We are writing as members of the Human Rights Watch Council to urge you to co-sponsor this legislation and to schedule hearings as soon as possible after its introduction. In a report released in June, Human Rights Watch found that child farmworkers work long hours under grueling conditions, and risk pesticide poisoning, injuries and life-long disabilities. Human Rights Watch interviewed children who worked ten hours a day at age twelve, and others working twelve or more hours a day at age fourteen, sometimes beginning at 3 or 4 a.m. Child farmworkers are routinely exposed to dangerous pesticides, suffering rashes, headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Long-term consequences of pesticide poisoning can include cancer and brain damage.
Children working in agriculture suffer high rates of injuries.
They frequently suffer cuts from sharp knives and falls from ladders. They may be crushed or maimed by tractors and other heavy equipment. Many young farmworkers are forced to work without access to toilet or handwashing facilities, and sometimes labor in 100 degree temperatures without adequate drinking water. Excessive hours of work interfere with the education of child farmworkers. Only 55 percent of farmworker children in the United States finish high school.