The tobacco for cigarettes is often grown in poor countries. The people who pick the tobacco are paid very low wages. This is the story of one girl who works in the tobacco fields.
|
Hello, my name is Messi,
I am 9 years old. I do not go to school, instead I work in the tobacco fields of Malawi, Africa. I have worked here since I was 5 years old. The work is very hard and is not good for my health.
My job in the fields is to spray the tobacco plants with pesticides, I also pick the tobacco leaves, and carry the logs to help with the drying of the leaves before they are made into cigarettes. The hours I work are long, I start work at 5 o’clock in the morning and do not finish until 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening.
I earn approximately 11 pence each day. There are lots of other children working with me.
I do not wear protective clothing and there is no clean water. I am unable to wash my hands before I eat and because of this I ingest the nicotine from the wet tobacco leaves. This often makes me unwell and I get “Green Tobacco Sickness”. This makes me cough and I am often sick. I have stomach pains and bad headaches and also muscle weakness. “Green Tobacco Sickness” is caused through working in the tobacco fields. My skin absorbs 54mg of nicotine each day from the wet tobacco leaves. This is the same amount of nicotine that is found in 50 cigarettes.
My story ends here but you have a chance to tell people about me and the other children I work with in the tobacco fields. The cigarette companies do not tell people about us and the suffering we have.
Thank you for reading my letter,
Messi xx
|
What is Green Tobacco Sickness?
People who work in tobacco fields can get Green Tobacco Sickness. It is also called nicotine poisoning.
When you touch a green tobacco leaf, your skin absorbs nicotine.
Some people who work in tobacco fields, like Messi, don't have protective clothing so they can absorb a lot of nicotine from the plants. If the leaves are wet, the nicotine is absorbed more quickly. If the workers get wet or they sweat, the nicotine can stay on their skin all day.
The symptoms of Green Tobacco Sickness are: feeling sick, being sick, bad headaches, feeling weak, having bad stomach aches, feeling dizzy, feeling breathless, coughing, not being able to sleep or getting a rash.
Malawi grows a lot of tobacco. The fields are often humid and wet, which makes Green Tobacco Sickness worse.
It is thought that more than 78,000 children in Malawi and millions of children worldwide work in tobacco fields.
The tobacco for cigarettes is often grown in poor countries. The people who pick the tobacco are paid very low wages. This is the story of one girl who works in the tobacco fields.
|
Hello, my name is Messi,
I am 9 years old. I do not go to school, instead I work in the tobacco fields of Malawi, Africa. I have worked here since I was 5 years old. The work is very hard and is not good for my health.
My job in the fields is to spray the tobacco plants with pesticides, I also pick the tobacco leaves, and carry the logs to help with the drying of the leaves before they are made into cigarettes. The hours I work are long, I start work at 5 o’clock in the morning and do not finish until 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening.
I earn approximately 11 pence each day. There are lots of other children working with me.
I do not wear protective clothing and there is no clean water. I am unable to wash my hands before I eat and because of this I ingest the nicotine from the wet tobacco leaves. This often makes me unwell and I get “Green Tobacco Sickness”. This makes me cough and I am often sick. I have stomach pains and bad headaches and also muscle weakness. “Green Tobacco Sickness” is caused through working in the tobacco fields. My skin absorbs 54mg of nicotine each day from the wet tobacco leaves. This is the same amount of nicotine that is found in 50 cigarettes.
My story ends here but you have a chance to tell people about me and the other children I work with in the tobacco fields. The cigarette companies do not tell people about us and the suffering we have.
Thank you for reading my letter,
Messi xx
|
What is Green Tobacco Sickness?
People who work in tobacco fields can get Green Tobacco Sickness. It is also called nicotine poisoning.
When you touch a green tobacco leaf, your skin absorbs nicotine.
Some people who work in tobacco fields, like Messi, don't have protective clothing so they can absorb a lot of nicotine from the plants. If the leaves are wet, the nicotine is absorbed more quickly. If the workers get wet or they sweat, the nicotine can stay on their skin all day.
The symptoms of Green Tobacco Sickness are: feeling sick, being sick, bad headaches, feeling weak, having bad stomach aches, feeling dizzy, feeling breathless, coughing, not being able to sleep or getting a rash.
Malawi grows a lot of tobacco. The fields are often humid and wet, which makes Green Tobacco Sickness worse.
It is thought that more than 78,000 children in Malawi and millions of children worldwide work in tobacco fields.