Green tobacco sickness and teenage farmhands | Food and Environment Reporting Network

“(P)ublic health experts say hundreds of children under 16…continue to work in America’s tobacco fields” through an exclusion in labor law that allows youth as young as 12 years old to work unlimited hours as farm workers, says the New York Times in a story about youth labor on tobacco farms. The story says field workers risk green tobacco sickness – nicotine poisoning – from dew or rain water dripping from the leaves of tobacco plants. Vomiting, dizziness and irregular heartbeats are among the symptoms.

The Obama administration proposed and later withdrew a regulation to bar work in tobacco fields and with tractors by those under age 16. “Agricultural organizations said the move would hurt family farms and make it harder for young people to learn farming skills,” said the Times. Tobacco growers say it is rare to hire teenagers. ” But interviews with many teenagers and experts suggest that the practice is still prevalent,” said the Times. Labor unions, pediatricians and consumer groups have appealed to tobacco companies to use their leverage with growers to then teenage hiring.