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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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Americans spend nearly $7 billion on Halloween. Mostly on candy, and mostly on chocolate.
But even milk chocolate has a dark side. Most chocolate today comes from West Africa, where small landholders grow more than three million metric tons of the fruit of the cacao tree. To turn that fruit into chocolate requires labor—and much of that labor is performed by children.
More than 100,000 children in Ivory Coast and Ghana help produce more than half of the world's cocoa, according to the U.S. State Department. Worse, at least 10,000 of these kids are likely enslaved.
The cocoa industry, including giants such as Hershey's or Cadbury, pledged in 2001 to end such child labor in the cacao groves. But the deadline for voluntary compliance has been continually pushed back and the current goal is to ensure that some 50 percent of farms are child-labor free.
Fair Trade certified chocolate can help, as well as ensure that African farmers profit from the cocoa trade. Otherwise, handing kids treats derived from African children’s slave labor is a nasty trick. Nobody wants to be a slave for Halloween.
—David Biello
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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11 Comments
Add CommentIs this article intended to have scientific merit or are you trying to give everyone a kick in the conscience?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOr con-science?
If they are not enslaved in the cocoa industry they will be enslaved in some other produce industry. The problem is very complicated, the countries are very poor the only way to eliminate slavery is to eliminate poverty, or stop all trade with all countries until they agree to our rules, but how do you enforce such rules?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"or stop all trade with all countries until they agree to our rules, but how do you enforce such rules?" you answered your own question. Western nations should ban the importation of goods produced by slaves and attach levies to countries that support slavery.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"or stop all trade with all countries until they agree to our rules, but how do you enforce such rules?" you answered your own question. Western nations should ban the importation of goods produced by slaves and attach levies to countries that support slavery.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen did Sciam hire you to determine what they can put in their articles? If you don't like it you can leave. You will not be missed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this*robert schmidt*, when scientificamerican.com hired you to determine what other commenters can put in their comments? If you don’t like the content of the comment you can contradict what was written (and in doing so you not need leave the pages of the podcasts of the scientificamerican.com). You will be read, with attention, by many readers and by the person that you are contradicting, also.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI not think that you are a watchdog hired by scientificamerican.com, this prestigious web magazine. Are you a real watchdog? Or, are you a pseudo watchdog (self-proclaiming)? You behave like one! Stop behaving like an authoritarian person and leave freedom of expression to prevail in the comments, please! (Freedom with limits obviously marked by responsibility, but nonetheless freedom of expression in its entirety).
I like freedom! The podcast is saying about it and of the bad consequences that can occur when freedom not exist.
As far as what is this doing in SciAm, please note it is listed under "Energy/Sustainability", so I'd say it is part of a discussion of sustainable practices...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, have you considered that science can be applied to ethics, and so perhaps it is fitting to discuss both the sustainability of a global practice as well as the ethics of it in a scientific forum.... it doesn't have to ALL be about tech toys and physics/chemistry wonders.
Just a thought.
Thanks for this informative post! For those who are interested, I've compiled a comprehensive list of ethical Halloween chocolate candy alternatives (with price comparisons and recommendations on where to buy): http://bittersweetnotes.com/996-ethical-halloween-candy-2011
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnjoy!
Carla, http://www.bittersweetnotes.com
Except that the game's fixed even when struggling countries do try to play by the rules of the rich. Just one example: America generally ties its grant funding to American companies. "You can have the money, but it's going to end up back here because you must spend it on American goods". Fair trade? Don't think so.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd don't even start on where the WTO's bread is buttered.
You cannot shame Africa or China into giving up their child slave labor any more than you can stop the far East from fighting amongst themselves; they have been doing it for thousands of years. If you want to do something about it, don't buy the products that come from those countries. I don't buy any pet food or toys that is made in China and I don't buy chocolate at all. These things are not critical for your survival and you can live just fine without them. When peanut butter jumps sky high today; I will stop buying that and I also do not buy cows milk for the same reason. You do not need these products and if you buy them, you have no right to curse where they come from or how they are made. ...since you don't need them to survive, stop buying them...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYOU have the right to choose not to eat them or not wear them produced in china, but you don't even kown much about China, YOU Amricans can live without the labor-focused countries? It's the fact that we support you...
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