Christmas ornaments made in China sweatshop-report

(Adds EIA report)

By Karey Wutkowski

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Christmas tree ornaments sold at Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and other major retailers were made in a Chinese sweatshop employing workers as young as 12 and others who work more than 100 hours a week, a Democratic senator said on Wednesday.

"There is virtually no enforcement anywhere on these issues," Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said at a news conference to release a study about how Chinese sweatshops provide cheap goods for the U.S. market. "Our country needs to insist that our trading partners enforce their own labor laws and respect international labor standards."

The study was conducted by the National Labor Committee, a human rights organization based in New York, and highlighted conditions at the Guangzhou Huanya Gift company, a top ornament manufacturer in China that employs 8,000 workers. It found some employees were paid as little as 26 cents an hour, half the legal minimum wage in China, and that employees in the spray paint department handled potentially dangerous chemicals with little or no protection.

Attempts to reach Guangzhou Huanya for comment were not successful.

Wal-Mart said it launched an immediate investigation after receiving a copy of the report.

"Through our rigorous ethical standards program, Wal-Mart aggressively deals with any allegations of improper conditions at our suppliers' factories," a company spokesman said.