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CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE: 50 Groups Urge President Obama to Take Action to Protect Child Tobacco Workers in the US

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(Washington, DC) Fifty US-based organizations called on President Obama to protect children in US tobacco farming in a letter released today. The letter, issued by the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) and 15 other groups, expressed alarm that children are risking acute nicotine poisoning, pesticide poisoning, and other health and safety hazards in US tobacco fields and asked the president to take a narrowly-tailored regulatory action to protect child workers who are allowed by current labor law to work in tobacco fields at the age of 12.

The letter, signed by organizations, representing millions of teachers, healthcare professionals, workers, farmworkers, and advocates concerned about the safety, education, and welfare of children, also asks the president to call on the Department of Labor to conduct targeted field investigations to ensure that no children under 12 are working in the fields illegally.

A recent report, “Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming,” by Human Rights Watch found that of 141 child tobacco workers interviewed in North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, three-quarters reported getting sick while working on US tobacco farms. Many of their symptoms—nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, and dizziness—are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning (also known as “Green Tobacco Sickness”).

“Children in the US can’t legally buy cigarettes, but children working in tobacco fields are suffering acute nicotine poisoning,” said Sally Greenberg, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) and executive director of the National Consumers League. “We urge the president to take immediate action to protect America’s most vulnerable workers—children in tobacco fields.”

“Child tobacco workers reported working long hours, often in extreme heat and without protective gear,” noted Dr. Lorretta Johnson, co-chair of the CLC and the secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers. “Unfortunately, child labor is a common practice in the United States, and it’s legal. We stand with Human Rights Watch, the CLC and many others to call attention to the great dangers faced by children working on tobacco farms. We urge the administration to take measures to end hazardous child labor in tobacco farming.”

Under US law, children as young as 12 can work for hire on any farm with their parent’s permission. Even younger children can work on small farms.

“Agriculture is already the most dangerous area of employment open to children in the US,” said Norma Flores López, the director of the Children in the Fields Campaign for the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and the chair of the CLC’s domestic issues committee. “Tobacco farming is particularly hazardous because of nicotine exposure and toxic pesticides.  We worry about children developing cancer—and neurological and reproductive health problems—linked to the exposure of toxic pesticides. We also need to prevent injuries from working with machinery and dangerous tools, lifting heavy loads, and climbing to significant heights in curing barns.”

The letter to the president also calls on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue “health hazard alerts” so that employers will know how they might mitigate risks of nicotine poisoning for their employees. And it cites the need for better data collection to allow an accurate count of the number of children who currently work in US tobacco fields and other farms.

In June, the CLC sent a letter to the top 10 tobacco companies signed by over 50 organizations, asking for voluntary action to limit tobacco work in the fields. Thus far, no concrete actions to remove children from tobacco fields have been initiated by the companies.

In 2011, the Obama Administration acted to implement regulations to protect working children from farm dangers, including tobacco work, but those rules were withdrawn because of opposition from the farm community. “The wholesale withdrawal of occupational child safety regulations for farms left child workers in tobacco vulnerable to nicotine poisoning, pesticide poisoning, and other dangers. It’s time to fix this glaring consequence of the administration’s complete pullback and move forward to protect children in tobacco fields,” said Reid Maki, CLC coordinator.

Today’s letter to the president with a full list of signers can be found here.

 

For immediate release: August 28, 2014
Contact: Norma Flores Lopez, (202) 828-6006×106, flores@afop.org or Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820

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Open Letter to the President: CLC Members are Joined By Other NGOs and Ask the Adminstration to Protect Child Tobacco Workers in the US

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Art work courtesy Human Rights Watch

Dear Mr. President,

We write to you as organizations representing millions of Americans, including teachers, healthcare professionals, workers, farmworkers, and advocates concerned about the safety, education, and welfare of children.  We are alarmed at recent reports that children are risking acute nicotine poisoning and other health and safety hazards in US tobacco fields, and would like to urge your administration to take immediate action to protect these children.

A study released in May by Human Rights Watch, based on interviews with 141 child tobacco workers in the four largest tobacco-producing states (North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee), found that nearly three-quarters of the child tobacco workers they interviewed had experienced the sudden onset of serious symptoms—including nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, dizziness, difficulty breathing, skin rashes, and irritation to their eyes and mouths —while working in fields of tobacco plants and in curing barns. Many of these symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.

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Child Mining: 10 Facts (click on title if a numbered list does not appear)

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boy staning in mine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. It is estimated that around 1 million children work in mines throughout the world.
  2. Mining is considered a form of hazardous labor unfit for children under any circumstances, including poverty. Mining can lead to serious injuries; health consequences and an unknown number of children lose their lives while mining every year.
  3. Around the world, children, ages 5-17, work in mines for as little as $2 per day.Because of the relatively small number of child miners (one million), compared to child laborers in agriculture (over 100 million), child mining has not received the attention it deserves. Additionally, mining often takes place in temporary, remote, small-scale locations making it difficult to regulate and monitor.
  4. Because of the relatively small number of child miners (one million), compared to child laborers in agriculture (over 100 million), child mining has not received the attention it deserves. Additionally, mining often takes place in temporary, remote, small-scale locations making it difficult to regulate and monitor.
  5. Children can be found working in mines in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and in parts of Europe.
  6. Work for child miners includes digging shafts, crushing rocks, and carrying ore in gold mines and digging, scraping and lifting in salt mines and carrying and crushing large stones in quarries.
  7. Child miners face many potential health consequences due to the nature of their work including: over-exertion , respiratory ailments, headaches, joint problems, hearing and vision loss.
  8. In addition to the risks faced by all child miners, children miners in gold also face potential side effects from working with Mercury. Mercury is a highly toxic substance used to extract gold. Mercury poisoning can affect a person’s brain, heart, kidneys, and lungs. Additionally, Mercury poisoning is extremely detrimental to children, affecting their nervous system development leading to long-term developmental disabilities.
  9. Children are often forced into mines by poverty. Human Rights Watch, a CLC member,  believes that the boycott of goods produced from mines where children work is not the answer. Reducing the income of already impoverished communities can lead to higher levels of children labor. Instead, companies and their supplies need to work to initiate programs removing children from the supply chain.Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom are top destinations for products of child mining. Consumers often buy diamonds, gold and precious gems from retailers with disregard to the origin of their jewelry and the human toll that helped produce it.
  10. Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom are top destinations for products of child mining. Consumers often buy diamonds, gold and precious gems from retailers with disregard to the origin of their jewelry and the human toll that helped produce it.

Sources:

  1.  https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Miningandquarrying/lang–en/index.htm
  2. https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Miningandquarrying/lang–en/index.htm
  3. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/world-july-dec13-burkinafaso_07-10/
  4. https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Miningandquarrying/lang–en/index.htm
  5. https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Miningandquarrying/lang–en/index.htm
  6. ILO “Child labor in Salt Mining: The Problem”, ILO: “Child labor in Stone Quarrying: The Problem, Global March: https://www.globalmarch.org/content/children-engaged-unsafe-mining
  7. ILO “Child Labour in Gold Mining: The Problem”, EPA https://www.epa.gov/hg/effects.htm
  8.  ILO “Child Labour in Gold Mining: The Problem”, EPA https://www.epa.gov/hg/effects.htm
  9. Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/11/africas-child-mining-shame
  10. Global March: https://www.globalmarch.org/content/children-engaged-unsafe-mining
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Save the Children: Border Children Need Help Now

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Save the Children's Carlos Carrazana

[The following op-ed appeared in USA Today on July 29th. To view it on USA Today’s page, click here.]

Aid organizations can help, but the federal government must give us permission now.

Rooms with concrete floors and walls, packed with children. The overpowering smell of sweat and urine. Guards who have to wear masks to deal with the stench. Toilets with little or no privacy. No showers or beds in sight.

What I saw on a recent visit to a detention centeralong our border was children, many just five or six years old, essentially imprisoned. Vulnerable children separated from parents, susceptible to bullying and sickness, and held like criminals. They were exhausted, lonely, and dazed. I have been in many refugee camps throughout my career in global development, and this center rivals each of them. But this one is right here in the United States.

Despite the rhetoric around immigration and the heated policy debate here in Washington, these are not criminals. They are innocent children caught up in a situation beyond their control. Regardless of why and how they came, they are here now — and they deserve to be treated with humanity.

In the face of an influx of unaccompanied minors, Customs and Border Patrol and other agencies are understandably overwhelmed. Customs and Border Patrol is responsible for protecting our borders from those who are a threat to our national security, and not trained to care for large numbers of children in crisis. They maintain the basic safety of the detention center, but are unable to meet children’s emotional and physical needs to ensure their well-being.

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