Advocates are speaking out on behalf of child workers’ health and well-being after a bill that would have regulated Virginia’s tobacco farming industry failed to pass last week.
Minors would not be allowed to work directly with tobacco plants or their dried leaves, had Virginia House Bill 1906 passed, NBC 29 News reported. Children working on family farms as part of tradition would have been exempt from the law.
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“Even the tobacco industry itself has recognized that young children don’t belong in tobacco fields,” she said.
Learn more and take action against child labor on tobacco farms by signing HRW’s petition here.
