100 MILLION CAMPAIGN Key Facts about Child Labor in the US Tobacco Industry © 2015 Benedict Evans for Human Rights Watch Global Facts Globally, there are approximately 152 Tobacco production is a multi-billion- million child laborers of which 73 million dollar global industry. It is dominated by are involved in hazardous work. (1) large multinational companies, including Phillip Morris International, British According to the International Labour American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco Organization (ILO), there is no estimate International, Altria (formerly known as for children working in tobacco fields, but Phillip Morris USA), the China National surveys show that in tobacco growing Tobacco Corporation, and the Imperial communities, child labour is growing. In Tobacco Group, which together posted Malawi 57 percent of all children in two profits exceeding $62 billion in 2015. (3) tobacco producing districts were involved in child labour. (2) u.s. specific In the US, more than 300,000 children work in the agriculture industry and are exposed to toxins and heavy unsafe machinery. (6) 90% of the tobacco grown in the US is found in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. (4) Currently, there are no provisions in US law that ban children from working entirely. In agriculture, even children under the age of 12 can legally find work for unlimited hours on a tobacco farm with parental permission. (5) Agricultural employment is either exempted from or is not listed among the covered sectors in the child labor laws of 17 states including in Kentucky and North Carolina. (5) In 2012, the United States produced approximately 800 million pounds of tobacco. (4) © 2015 Benedict Evans for Human Rights Watch 01 health impacts A recent report from Human Rights Watch In the tobacco field, children are often found that 3 out of 4 children who work in expected to work 50-60 hours a week, in tobacco fields become sick due to the high the heat, with few breaks and are given level of exposure from nicotine. (6) little to no protective gear. (6) Symptoms include shortness of breath, All the children that were interviewed by dizziness, nausea, and vomiting, the prime Human Rights Watch stated that their symptoms of nicotine poisoning. Because employers did not provide health nicotine is water soluble it is absorbed education, safety training, or information through the skin, negatively impacting on protective measures. (6) children who come in contact. (6) Some children worked in the fields with Many employers do not provide children bare feet or with socks when the mud with drinking water, toilets, hand-washing was high. (6) facilities or shade. (6) education Children as young as 12 can work Virginia allows children as young as 12 to unlimited hours on a tobacco farm and be work in the agriculture sector outside of paid less than other workers as long as it school hours with parental permission. (8) does not interfere with school and they Children 16 years of age and older are have parental permission. (7) able to work within school hours. Notably, Virginia law also prohibits any child from Federal child labor provisions do not working in an environment that "exposes require minors to obtain work permits and them to a recognized hazard capable of do not limit the number of hours or times causing serious physical harm or of day (other than outside of school hours) death.” (8) that young farmworkers may legally work. (7) references 1. Global Estimates of Child Labour. International Labor Organization (ILO). 2017. 2. ILO cooperation with the tobacco industry in the pursuit of the Organization’s social mandate. International Labor Organization (ILO). 2017. 3. Tobacco industry interference with tobacco control. World Health Organization. 2009. 4. Tobacco Production By State. World Atlas. 2017. 5. 29 USC 213: Exemptions. 6. Teens of the Tobacco FieldsChild Labor in United States Tobacco Farming. Human Rights Watch. 2015. 7. Child Labor Bulletin 102: Child Labor Requirements in Agricultural Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act. U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. 2016. 8. Davis, Shelley; Leonard, James B. The Ones the Law Forgot: Children Working in Agriculture. National Agricultural Safety Database.2000 02
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