Abstract
Tobacco farming is considered Hazardous Child Labor in Brazil. This study examined the work of children and adolescents in tobacco farming, characterizing the level of urinary cotinine and the occurrence of Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS), pesticide poisoning, respiratory symptoms, and musculoskeletal disorders. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a random sample of tobacco growers under 18 years old in Southern Brazil. Ninety-nine young people were interviewed at 79 family farms. The majority began working in agriculture before they were 14 and worked harvesting and tying hands of tobacco; 60% were 16 or 17 years old, and 51.5% were male. During their lifetime, 24.5% reported GTS, and 3% reported pesticide poisoning. In the previous year, 29.3% reported low back pain, 6.1% wheezing, and 16.2% coughing without having a cold. Half of the 12 young people evaluated had over 100 ng/mL of urinary cotinine. The study indicates that child laborers do various activities and present a high prevalence of health problems. Health workers should be trained to identify child laborers and their impacts on health. Full-time farm schools could provide knowledge about sustainable agricultural production, reducing the rates of age-grade mismatch, without taking young people away from rural areas.
Highlights
Brazil is the world’s second largest producer and the largest exporter of tobacco
Child labor in agriculture and tobacco growing is characterized as hazardous according to Brazilian law [2,3], constituting a violation of human rights, perpetuating the cycle of poverty, contributing to lost educational opportunities, and gender inequality [4,5,6]
Considering the prevalence of child labor in agriculture, its classification as hazardous child labor, and the scarcity of studies on the subject in Brazil and worldwide, mainly focused on tobacco farming, this study examined the work of children and adolescents in tobacco farming, characterizing the level of urinary cotinine and the occurrence of Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS), pesticide poisoning, respiratory symptoms, and musculoskeletal disorders
Summary
Brazil is the world’s second largest producer and the largest exporter of tobacco. Child labor in agriculture and tobacco growing is characterized as hazardous according to Brazilian law [2,3], constituting a violation of human rights, perpetuating the cycle of poverty, contributing to lost educational opportunities, and gender inequality [4,5,6]. According to the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), in 2019, the occurrence of child labor in Brazil was 4.6% among children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years (1.8 million). Of these workers, 53.7% were 16 and 17 years old, and 66.4% were male. In 2016, 47.6% of workers aged 5 to 13 worked in agriculture [8]
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