The Organic PrepperRemember when farm work was a wholesome summer job for kids looking for a little extra pocket money?
Back in the day, teens could work outside, learn about farming, and do some healthy physical labor without major health risks. Working on a farm built physical strength, skills, and character.
Now, with the advent of toxic agricultural practices, farm work can be deadly because of exposure to glyphosate and other deadly chemicals.
Nearly 80 teenagers working for Team Corn, a Princeton, Ill.-based company that contracts for Monsanto were sent to the hospital yesterday after a crop-duster sprayed the field they were working in with fungicide.
The teenagers were detasseling corn when the chemical drifted over them from a plane that was crop-dusting an adjacent field, said Tom Helscher, a spokesman for Monsanto, the St. Louis-based company using the field to produce seed corn. Pesotum is about 15 miles south of Urbana….
…Detasselers – commonly teenagers looking for summer jobs – pull the pollinating tassels off the top of corn plants that will produce seed for future planting…
…The 79 teens were decontaminated by firefighters at the field just outside Pesotum and then taken to the Carle Foundation Hospital’s emergency room in Urbana to be treated for what appeared to be minor ailments, hospital officials said.
Emergency room director Allen Rinehart said some of the teen workers had irritated skin but that they were all stable and being released to their parents as they were seen. (source)
The media glossed over the incident, emphasizing that the injuries were minor and that the kids were treated and immediately released from the hospital.
But considering that people spraying for Monsanto are generally pictured wearing head to toe protection as well as a respirator, and that reported health issues from chemical drift are severe, including cancer, miscarriage, asthma and birth defects, one has to wonder if the real injuries to these teens will show up a few years down the road.
With this direct exposure, will these kids join the long line of victims of Monsanto?
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca
– See more at: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/employee-bonus-teens-working-for-monsanto-sprayed-by-crop-duster-07272013#sthash.OI1NQxfW.dpuf
Well there’s 79 future cancer patients. I’m sure the AMA and the pharmaceutical companies and the lawyers were all creaming in their pants when they heard about it.
“Working on a farm built physical strength, skills, and character.”
WTF?
The writer must not have worked on a farm. I did and there wasn’t any ‘extra money’ involved, since I lived on the farm with my folks.
As for ‘skills,’ there wasn’t much calling in the real world for soybean cultivators or people who could castrate pigs.
Hey kids!! You went from temp workers for Monsanto to lab rats in one fell swoop. That’s what you get for hanging out with evil.
If this happened to a child of mine (although I’m nineteen and don’t plan on having children anytime soon), I would sue for child endangerment! You mean to tell me that they couldn’t take a break on spraying that poison on the crops for ONE DAY. Not only would I sue the farmer, but the person flying that plane, heck, I’d even have the balls to sue Monsanto! This is despicable!