Hannah Kendall (left) and Jade Garza (Photo from Facebook)A couple weeks ago we heard another sad reminder of how dangerous – even deadly – farm work can be for young people:
Representatives of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are in northwestern Illinois today, continuing an investigation into the electrocution deaths Monday of two 14-year-old girls working in a cornfield.
According to spokesperson Rhonda Burke in the agency’s Chicago office, OSHA representatives were in Tampico yesterday as well after Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall, both of Sterling, died after coming in contact with a field irrigator while working at removing tassels from corn. A Facebook page has been created to remember the two girls.
The two were among 72 contract workers for Monsanto Corp. who were working the field at that time, according to a release from the St. Louis-based corporation. The release said the two were "electrically shocked by a center pivot irrigation system" and that other workers in the area also reported feeling the shock.
Child working on farms are more likely to die from work-related accidents, and face higher injury and illness rates than adult workers. Each year, over 100 youth die from farm-related injuries in the U.S., and many more are injured. Children who work in fields treated with pesticides are at greater risk of developing neurological and reproductive health problems, as well as cancer.
North Carolina child labor law permits children as young as 12 years old and in some cases as young as 10 to labor in the fields, while in every other industry the minimum age is 14 or above. Agriculture is one of the three most dangerous industries in the nation, and yet every year across the country close to 500,000 farmworker children and youth risk their childhood, health, and well-being in order to bring food to our tables. Children in North Carolina are no exception.
Field investigations in North Carolina have uncovered children as young as six working in the fields. Most Americans still envision farms as safe, nurturing places. Unfortunately, the safe, happy and healthy farm life that many of us imagine is just a myth for farmworker children in North Carolina.
Click here to help end child labor in North Carolina’s fields. Take action today.