gmo sucks

You dson't think it could be that those children are making F1 hybrids, rather than GMOs?

It's the kind of mistake a not-very-savvy writer might make.

Not that I'm condoning the use of underpaid child labour, just trying to get at the facts ...

We need to be clear what we mean by that.  The most important term to be defined is "exploited."  Many children relish the prospect of being contributors in adult activities, after all; many of us may have felt that way when we were children.  But the circumstances, the "exploitation," make all the difference.

Some relevant questions, regarding exploitation of children:

Does the child freely enter into the commitment to work at a paying job, or is the child pressured by an adult, e.g. a parent?

Is the work difficult for a child to undertake?  Are the circumstances of the work dangerous, whether immediately or cumulatively?

May the child work as long as he or she likes, and then stop for the day, with the expectation of returning another day?  Or, must the child work a certain shift, the completion of which may be wearying?

Does the job require the child to lose time from school, homework time, play time, eating, and sleeping?

Is the child payed a fair wage?  Can the supervisor of payment be trusted?  Do the child's wages go at once into the hands of the adult head of the household, for example the child's father?  If so, how is the child rewarded immediately, otherwise?  And if so, to whom can the child turn in case of wanting to complain about some mistreatment?

My suggestion is, children may indeed work at certain paying jobs, but the circumstances of their employment must be very carefully defined, any violation of which means unacceptable exploitation.

Are those circumstances present in India, in these GM plantations?  It matters a great deal to all of us, in the community of living creatures, that exploitation of all the vulnerable, humans and non-human animals alike, be eradicated.

Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.

Hello.

I'd like to remind people that child labor is not a problem created by large ag companies and thier interest in producing hybrid seed. Much of what we take for granted is a product of child labor, a practice that must be stopped. Consider the children recycling your used computer and ither electronic hardware right now in Asia.

So when you decide to condemn hybrid seed, consider looking into what other products your should condemn. Where do your "natural" pesticides comes from? Who is harmed by the production of those materials?

I'm really looking forward to Tom Phillpot's investigation of where "natural" and "environmentally-friendly" pesticicides come from. Consider the following...

Pyrethrin is extracted from Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium, grown on a large scale in Africa, especially Kenya. Do the growers employ child labor?

Neem is from a tree grown on plantations in Bangladesh, India, and China. They are cutting down forests and planting large numbers of  these trees as an export crop. Do the growers in those countries use child labor?  Oh... apparently they do... see Tom's post. I wonder if China takes advantage of political prisoners for estavlushing new plantations.

Rotenone comes from plants grown on a large scale in South America. Do they employ child labor on farms in South America?

I think ALL pesticides and ALL child labor should be eliminated from agriculture. I hope Tom can point out ALL the products we should boycott and tell us how to end the use of ALL pesticides.