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  • Companies in China sometimes employ children illegally as workers. This employment is often in unsafe conditions and workplace injuries can occur. Exact statistics are hard to find because the Chinese government is not always forthcoming about work information and employers often do not report injuries. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that more than 200 million children are involved in often hazardous occupations worldwide. 120 million of these children work full time, while Chinese children are an estimated 61 percent of this demographic.

    Chinese Law And Child Labor

    Chinese law prohibits child labor for children under the age of 16 years. This law is difficult to enforce in rural areas where it is easier for employers to exploit children. The industries that primarily employ child labor are textiles, fireworks and coal mining.

    Hazards from the Textile Industry

    Children who work in the textile industry can develop diseases such as byssinosis, commonly called brown lung. This respiratory disease occurs from breathing in cotton dust. The children are also subject to harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde, which can cause cancer.

    Coal Mining Industry

    Coal mining can cause pneumoconiosis, commonly called black lung. This is a respiratory disease that causes shortness of breath, chronic cough, failure of the right side of the heart and pulmonary tuberculosis.

    Fireworks

    Children who are illegally employed in fireworks manufacturing are at risk from chemicals, repetitive stress disorders from fuse insertion, and explosions.

    Sexual Exploitation

    Children who work in illegal factories are at risk of forced prostitution and rape. The estimate of Chinese people exploited in sex trafficking is 10,000 to 20,000 each year.

    Source:

    The Crime Of Child Labor

    Human Trafficking

    United States Department Of Labor

    More Information:

    Fibre2Fashion.com: Dangers In The Textile Industry

    Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis

    What Price Young Lives?

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