Dear Department of Labor: How about a little bit of "do this, not that"?

as well. These new regulations address deaths and injuries that occur at a higher rate for minors doing adult jobs. There are some jobs that will result in injury or death no matter how stringent the regulations. And within that subset of jobs, the risks are greater for children.

This bill addresses farm job that are:

1) dangerous, and
2) more dangerous for children who perform them

And I see nothing in the bill that actually deals effectively with the actual hazards of farm work.

I lean towards the idea of taking kids off of farms but I can see where forcibly doing this in a sudden manner can be as damaging as not abolishing this long-sanctioned aspect of child labor. Kids working on farms is not like kids in factories making shoes or iPads, at least when you count the impact that farming has on society. A sudden change like this could destroy family farms and force more consolidation. IMO: We need to study the impact of children working on farms and look for a more gradual solution; but we can implement stronger safety laws right now. The tech is there to make it safer.

"The parental exemption allows children of any age who are employed by their parent, or a person standing in the place of a parent, to perform any job on a farm owned or operated by their parent or such person standing in the place of a parent."

RW garbage via the Daily Caller (despite the Yahoo link)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=609987

Thanks for the heads up.

Farming is still very hazardous and this issue needs to be addressed.