12/20/05 How free is free trade?

In the new movie "Walk the Line" Johnny Cash's adolescent brother is tragically killed working with a saw. I can't begin to tell you how abhorrent it was to watch a young child work a power saw toward the inevitable consequence. I wanted to spring from my seat and scream, no, stop him he's not old enough! Yet I had the presence of mind to realize that this was only a movie depicting a time years ago when our country lacked adequate child labor laws. The true travesty of all this scene is the horror I saw depicted on film is occurring daily in third world countries. As 2005 comes to a close, child labor is on the upswing with children as young as five being maimed by knives and machetes, often harvesting sugarcanes. There is nothing "free' trade about a Free trade agreement that turns a blind eye to the plight of children. We must hold countries we trade with accountable to our labor standards not stoop to theirs. The sad fact remains that enough sugar to satisfy Americas massive sugar fix could easily be grown in a country that has not used manual labor in sugarcane cultivation since the early 1960's, ours! While we sell out our own sugar farmers for free trade agreements we are signing it with the blood of children exploited in the process. Source: American sugar alliance Human Rights Watch Presbyterian Church (USA)