wouldn’t that lead off the title? “The Children” play second fiddle to THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY.
Remember the movie The Green Berets? The tobacco companies sponsor such products. John Wayne has the troops out in the jungle in Nam on a long march. They pull up for a rest and he says: “Smoke em if ya gottem.” And the chumps all light up. Meanwhile the Cong are out there with their noses up trying to follow the stink so they can attack the Americans.
I think the only thing about this article that bothered my was the possible and I say possible cheating of the kids on their pay. Even that is iffy. The same problems the kids have with tobacco dust they have with wheat dust or corn dust, etc. I have worked a wheat harvest and I know how dirty and how hot you can get. How dusty it gets. How you are covered with wheat hulks and you spend all day itching. Farming is not for special snowflakes.
Virtually all farmers use some type of child labor. There are pesticides and herbicides used on virtually all crops grown. Why aren’t liberals concerned about that?? Liberals will not be happy until tobacco becomes illegal. This isn’t about “the children.” This is about tobacco! I don’t smoke. I think smoking is stupid. But, “There is no freedom w/o choice.” People are AMPLY warned on the dangers. Liberals only like some kinds of choice. Libertarians love freedom of choice.
http://m.thenation.com/article/177136-why-are-children-working-american-tobacco-fields
“The sisters trudged into dense rows of bright green tobacco plants. Their task was to tear off flowers and remove small shoots from the stalks, a process called “topping and suckering.” They walked the rows, reaching deep into the wet leaves, and before long their clothes were soaked in the early morning dew. None of them knew that the dew represented a health hazard: when wet, tobacco leaves excrete nicotine, which is absorbed by the skin. One study estimated that on a humid day—and virtually every summer day in North Carolina is humid—a tobacco worker can be exposed to the nicotine equivalent of thirty-six cigarettes.”
This is an excellent expose on just WHY child labor is allowed in tobacco fields. We should hang our heads in shame for not fighting against this, of course we need to be made aware of it to begin with. It’s all about profit, surprise. Also, those who advocate for the repeal or weakening of child labor laws should stop painting others as hang wringers. I say they should send their own children into these fields to prove their theory about tempests in teapots.
There are poor white, Hmong and Mexican kids picking strawberries within the next couple weeks all across this country. “Oh, the humanity!” These are the kids who will make something of themselves.
Apparently Human Rights Watch hasn’t heard about Hmong families, including children, picking the chewing tobacco grown in southern Wi. Better get out here soon, the picking starts in July! Or, maybe Hmong don’t matter. This country has crapped on them for decades now.
Interesting piece. When I was 14 myself and a friend worked picking tobacco in Ct. The Ct. River Valley grows shade tobacco, used as leaf wrapper for cigars. If you ever fly into Bradley Field outside Hartford and wonder what the white cloth draping fields are, that is the shade provided for the tobacco. Buses would pick young people up and take them to the fields. It was hard work for minimum wage. Most of the workers were Puerto Rican. There weren’t any upper middle class kids working this back breaking job. We started later in the season and only did it for a few weeks. We learned some Spanish, much not usable in polite company. I am a better and stronger person for the experience. We have kids de-tassling corn here in the Midwest. They go out onto fields that use pesticide and herbicide. Is anyone outraged @ that? Of course not, it’s not evil tobacco!
I am sure the hand wringers will castigate me for this. But, I will save my outrage for children being raped and murdered in the world. I’ve seen that close up and personal working the mean streets. This is a tempest in a teapot. But, well researched and passionate.
Yes, we discussed child labor yesterday on the Lemonade thread. The picture of the child coal mine workers was one I used to try to illustrate the continuation child labor laws. Obviously the current child labor laws are not strong enough to see children in the tobacco fields coming down with Green Tobacco Sickness. That there are those that advocate for the repeal of child labor laws or the weakening of child labor laws is mindboggling. Thanks for posting this article highlighting this. Some might say, “Well at least it’s not black lung”.
Darren
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. This is a big deal.
I’m wondering how long it will be before we get a post from davidm extolling the virtues of child labor or a post from wadewilliams wondering when squeeky will make a post about putting feral blacks to work picking tobacco. (Running for cover after stirring the pot. )
America intentionally tries to keep its population down– by suppressing long life. The primary method is tobacco which is sold everywhere. Now the vaping method is on the loose. The industry has the eyes and ears of the political establishment. I dont even see Bernie Sanders speaking out on this issue. Dumb schmuck probably smokes. The are quicker methods of suicide than smoking. There are less painful methods than dying of lung cancer. But the medical industry prospers from all this. Go to a hospital and look at all the schmucks who work there who are outside smoking at the suicide canister–doctors, nurses, and clean up people. Tobacco growers are subsidized by the government. If you have a child or young adult offspring who smokes then consider your own failings in not educating the dumb schmuck. Oh, if you are over 80 you can maybe say that you did not know any better when you were a young schmuck and got hooked yourself. But what if you are 50 and you are a smoker? Your kid and grandkids watch you and think all is good. It is good for the tobacco industry, the Koch Brothers, the medical industry, and the one child left behind society. Some of you are sitting there at the computer stinking up the house and smoking away and thinking: Who is this arse? Well, I am just a truth teller from the South. If you live up North and know everything then skip over this comment and keep on truckin.
It’s interesting that OSHA is barely mentioned in this column.
International agencies and standards are frequently cited.
Darren…do you know where OSHA stands on this issue, if they stand at all?