Tobacco field child workers suffer poison

       Thousands of children working in Malawi's tobacco fields suffer nicotine poisoning equal to smoking 50 cigarettes a day, a children's rights organisation said yesterday.
       Children as young as five experienced common symptoms of nicotine poisoning including severe headaches, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, coughing and breathlessness, according to a study done by the international group Plan.
       "Child labourers, some as young as five, are suffering severe physical symptoms from absorbing up to 54 milligrammes a day of dissolved nicotine through their skin - the equivalent of 50 average cigarettes," said the report entitled "Hard work, little pay and long hours".
       Nicotine poisoning, also known as Green Tobacco Sickness, is more severe in children due to their size and because they have not built up a tolerance to nicotine through smoking.
       Up to 80,000 children in Malawi are forced to work in tobacco fields instead of attending school, mainly due to poverty and hunger.
       Plan said some of the child labourers work up to 12 hours a day, many for less than the equivalent of 1.7 US cents an hour and without protective clothing.
       "Children also revealed the physical,sexual and emotional abuse they suffer and spoke about the need to work under these exploitative conditions to support themselves, their families and pay school fees," the report said.
       Known as "green gold", tobacco accounts for up to 70% of the country's foreign exchange earnings and employs close to a half-a-million people.
       Plan said there was a lack of research into the long-term effects of Green Tobacco Sickness in children, but "experts believe that it could seriously impair their development".
       "The brain of a child or adolescent is particularly vulnerable to long lasting adverse neurobehavioural effects of nicotine exposure," said a medical professor at the University of California.
       Marty Otanez of the University of Colorado, who has done extensive research into child labour and tobacco farming in Malawi, said the research was "an important issue that the international community and tobacco companies cannot ignore any longer".