Abusive child labor does not just occur in the developing world. Here in the United States, hundreds of thousands of children work under grueling and dangerous conditions to harvest fruits and vegetables for our dinner tables. These children often begin working by age twelve or thirteen. They routinely work twelve-hour days stooped low over strawberry plants, climbing rickety ladders into apple orchards, or pitching heavy watermelons, often for as little as $2 an hour.

Child farmworkers risk serious illness, including cancer and brain damage, from exposure to pesticides and suffer fatalities at five times the rate of children working in other jobs. Long hours and exhausting work cause many to drop out of school; only 55% ever graduate from high school.

I'm deeply concerned that under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), child farmworkers can to work at younger ages, for longer hours, and under more hazardous conditions than children in non-agricultural jobs. Under current laws, children as young as twelve are allowed to work unlimited hours in agriculture. In contrast, children in other occupations cannot work before age fourteen, and can only work three hours on a school day until age sixteen.

These laws date back more than 50 years, to a time when family farming was the norm in this country. Today, due to mechanization and the phenomenal growth of large-scale agriculture, these exemptions are no longer appropriate. The vast majority of children working in agriculture now are hired laborers for commercial enterprises and deserve the same protection as children working in other jobs.

I urge your support for amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure that all working children are protected equally. The CARE Act (S. 869 ), recently introduced by Senator Tom Harkin would amend FLSA to raise the minimum age for employment in agriculture to fourteen, limit the number of hours that children aged fourteen and fifteen can legally work in agriculture, and strengthen sanctions against egregious child labor violators. This legislation would not impact children who work on their parents' farms, but is meant to better protect children working as hired laborers on commercial farms.

I hope you will give your full support to protecting the health and safety of child farmworkers. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,