<P> Families that farm tobacco often have to make the difficult decision between having their children work or go to school . Unfortunately working often beats education because tobacco farmers, especially in the developing world, cannot make enough money from their crop to survive without the cheap labor that children provide . </P> <P> A large percent of the profits from tobacco production go to large tobacco companies rather than local tobacco farmers . Also many countries have government subsidies for tobacco farming . Major tobacco companies have encouraged global tobacco production . Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco each own or lease tobacco manufacturing facilities in at least 50 countries and buy crude tobacco leaf from at least 12 more countries . This encouragement, along with government subsidies has led to a glut in the tobacco market . This surplus has resulted in lower prices, which are devastating to small - scale tobacco farmers . According to the World Bank, between 1985 and 2000 the inflation - adjusted price of tobacco dropped 37% . </P> <P> Tobacco production requires the use of a large amount of pesticides . Tobacco companies recommend up to 16 separate applications of pesticides just in the period between planting the seeds in greenhouses and transplanting the young plants to the field . Pesticide use has been worsened by the desire to produce bigger crops in less time because of the decreasing market value of tobacco . Pesticides often harm tobacco farmers because they are unaware of the health effects and the proper safety protocol for working with pesticides . These pesticides as well as fertilizers, end up in the soil, the waterway and the food chain . Coupled with child labor, pesticides pose an even greater threat . Early exposure to pesticides may increase a child's lifelong cancer risk as well as harm his or her nervous and immune systems . </P> <P> Tobacco is often heavily fertilized . Some of the mineral apatite in Florida used to produce phosphate for U.S.A. tobacco crops contains uranium, radium, lead - 210 and polonium - 210 and radon . The radioactive smoke from tobacco fertilized this way is deposited in lungs and releases radiation even if a smoker quits the habit . The combination of carcinogenic tar and radiation in a sensitive organ such as lungs increases the risk of cancer . If the smoker also breathes in the asbestos fibers which commonly occur in urban and industrial environments, the risk of cancer is greatly increased . </P>

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