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===Problems in production=== ====Child labor==== {{main|Child labor}} The International Labour Office reported that the most child-laborers work in agriculture, which is one of the most hazardous types of work.<ref name="hrw child labor">{{Cite book |last1=Wurth |first1=Margaret |last2=Buchanan |first2=Jane |date=May 13, 2014 |editor-last=Becker |editor-first=Jo |editor2-last=Ross |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=Olugboji |editor3-first=Babatunde |others=Joe Amon, Zama Coursen-Neff, Arvind Ganesan, Grace Meng |title=Tobacco's Hidden Children Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/05/13/tobaccos-hidden-children/hazardous-child-labor-united-states-tobacco-farming |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806091253/https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/05/13/tobaccos-hidden-children/hazardous-child-labor-united-states-tobacco-farming |archive-date=August 6, 2015 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |isbn=978-1-62313-134-0 |oclc=881428758}}</ref> The tobacco industry houses some of these working children. Use of children is widespread on farms in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.unicef.org/media/84761/file/SOWC-1997.pdf |title=The State of the World's Children 1997 |last=[[UNICEF]] |date=1997 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-262871-8 |oclc=36286998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609190750/https://www.unicef.org/media/84761/file/SOWC-1997.pdf |archive-date=June 9, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/78394/ChildLaborSweatandToil2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title=By the Sweat and Toil of Children. Volume 2. The Use of Child Labor in U.S. Agricultural Imports & Forced and Bonded Child Labor : A Report to the Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Congress |last1=Jaffe |first1=Maureen E. |last2=Mills |first2=Monica |date=1995 |publisher=International Child Labor Study Group, [[Bureau of International Labor Affairs]], [[United States Department of Labor|Department of Labor]] |location=Washington, D.C. |last3=Rosen |first3=Sonia A. |last4=Shepard |first4=Robert B. |last5=Slavet |first5=Beth |last6=Samet |first6=Andrew J. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006221232/https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/78394/ChildLaborSweatandToil2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |archive-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |url=http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1997/97B09_232_engl.pdf |title=Bitter Harvest, Child Labour in Agriculture |date=1997 |publisher=[[International Labour Organization]] |location=Geneva |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006222138/http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1997/97B09_232_engl.pdf |archive-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Bosch |first1=Dawie |last2=Gordon |first2=Adele |date=August 27β30, 1996 |title=Child Labour in Commercial Agriculture in Africa (Working paper number 3) |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36763053 |publisher=[[International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour]], [[International Labour Organization]] |conference=Subregional technical workshop on child labour in commercial agriculture for selected English-speaking African countries |location=Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |isbn=978-92-2-110485-8 |oclc=36763053}}</ref> While some of these children work with their families on small, family-owned farms, others work on large plantations. In late 2009, reports were released by the London-based human-rights group [[Plan International]], claiming that child labor was common on Malawi (producer of 1.8% of the world's tobacco<ref name="United Nations 2010"/>) tobacco farms. The organization interviewed 44 teens, who worked full-time on farms during the 2007β08 growing season. The child-laborers complained of low pay and long hours, as well as physical and sexual abuse by their supervisors.<ref name="malawi child">{{Cite web |last=Clacherty |first=Glynis |date=2009 |title=Hard work, long hours and little pay: Research with children working on tobacco farms in Malawi |url=https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/3809.pdf/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006212811/https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/3809.pdf/ |archive-date=October 6, 2022 |publisher=[[Plan International]], Clacherty & Associates Education and Social Development (Pty) Ltd}}</ref> They also reported experiencing [[green tobacco sickness]], a form of nicotine poisoning. When wet leaves are handled, nicotine from the leaves gets absorbed in the skin and causes nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Children were exposed to levels of nicotine equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes, just through direct contact with tobacco leaves.<ref name="malawi child"/> The [[effects of nicotine on human brain development]] in children can permanently alter brain structure and function.<ref name=England2015>{{cite journal |last1=England |first1=Lucinda J. |last2=Bunnell |first2=Rebecca E. |last3=Pechacek |first3=Terry F. |last4=Tong |first4=Van T. |last5=McAfee |first5=Tim A. |title=Nicotine and the Developing Human |journal=American Journal of Preventive Medicine |date=August 2015 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=286β293 |doi=10.1016/j.amepre.2015.01.015 |pmc=4594223 |pmid=25794473 }}</ref> ====Economy==== [[File:MRO Cuba Harvest 01.jpg|thumb|Tobacco harvesting, [[ViΓ±ales Valley]], Cuba]] Major tobacco companies have encouraged global tobacco production. [[Altria Group|Philip Morris]], [[British American Tobacco]], and [[Japan Tobacco]] each own or lease tobacco-manufacturing facilities in at least 50 countries and buy crude tobacco leaf from at least 12 more countries.<ref>"International Cigarette Manufacturers," Tobacco Reporter, March 2001</ref> This encouragement, along with government subsidies, has led to a glut in the tobacco market. This surplus has resulted in lower prices, which are devastating to small-scale tobacco farmers. According to the World Bank, between 1985 and 2000, the inflation-adjusted price of tobacco dropped 37%.<ref>{{cite web |title=Golden Leaf, Barren Harvest: The Costs of Tobacco Farming |url=http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_330.pdf |author=The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids |date=November 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406112907/http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_330.pdf |archive-date=April 6, 2013}}</ref> Tobacco is the most widely [[smuggling|smuggled]] legal product.<ref name=ICLJTU>{{cite news |title=Tobacco Underground |url=http://www.icij.org/project/tobacco-underground |access-date=November 26, 2012 |newspaper=The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists}}</ref> ====Environment==== Tobacco production requires the use of large amounts of [[pesticide]]s. Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field.<ref name="Taylor, Peter 1994">{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Peter|title=Smoke Ring: The Politics of Tobacco|publisher=Panos Briefing Paper|location=London|date=September 1994}}</ref> Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to produce larger crops in less time because of the decreasing market value of tobacco. Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides. These pesticides, as well as fertilizers, end up in the soil, waterways, and the food chain.<ref>{{cite book|title=FAO Yearbook, Production, Volume 48|year=1995}}</ref> Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat. Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk, as well as harm their nervous and immune systems.<ref>{{Cite book |last=National Research Council (US) Committee on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236276/ |title=Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children |date=1993 |publisher=[[National Academies Press]] |isbn=978-0-309-04875-0 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=341 |chapter=Chapter 8 Estimating the Risks |doi=10.17226/2126 |pmid=25144038 |oclc=42329648}}</ref> As with all crops, tobacco crops extract nutrients (such as [[phosphorus]], [[nitrogen]], and [[potassium]]) from soil, decreasing its fertility.<ref name=wwf.panda>{{cite web|title=Tobacco Free Initiative: Environmental issues|url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/research/economics/rationale/environment/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041219191401/http://www.who.int/tobacco/research/economics/rationale/environment/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 19, 2004|author=World Health Organization}}</ref> Furthermore, the wood used to cure tobacco in some places leads to deforestation. While some big tobacco producers such as China and the United States have access to petroleum, coal, and natural gas, which can be used as alternatives to wood, most developing countries still rely on wood in the curing process.<ref name="wwf.panda"/> Brazil alone uses the wood of 60 million trees per year for curing, packaging, and rolling cigarettes.<ref name="Taylor, Peter 1994"/> In 2017 WHO released a study on the environmental effects of tobacco.<ref name="who env effects">{{Cite book |last=World Health Organization |url=https://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/environmental-impact-overview/en/ |title=Tobacco and its Environmental Impact: An Overview |date=2017 |publisher=World Health Organization |isbn=978-92-4-151249-7 |oclc=988541317 |author-link=World Health Organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531164632/http://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/environmental-impact-overview/en/ |archive-date=May 31, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
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