In 2002, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture investigated the prevalence of child labor in the cocoa industry.[2] They found 284,000 children working in hazardous conditions in West Africa.[2] Of these, 153,000 were children who applied pesticides without protective equipment, others picked pods and opened them to get the beans; 64% of the children were younger than 14 and 40% of the children were girls.[2] Children often began working at 6am, worked 12-hour days and were beaten regularly.[2]