End Child Labor in the United States

Do you think child labor in the US only occurred during the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s? Think again!

Today, hundreds of thousands of children (under the age of 18) work in the US in dangerous conditions, mainly in the agriculture industry. Some regularly contract nicotine poisoning on tobacco fields while others accidentally cut themselves with industrial knives while working on onion fields.

You may be thinking, “If this labor is so dangerous for children, why hasn’t the government outlawed it?” Well, although the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) banned child labor in the United States in 1938, a technicality in it allows children to work in the agricultural industry.

The FLSA states:

Youths ages 16 and above may work in any farm job at any time.

Youths ages 14 and 15 may work outside school hours in jobs not declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.

Youths 12 and 13 years of age may work outside of school hours in non-hazardous jobs on farms that also employ their parent(s) or with written parental consent.

Youths under 12 years of age may work outside of school hours in non-hazardous jobs with parental consent, but only on farms where none of the employees are subject to the minimum wage requirements of the FLSA.

Even though the FLSA clearly states children under twelve may not work under hazardous conditions, Human Rights Watch has reported a Tobacco Industry practice of having children as young as 7 working on tobacco farms. Work on tobacco farms exposes children to the toxin nicotine and other pesticides, which can cause irreparable harm to young developing bodies and brains due to nicotine poisoning.

The short-term effects of nicotine exposure include nausea and headaches, among others, but long-term consequences of nicotine exposure during childhood and adolescence could prove detrimental to children’s mental health and reproductive health. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is susceptible to stimulants and is responsible for making decisions, is not fully developed until after a child reaches the age of twenty-five. If children as young as seven years old are exposed to such stimulants as tobacco, they risk damage to their underdeveloped prefrontal cortexes, which could make them susceptible to other stimulants or even addictions later in life.

Also, working in tobacco farms could result in sterility, or the inability for these kids to have their own children when they get older. Given this evidence, it would be irresponsible for the Department of Labor not to recognize the hazardous nature of tobacco farming; children deserve to be protected from these dangerous and life-threatening conditions brought about by working in the agriculture industry.