Senate Democrats Press for New Limits on Child Labor in Tobacco

Some Senate Democrats are pushing the Biden administration to ban kids younger than 16 from working in tobacco fields, citing risks of harmful nicotine exposure to minors not even old enough to legally buy the product.

Five Democratic lawmakers, led by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), sent a letter to the US Labor Department Wednesday urging the agency to update its Hazardous Occupation Orders for child workers to include new limits for minors working on tobacco farms.

“We believe a new rulemaking effort that bans child labor on tobacco farms and enhances protections in existing Hazardous Occupations Orders is ...