In Kazakhstan, farms that produce tobacco for a cigarette factory owned by Philip Morris International have exploited workers, used child labor and trapped some workers into forced labor, according to a report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch.
Picking tobacco can be particularly harmful to children, the report noted, because nicotine is absorbed by the skin during contact with leaves. Some studies suggest that workers can absorb the nicotine equivalent of 36 cigarettes in a single day.
The exposure to nicotine can cause an illness called green tobacco sickness. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and dizziness.
“Children are especially vulnerable due to their small body size in relation to the dose of nicotine they absorb,” the report said.
Human Rights Watch also noted other problems, including lack of access to potable water, and violations of farm safety, like working in open-toed shoes.
“A company like Philip Morris certainly has the resources to put an end to these practices,” Jane Buchanan, a senior Human Rights Watch researcher, told the The New York Times.
Philip Morris spokesman Peter Nixon told the Times the company agreed to major changes in its policies after receiving an advance copy of the report:
Mr. Nixon said the company would require farmers to sign written contracts with adult laborers during this year’s growing season, and would hire an outside monitor to police farms for compliance with child labor laws.
This year, the company opened a summer camp for the children of migrant laborers in Kazakhstan’s tobacco-producing region. It will also require its suppliers to pay monthly salaries, rather than piecework pay, to discourage migrant parents from enlisting the help of their children.
“Philip Morris International is firmly opposed to child labor,” Nixon said. The company already had a policy in place that prohibited purchasing tobacco from farms that used child labor.
