Tobacco Farms Exploit Child Labor In North Carolina

The report did not include the children who were working with their families in tobacco fields.

teleSUR
By teleSUR
A 16-year-old worker harvests tobacco on a farm in Kentucky. Marcus Beasdale | Human Rights Watch

Various North Carolina farmers partnered with R.J. Reynolds tobacco company illegally hires children under 13 years old to harvest their tobacco crops, report released Wednesday stated. A recent audit commissioned by the tobacco company found that 40 percent of its contractor farms employed under age workers, therefore violating the Federal law

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The Impact Of Smoking Marijuana Regularly On Your Lungs, According To Science

Why is marijuana still classified as a dangerous drug when study after study shows it to be safer than tobacco?

Sam P.K. Collins for Think Progress
By Sam P.K. Collins for Think Progress
Rachel Schaefer of Denver smokes marijuana on the official opening night of Club 64, a marijuana-specific social club, where a New Year's Eve party was held, in Denver, Monday Dec. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Evolving attitudes about marijuana among the majority of Americans, as well as decriminalization laws starting to sweep the nation, have done little to quell questions about the health effects of longtime use among medical professionals, lawmakers, and people on both sides of an ongoing debate about the plant. Even with a dearth of research, the

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Worldwide, Tobacco Regulators Monitoring Philip Morris Lawsuit Against Uruguay

The tobacco giant’s lawsuit against Uruguay is a key example of the growing trend of multinational companies using trade agreements and mechanisms to circumvent national legislation — even legislation meant to protect public health.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Uruguay Tobacco

WASHINGTON --- A lawsuit that some say began as an attempt by a multinational company to intimidate a small Latin American country has instead drawn the attention of major players in global health, civil society and philanthropy circles. Further, the legal action – brought by the tobacco giant Philip Morris International against the government

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Tobacco Growers’ Reform On Child Labor An “Important Step”

In the aftermath of a landmark report on child laborers in the tobacco industry, one tobacco growers’ association in the U.S. has pledged not to hire anyone under 16.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON --- Rights advocates are tentatively cheering new pledges from a major association of U.S. tobacco growers not to employ children under 16 years old, in response to longstanding concerns over the particularly harmful effects of this work on the health of young people. In July, the Council for Burley Tobacco passed a resolution stating

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Marijuana Legalization May Open Door To “Big Cannabis”

Tobacco giants have been considering the marijuana market since at least the 1960s. After all, who knows how to sell psychoactive smoke-ables better than Big Tobacco?

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller
Dave Kois

LOS ANGELES --- In 1978, two market forecasters with the Brown & Williamson tobacco company wrote a report in which they imagined what might happen if marijuana was legalized. While legalization would cause “a period of difficult reappraisal in tobacco company strategy,” they wrote, “marijuana products seem to be a logical new industry for

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How Big Tobacco Has Made Cigarettes So Much Deadlier Than They Used To Be

“The cigarettes sold today are quite different from the cigarettes that were on the market five decades ago, according to the new report, and that’s because tobacco companies have done extensive research to figure out how to make smoking appealing for new customers. “

Tara Culp-Ressler for Think Progress
By Tara Culp-Ressler for Think Progress

Fifty years ago, the U.S. surgeon general tied tobacco to lung cancer for the first time. Since then, additional scientific research has linked smoking with a host of other health issues, and efforts to publicize those harmful side effects helped spur a historic decline in the number of Americans who regularly smoke. Nonetheless, more than 42

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