Choose Children, Not Chocolate

The holidays are coming, and I have to say, that I am thrilled. I love the smells of Thanksgiving. I love spending time with my family. I love wrapping Christmas presents. I love Christmas shopping. I love the looks on my little brothers' faces when they help decorate the Christmas tree. I love eating Christmas chocolate.

Christmas candy is a huge item right now. I was at the grocery store a few days ago, and the holiday candy aisle is packed with every type of chocolate and goodie imaginable. Not only that, but the aisle is also packed with people happily buying these products.

Last week when I saw this, I smiled at the little kids and their parents buying Christmas chocolate. Now, a week later, I am saddened. See, while it seems perfectly sweet that families would come together and buy candy, very few of them know at what cost that chocolate was produced. In fact, I would wager that none of the parents in the Wal-Mart candy aisle were aware that the candy they were buying was made by child slaves.

Allow me to explain... 43% of the world's chocolate comes from Cote D'Ivoire. Cote D'Ivoire is famous for child slavery. It is estimated that 12,000 children are slaves on the ivory coast. These are the workers at the cocoa farms - these 12,000 child slaves. In other words, 43% of our chocolate is made my overworked and abused children. Do you want to support this?

The child slaves of Cote D'Ivoire are treated harshly. They are forced to carry sacks of cocoa beans which are usually larger than they are. They work in these literally back breaking conditions 12-15 hours a day. Most of them work 80-100 hour work weeks. They are routinely beaten. They survive on diets of bananas and stolen cocoa beans. Most of them are not yet teenagers. All of this, for what? So that middle class Americans can have a Hershey's bar. I ask again, is this worth it?

So, how can you know if the chocolate that you are eating is made by child slaves? You have to look for the label that says "Fair Trade." If chocolate has been produced in an ethical way, the wrapper is stamped with the words "Fair Trade" so the consumer knows that he or she is not supporting child slavery. Tragically, only 1% of the world's chocolate is fair trade chocolate.

Fair trade chocolate is available at Starbucks, Target, Wild Oats, Dunkin Donuts, Safeway, Trader Joe's, and many other health food stores. For a list of fair trade chocolate brands, go here: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products_chocolate_buy.htm Many of the largest chocolate brands do not manufacture fair trade chocolate. These include Hershey's and M&M Mars.

There is so little fair trade chocolate in the world because there is so little consumer demand for it. Major chocolate corporations will not sell fair trade chocolate if there is still high demand for their 'normal' chocolate. Here is what I want you do do - refuse to consume any chocolate that is not fair trade. Refuse to support an industry that abuses 12,000 children. Eat fair trade chocolate.