“My eyes are red from looking and looking”: Mexican working children's perspectives of how tobacco labour affects their bodies

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This study used participatory methods to explore how indigenous children understand the effects of agricultural labour on their bodies. Twenty-eight children aged between 7 and 12 years who attend the government-run Florece centres for migrant working children participated in a body-mapping exercise during which they were asked to draw and talk about how their bodies looked and felt after a day's work. Observational data were gathered for validation. The children attend the centres in the morning and return to their families on the plantations after lunch. Their work consists of picking, carrying and threading tobacco leaves and they are paid per sarta, a length of threaded tobacco. Tobacco production in this region uses large amounts of agrochemicals, from fertilizers to organophosphate pesticides. These migrant families have no protective clothing or shelter from sun or chemicals. The children described in detail how they are covered all day long with tobacco resin, a sticky substance that transfers nicotine and pesticide residues onto their bodies. They spoke of skin, eye, respiratory tract and musculoskeletal problems, most of which they relate to the hard physical work, hot sun and contact with the tobacco leaves. More effort is needed to explain to children the potential risks of their work and to improve their education and work prospects so that in the future they do not bring their own children to work in these circumstances. Good epidemiological data are also needed so that we are able to identify the effects of chronic long-term exposure to pesticides on very young children and to generate stronger statistical evidence that can be used for policy purposes.