The Pennsylvania House passed a package of bills addressing human trafficking Wednesday.

The bills aim to increase penalties for human trafficking offenses and further protect victims of that form of abuse.

Trafficking is a multibillion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 24.9 million people around the world.

In some cases, traffickers trick, defraud or physically force victims into selling sex.

In others, victims are lied to, assaulted, threatened or manipulated into working under inhumane, illegal or otherwise unacceptable conditions.

Just last week, an Oklahoma woman was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in federal prison for trafficking an underage girl to Cranberry Township to engage in prostitution.

Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, joined fellow representatives in a news conference to talk about the package of bills.

Mustello, whose bill was included in the package, said the response to it was largely positive.

Most of the bills received nearly unanimous support.

We commend legislators for putting party affiliation aside and agreeing on the importance of the subject.

“It felt good that we could all work together on both sides of the aisle,” Mustello said, “It’s an issue we’re all facing all over the commonwealth.”

Although passing laws against human trafficking is a good first step, the real fight against child predators must begin at home.

Parents need to keep a watchful eye on the online and social media activities of their children.

Pedophiles are increasingly searching for victims from behind a computer screen. Vulnerable children who meet and communicate with strangers online are easy prey for internet predators.

Experts tell us that it’s one of the ways sex traffickers recruit their victims. Kids are being recruited out of their homes, and every child online is susceptible.

Mustello’s bill will amend how the crime of unlawful contact with a minor is defined through additional circumstances to warrant the charge, including sexual offenses, human trafficking, incest, endangering the welfare of a child and corruption of minors.

The package now goes to the state Senate for approval.

The cost of human trafficking involves more than the abuse of a body. It also poisons a soul.

And when the souls of our neighbors are mistreated in this way, the poison spreads through our culture.