In the US, where people under 18 are barred from buying tobacco and vapor products, children as young as seven are hired to work on tobacco farms, according to a National Public Radio story relayed by the TMA.
Melissa Bailey Castillo, outreach co-ordinator at the Kinston Community Health Center in North Carolina, was quoted as saying that during the tobacco harvest season, some small farms in the state hired children as young as seven because the Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs child labor, made exceptions for small farms.
The Act allows big farms to hire children as young as 12.
According to a 2013 study conducted by Human Rights Watch, growers say they need the extra labor during the harvest season, while children from rural North Carolina say they must work to help support their families.
However, Castillo said loose federal regulations and tobacco industry policies had made the children vulnerable to the health risks from nicotine and pesticide exposure.
“Either your neighbor owns a farm, or a relative owns a farm,” Castillo was quoted as saying. “Tobacco obviously is part of that heritage, and kids have been working in it, farmers will tell you, for generations.”
The federal Government has acknowledged the health risks of tobacco farming, but it is still legal for children aged 12, with parental permission, to work on a tobacco farm of any size.
And there was no minimum age for children to work on small tobacco farms or family farms.
Tobacco is North Carolina’s most valuable crop, generating about $725 million in 2017.
US using child labor
