Children working in tobacco

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has pointed out an inconsistency in the US’ approach to the safety of young people, according to an Independent Online story.

While new regulations ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to under-18s, Human Rights Watch says, people as young as 12 will still be ‘allowed’ to work on US tobacco farms.

Although President Barack Obama’s administration has extended the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to include, among other products, electronic cigarettes, 12-year-olds can still work 50 to 60 hours a week outside of school on tobacco farms.

According to HRW, some children working on farms in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia have reported vomiting, nausea, headaches and dizziness while working with tobacco leaves.

The group warned that these symptoms were consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.

It suggested also that some of the pesticides used in tobacco farming were known neurotoxins that could destroy nerve tissue.