Letter to the Editor: Coca-Cola's sugar reaped illegally
Issue date: 6/17/04 Section: OpEd
Editor:
A report called "Turning a Blind Eye: Hazardous Labor in El Salvador's Sugarcane Cultivation" released last Thursday from Human Rights Watch said that Coca-Cola gets sugar from El Salvador from the Central Izalco sugar refining mill, which purchased sugar cane from at least four plantations that use child labor. From 5,000 to 30,000 children, some as young as eight years old, are working in El Salvador's sugarcane plantations where injuries, particularly severe cuts, are common. Under Salvadoran law, 18 is the minimum age for dangerous work and 14 for most other kinds. The relevant provisions generally go unenforced, in part because the children are hired as "helpers," rather than employees.
The most common tools are machetes and similar sharp devices, and both the monotony and direct sunlight make for frequent accidents, even among experienced workers. They often inhale smoke and burn their feet when cane is burned to clear away the leaves. Planters become exhausted as they must keep up with tractors. Coca-Cola needs to require their suppliers to incorporate international standards on child labor in their contracts with the plantations and adopt effective monitoring systems to verify that compliance, according to HRW. YSU should not continue buy from them until this is done.
Children who work on sugarcane plantations, particularly during the harvest, are often required to miss the first several months of school each year, while older children often drop out of school entirely. YSU, as an educational institution, should consider this seriously when making a decision about a soda contract because as the Wutang Clan says "Cash Rules Everything Around Me" and what one does with it often dictates their impact on the world. YSU shouldn't have this negative impact when it does so many good things.
Karl Zehr
Environmental Studies
Graduate Student
A report called "Turning a Blind Eye: Hazardous Labor in El Salvador's Sugarcane Cultivation" released last Thursday from Human Rights Watch said that Coca-Cola gets sugar from El Salvador from the Central Izalco sugar refining mill, which purchased sugar cane from at least four plantations that use child labor. From 5,000 to 30,000 children, some as young as eight years old, are working in El Salvador's sugarcane plantations where injuries, particularly severe cuts, are common. Under Salvadoran law, 18 is the minimum age for dangerous work and 14 for most other kinds. The relevant provisions generally go unenforced, in part because the children are hired as "helpers," rather than employees.
The most common tools are machetes and similar sharp devices, and both the monotony and direct sunlight make for frequent accidents, even among experienced workers. They often inhale smoke and burn their feet when cane is burned to clear away the leaves. Planters become exhausted as they must keep up with tractors. Coca-Cola needs to require their suppliers to incorporate international standards on child labor in their contracts with the plantations and adopt effective monitoring systems to verify that compliance, according to HRW. YSU should not continue buy from them until this is done.
Children who work on sugarcane plantations, particularly during the harvest, are often required to miss the first several months of school each year, while older children often drop out of school entirely. YSU, as an educational institution, should consider this seriously when making a decision about a soda contract because as the Wutang Clan says "Cash Rules Everything Around Me" and what one does with it often dictates their impact on the world. YSU shouldn't have this negative impact when it does so many good things.
Karl Zehr
Environmental Studies
Graduate Student