By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Last week I arrived in the United States, back from a trip to Hong Kong, which became a whirlwind tour of airports and hotels that – because of a tight schedule – I had to fit into 3.5 days. Why would I travel so far for such a short time? Because the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, together with the *Toy Industry of America (TIA), was holding a conference on toy safety, and TIA wanted very much to have an American consumer organization present at the meeting. Several of my former Consumers Union (CU) colleagues, who couldn’t make the trip, suggested to TIA that they invite me because of my past work on product safety and toy safety at CU.

NCL’s Sally Greenberg with Toys”R”Us CEO Gerald Storch at a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Hong Kong.As intense as the itinerary was, the trip turned out to be very worthwhile for several reasons. First, this is a time of enormous tumult in the toy industry world. It was only two years ago that a crisis erupted as lead levels in toys imported from China were found to be far beyond legal limits. One *4-year-old boy in Minnesota actually died from lead poisoning when he swallowed a lead-laden charm from a bracelet attached to a Reebok shoe. I was able to reflect on the role consumer groups had played in bringing to public attention the dangers of lead and other heavy metals in children’s toys.

Secondly, I was able to discuss the important role consumer groups can and should play in the setting of safety standards. We also tipped our hat to the TIA because it sought active consumer participation in reforming the way toys are tested by third-party companies before being allowed to be imported into the United States. The rules are complicated and took months to develop— with consumer input throughout the process—but TIA’s Toy Safety Certification Program was adopted as a result.

Lastly, I had the chance to interact with a number of leaders in the toy industry, including CEO of Toys“R”Us, Gerald Storch, who gave an inspiring and important speech, underscoring that he and Toys“R”Us, as retailers, represent the interests of consumers. He insists on ensuring, through independent testing, that toys imported into the hundreds of his company’s retail stores in the United States and abroad meet the highest standards for safety.

The enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2009 (CPSIA) is a watershed event for the safety of all consumer products and has changed the way the whole world looks at the regulation of lead and other heavy metals in toys. As I participated in this conference, I began to appreciate how important it was to have an American consumer perspective, especially given the passage of this landmark legislation last year.

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It’s officially National Influenza Vaccination Week, a national observance established to highlight the importance of getting vaccinated against influenza into January and beyond. There was a lot of buzz last fall, leading into the holiday season, urging consumers to get vaccinated – especially those with chronic health conditions that put them at high risk of serious influenza-related complications.

One of the many goals for NIVW, which is sponsored by the federal government (www.flu.gov) and being supported by many other health groups, including the National Consumers League, is to engage at-risk audiences who haven’t yet received the vaccine, who may be hesitant about it, or unsure about where to get vaccinated.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, “Getting a flu shot is the single best way to protect against the flu.” Yet many consumers — including pregnant women — are either hesitant to get a flu shot or have been unable to get vaccinated due to limited supplies. Last fall, NCL created a *Q&A to make sure expectant moms have the information they need to make good decisions about protecting their health—and the health of their babies—and know where to go to get the care they need.

If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, or aren’t sure whether you should, check out the resources at www.flu.gov to learn more about the vaccine, read a proclamation from the President, or *send an e-card to a loved one.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings

By Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition

It’s almost too painful to talk about: a few days before Thanksgiving in a small Virginia town called Poquoson, Frank Gornik, 14, was removing storm debris for his uncle’s company. The boy, a freshman in high school, fed branches into a wood chipper. He used a shovel to help force the branches and that shovel was grabbed by the machine and—in an instant—*swallowed the boy and killed him.

Each year, 35-40 teens die similarly unimaginable deaths in workplace accidents—tractor rollovers, work-related car accidents, drownings in grain silos. Here at the National Consumers League, we try to monitor these deaths to prevent them from occurring. A decade ago, the number of working teens who died on the job was about double what it is today. The *Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, federal and state departments of labor, nonprofit organizations and employers worked together to help bring the number of deaths down, but we must keep working to reduce that number even further.

Sadly, although it was a freak accident, Gornik’s death was preventable. The boy was much too young to work with such deadly equipment. Over the years, state and federal officials have realized that teens lack the judgment and experience to operate some hazardous machinery and *require workers to be 18 to use them (although some exemptions are made for agriculture). Because of their ability to inflict massive and instantaneous damage, wood chippers are among the proscribed machines. Under the Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Labor refused to enact NIOSH-recommended changes to the “hazardous orders” regulations that would have improved teen worker safety protections. It is our understanding that under Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’ leadership, the department is working to update those regulations and close some current exemptions that allow teens to perform dangerous work.

Although Gornik had his share of sadness— according to local newspaper reports, he lost both parents in a two-year stretch between 2005 and 2007—he was remembered by many fellow students for his ready smile and helpfulness. He was a very popular student who played sports and made the honor roll, and the Poquoson community continues to grieve his loss.

It’s hard to make any sense of an unspeakable tragedy like this, but the lessons learned from the accident that took Frank Gornik’s life might prevent similar deaths. Each year, NCL publishes a report—“The Five Worst Teen Jobs”—about dangerous job for teens, hoping that parents, employers, and young workers will carefully consider which jobs they take and what tasks they perform at work. It’s vital that employers learn state and federal child labor and safety laws, and it’s vital that young workers think about their own safety and know that they are able to say “no” to any job task that is dangerous or against the law.

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

By Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition

2010 has begun with positive momentum building for the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), legislation that aims to protect the sons and daughters of migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Support for CARE, which is a priority of the National Consumers League (NCL) and the *Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which NCL co-chairs, grew rapidly in December. During the month, the number of members of Congress who have agreed to be co-sponsors of the legislation quadrupled. The legislation is now endorsed by 64 members of Congress as well as 30 national groups!

CARE would fix exemptions in U.S. child labor law—dating back to 1939 and the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act—that allow large numbers of kids to work for wages in U.S. agriculture at ages 12 and 13. Our belief is that although it’s okay for kids to work on their parents’ farms, children working for wages in agriculture should be subject to the same child labor laws as all other working children in the United States. Agriculture is consistently ranked by the U.S. government as *one of the most dangerous workplaces. Does it make sense to allow young children to work in an industry known to be dangerous?

In November, ABC’s Nightline found several children under the age of 10 working for blueberry farmers in Michigan. In 2008, staff from our campaign partner, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, conducted investigative visits to blueberry fields in North Carolina and found numerous children under 10 working. There are so many exemptions to current law that it’s often hard to tell if young children are working legally or illegally.

Often the sons and daughters of impoverished migrant and seasonal farmworkers, the children, who work mostly as hand harvesters of fruit and vegetables, pay a heavy price for their work. In addition to suffering health consequences from exposure to pesticides and dangerous farm machinery, these farmworker youth experience drop-out rates that are truly frightening: More than half of these kids do not graduate from high school! The work is often exhausting. Long hours in the hot sun after getting up at 3 or 4 a.m. are combined with constant bending over. Is it ethical to allow these kids to suffer so much so that we can enjoy lower-cost fruits and vegetables? Why should these children work under different protections than other children? It’s well known that child labor reduces wages for adult workers. Wouldn’t it be better to restrict this work to adults and pay them a living wage?

Please consider contacting your member of Congress and telling them that you would like them to cosponsor HR 3564, the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment—CARE. The legislation has been endorsed by both of America’s largest teacher unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, a co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition. The AFL-CIO, *Change to Win, the Teamsters, and the Communications Workers of America have each endorsed it. The United Farm Workers of America and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee—the country’s two largest farmworker unions—have endorsed it. Farmworker Justice, the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association, the National Association of State Directors of Migrant Education, and the National Farmworker Ministry have also announced their support for CARE. Human Rights Watch, Interfaith Worker Justice, and the International Labor Rights Forum—groups that monitor human and worker rights abuses—have endorsed it as well. Please help us pass the CARE Act.

If you would like more information about the CARE Act or the Children in the Fields Campaign or would like to receive updates about CARE, email Reid Maki at reidm@nclnet.org.

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.