As families across the United States prepare to gather for Thanksgiving this Thursday, too many children face danger cultivating and harvesting the foods that will end up on our tables.<\/p>\n
A new Los Angeles Times\u00a0investigation<\/a> has found children working back-breaking 10-hour shifts on farms across the US state of California. Many said they began working when they were between 11 and 13 years old.<\/p>\n The children\u2019s stories are eerily familiar. My colleagues and I have\u00a0interviewed<\/a> hundreds of children working on\u00a0US farms<\/a> who also worked 10 or more hours a day in extreme heat and reported injuries, illness, and chronic pain.<\/p>\n Many children we spoke with were exposed to toxic\u00a0pesticides<\/a> while they worked, with some becoming violently ill afterward. \u201cI got so sick one time after they sprayed,\u201d a 15-year-old girl told me. \u201cI got really dizzy and I saw black. I sat down and threw up several times.\u201d Pesticide exposure can be especially harmful to children because their bodies and brains are still developing.<\/p>\n US labor law leaves child farmworkers\u00a0unprotected<\/a> from these dangers. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, children as young as 12 can work unlimited hours on farms of any size with parental permission, as long as they do not miss school. At 16, child farmworkers can do work considered hazardous, while in all other sectors, workers must be 18 to do hazardous work. Enforcement of even these weak protections is often lacking.<\/p>\n A bill before Congress would close these gaps and provide child farmworkers with the same protections as other working children. Last week, Congressman Raul Ruiz of California reintroduced<\/a> the Children\u2019s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety (CARE Act), which would raise the minimum working age in agriculture from 12 to 14, and prohibit those under 18 from performing hazardous work.<\/p>\n