Tobacco poison surrounds child workers
The tobacco firms won’t give us jobs,” she says. “They build factories on our land and then dump this here so we have to make what we can from the situation. I know it’s bad for my children but we must eat.”
During a visit to the site earlier this month, at least 20% of the dump was on fire, set ablaze by the contractors. The result was a fog of tobacco smoke and dry tobacco dust choking the horizon.
Because nicotine is regarded as harmful to both humans and the environment, the US Environmental Protection Agency has designated waste tobacco as toxic. Such waste is classified as “toxic and hazardous” by European Union regulations when its nicotine content exceeds 0.05%.
This weekend a spokesman for the American-owned Alliance One said the company would build a wall round the landfill site to keep out children. He said: “We believe that we meet all environmental and other regulatory requirements in Malawi, but we are happy to work further with local authorities to fur