Thursday, January 29, 2009

Hi I have 2 things I'd like to offer up for thought for Valentines Day; slavery, and animal testing.

Slavery in the coco fields.
Did you know that a lot of chocolate comes with a huge price tag, costing children there lives.
There is a surprising association between chocolate and child labor in the Cote d'Ivoire. Young boys whose ages range from 12 to 16 have been sold into slave labor and are forced to work in cocoa farms in order to harvest the beans, from which chocolate is made, under inhumane conditions and extreme abuse. This West African country is the leading exporter of cocoa beans to the world market. Thus, the existence of slave labor is relevant to the entire international economic community. Through trade relations, many actors are inevitably implicated in this problem, whether it is the Ivorian government, the farmers, the American or European chocolate manufacturers, or consumers who unknowingly buy chocolate.

So when your picking out treats for your child, or loved one this Valentines Day please choose fair trade (fair pay for workers). And organic, means less chemicals your exposed to, as well as the people harvesting the coco beans, and it's better for the environment as well.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625697,00.html

Animal testing funded by Mars.
Mars candy co funds animal testing, did you know. I didn't till today. I confirmed this animal testing info with them today by calling there hot line " please call us at 800-627-7852" prompt 1 gives information on there "new animal testing policy". So there now only funding tests on rats, mice, fish, and small aquatic animals. It doesn't say what the old policy was... I have to say there are much better ways of obtaining product safety information these days than animal testing. I'm asking you to think about a family pet the next time you reach out to buy a Mars product.
What are the Mars products? http://www.m-ms.com/us/about/products/
While your there you could use the contact us link in the footnotes.

Thank you for your time, Amy