Ban this pesticide now, Gov. Cuomo

Gov. Cuomo has only a few more days to sign a bill to ban chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide harmful to public health and the environment. Signing the bill into law is essential for protecting farmworkers’ and children’s rights, health and safety. As a children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, I’ve interviewed hundreds of child farmworkers in recent years. Under a loophole in federal labor law, it’s legal for children as young as 12 — and sometimes younger — to be hired to work on farms in the U.S. (New York State has the same minimum age requirements but limits 12- and 13-year-olds to hand-harvesting…

© Human Rights Watch - mercredi 15 janvier 2020