Elena G., a 16-year-old girl, stands in a tobacco field in Lenoir County, North Carolina, wearing her work clothes. She lives in a mobile home with her family. Since she turned 12, she has spent her school summer vacations working as a hired laborer on tobacco farms in several nearby counties. “I don’t feel any different in the fields than when I was 12,” she said. “I [still] get headaches and … my stomach hurts. And like I feel nauseous…. I just feel like my stomach is like rumbling around. I feel like I’m gonna throw up.” These symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, an occupational illness specific to tobacco farming that occurs when workers absorb nicotine through their skin while having contact with tobacco plants.
© 2015 Benedict Evans/Human Rights Watch