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The Bitter Truth About Chocolat
     

     BUZZ UP!

     [This is a guest post by Tex Dworkin of the Global Exchange Fair
     Trade Online Store -Ed.] This year marks the 100th anniversary of
     the Hershey's kiss, and yet a celebration is hardly in order. Why?
     Because with each bite, we are reminded that most chocolate sold
     in the U.S. comes from cocoa farms where farmers work in unsafe
     conditions, receive below poverty wages, many of them children
     under 14 years old who are forced to work and denied education.
     
     With another Valentine's Day approaching, happy couples will wine
     and dine, showering each other with flowers, jewelry, and
     chocolate. Unfortunately, knowing where most chocolate comes from
     makes it hard to swallow!
     
     It's 2007, and people are finally starting to question where the
     products they buy are made and whether the workers who made them
     were treated fairly. Sweatshop-free apparel is becoming hip, and
     Fair Trade coffee is at least a blip on the map. Yet chocolate is
     still being made with cocoa beans harvested by children in Africa
     working in unsafe conditions, while the average consumer has no
     idea this is going on.
     
     The truth behind chocolate is not-so-sweet. The Ivory Coast is the
     world's largest cocoa producer, providing 43% of the world's
     cocoa. And yet, in 2001 the U.S. State Department reported child
     slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. A 2002 report from
     the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture about cocoa
     farms in the Ivory Coast and other African countries estimated
     there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous
     conditions. U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not
     responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations since they
     don't own them.
     
     
     
     Chocolate comes from cocoa, and the cocoa supply is controlled by
     a small number of companies worldwide that are allowed to function
     with limited accountability. Hershey's and M&M/Mars alone control
     two-thirds of the $13 billion U.S. chocolate candy market. The
     result? An industry marred with child slavery, unsafe working
     conditions and a cycle of poverty with no end in sight for cocoa
     farmers. Chocolate companies are not held accountable for sourcing
     practices, and despite their knowledge about the travesties that
     occur on cocoa farms, they lack the will to change.
     
     The U.S. chocolate industry has faced multiple deadlines requiring
     new protocol, and yet little has changed. Under pressure from
     Congress, in the Harken-Engel Protocol, the U.S. chocolate
     industry agreed to voluntarily take steps to end child slavery on
     cocoa farms by July of 2005. This deadline has since passed, and
     the chocolate industry has failed to comply with the terms of this
     agreement.
     
     So in July 2005, International Labor Rights Fund filed suit
     against Nestle in Federal District Court on behalf of a class of
     children who were trafficked from Mali into the Ivory Coast and
     forced to work twelve to fourteen hours a day with no pay, little
     food and sleep, and frequent beatings. What was Nestle's response
     to court questioning? "We are only buyers of a product.”
     
     There are a plethora of examples of company leaders who were
     publicly criticized for selling clothing lines manufactured by
     sweatshop workers, Kathy Lee Gifford and designer Jessica
     McClintock to name a few. Chocolate companies should be held
     accountable for the conditions of cocoa producers they buy from.
     
     Consumers can hold chocolate companies accountable by choosing
     only Fair Trade Certified chocolate. It's easy to do. Simply look
     for TransFair USA's Fair Trade logo on the package. TransFair is
     the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S.
     Fair Trade Certified chocolate ensures that no forced or abusive
     child labor was used. If consumer demand for Fair Trade chocolate
     increases, perhaps chocolate companies will alter their practices.
     Thus, buying Fair Trade chocolate can put an end to the disastrous
     cycle of poverty and child endangerment.
     
     It is estimated that Fair Trade chocolate represents less than 1%
     of the world's roughly $60 billion chocolate market. According to
     the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and National Confectioners
     Association, in 2005 more than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of
     chocolate were sold for Valentine's Day. How many hours of
     exploited child labor went into those boxes of chocolate?
     
     So what's a chocolate lover to do? Choose Fair Trade chocolate
     this Valentine's Day, a sweet deal for loved ones and cocoa
     farmers.
     
     See also: ::Book Review: Bitter Chocolate
     
     [This is a guest post by Tex Dworkin of the Global Exchange Fair
      Trade Online Store -Ed.]

   http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/the_bitter_trut.php



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※ 來源: DISP BBS (http://disp.twbbs.org)
※ 作者: ott  來自: 118.166.12.76  時間: 2010-01-08 15:27:04