The Government Accountability Office, in its 1998 report Child Labor in Agriculture, estimated that approximately 120,000 children between the ages of 15 and 17 work in agriculture but acknowledged it is very difficult to develop an accurate figure. Children who work with and around pesticides may not be the only children exposed. Parents who work with pesticides, or who work in or near fields where pesticides have been or are being applied, may bring their children to the fields with them. There may also be second-hand exposure to children of agricultural workers through spray drift or residue.
