Stop smoking, spare a child

If health isn't enough, want another reason to quit smoking? Child labor.

As if the ever-rising expense of cigarettes and cancer risks aren't enough, on the supply side of tobacco are other compelling reasons to end smoking. Today, May 31, is World No Tobacco Day, the 25th anniversary of the World Health Organization's smoking cessation initiative. This year, the WHO focuses on the tobacco industry's interference in efforts to curb smoking and end abuses.

Human rights abuses aren't what first, if ever, jump to mind when thinking about smoking. Yet child labor, forced labor, bonded labor, debt servitude, poverty wages and other labor violations characterize the conditions for many workers employed by tobacco companies (e.g., Philip Morris and British American Tobacco) in the developing countries which produce tobacco. In a December 2010 report the U.S. Department of Labor identified at least 15 countries whose tobacco is produced by forced and/or child labor.

The report is part of a response to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, in which Congress directed the DOL to study industries believed to produce goods using forced and child labor. Not all child or forced labor is foreign; investigators also found 5- and 6-year-old laborers in Michigan working berry fields. Coffee is also on the list; Starbucks and other companies' consumers are, slowly but surely, proving willing to pay more for "sustainable" products free of such practices. The hope is that awareness will lead to less abuse, and a better informed consuming public who demand change.

Back to smoking, even stopping for a day has benefits. Within 20 minutes of quitting, blood pressure drops. Just 12 hours after quitting carbon monoxide levels in the body drop to normal. Two to three weeks later breathing and circulation improve. After a month or two, coughing decreases. After one year, risk of heart disease is about half that of a smoker. Life expectancy after quitting increases by three (if stop at age 60) to 10 years (if quit by 30).

For more information see WHO.int/tobacco. The illuminating labor report is available at DOL.gov/ilab.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email [email protected]