According to the NYT:
"For years, public health experts and federal labor officials have sought to bar teenagers under 16 from the tobacco fields, citing the grueling hours and the harmful exposure to nicotine and other chemicals, but their efforts have been blocked. Three years ago, Hilda Solis, then the labor secretary, proposed declaring work in tobacco fields and with tractors hazardous — making that type of work illegal for those under 16. Opponents of child labor note that Brazil, India and some other tobacco-producing nations already prohibit anyone under 18 from working on tobacco farms.
The Obama administration withdrew Ms. Solis’s proposed rule after encountering intense opposition from farm groups and Republican lawmakers. Agricultural organizations said the move would hurt family farms and make it harder for young people to learn farming skills.
The administration killed the proposal in April 2012, when the president was running for re-election, saying it would not pursue these regulations for “the duration of the Obama administration.” But some proponents still hope to revive the tobacco part of the proposal once this year’s midterm elections are over.
In the meantime, public health experts say hundreds of children under 16 like Saray continue to work in America’s tobacco fields. Dr. Thomas A. Arcury, an expert on tobacco and migrant workers and a professor at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said tobacco work was particularly harmful to children, pointing to nicotine poisoning, pesticides and dehydration."
At age seven I was helping doctor calves for screwworms. By age eight I knew how to harness a horse to a plow. At age 11 I could crank up a Farmall 12, attach a plow, and work a field. By age 12 I could drive a car. And by age nine I was saddling a horse to work livestock.
ReplyDeleteI plead ignorance about tobacco plants and the hazard of nicotine, but all the rest of this "save the kids" stuff is sheer idiocy--to be polite about it.
Art
Oh: The drawback to plowing behind a horse is that the view never improves. However, during election campaigns, you come to realize that some views never improve.
ReplyDeleteAfter leaving the military and settling down in a small town, I've witnessed more Machiavellian politics forced upon a community by laypersons with their claim of power over other residents. It's absolutely sickening the lack of accountability displayed by such individuals. Like Art said, it's the "board of directors".
ReplyDelete