Harkin: We Have a Moral Obligation to Protect Children Working on Tobacco Farms

Press Release

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement on a new report by Human Rights Watch, which found that nearly three-quarters of the child tobacco workers in the four largest tobacco-producing states 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 on tobacco fields and in curing barns. Many of these symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning. Though federal law prohibits the sale of cigarettes to children, children can legally work on tobacco farms in the U.S. The world's largest tobacco companies buy tobacco grown on U.S. farms, but none have child labor policies that sufficiently protect children from hazardous work.

"Throughout my career, I have worked to end human rights abuses overseas--from the tiger cages of Vietnam to the most egregious forms of child labor in the cocoa fields of Africa. But to think that we have children in America who are suffering acute nicotine poisoning because they are working in the tobacco fields of the U.S. is truly appalling.

"Public health research has found that non-smoking adult tobacco workers have similar levels of nicotine in their bodies as smokers in the general population. That means that even though our laws prohibit kids from purchasing cigarettes, those working in the tobacco fields may be exposed to the same harmful agents. As a country, we have a moral obligation to protect vulnerable workers, especially children.

"In the coming days, I intend to write to the tobacco companies, urging them to develop company policies and standards to ensure that their supply chains are free of child labor. The health and well-being of our nation's children are too important to put aside."

Harkin is Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

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