Just popping in briefly to share a couple of useful links. Recently, the public has grown more aware of child slavery practices used in cocoa production. You can read about child labor and chocolate here.
The news is deeply saddening. But we can help by buying only chocolate that uses fair-trade practices -- or, in a pinch, chocolate that is labeled "organic." Organic farming subscribes to its own set of labor-monitoring laws. Also, there are no known "organic" chocolate farms in the Ivory Coast as of now, and that is where the majority of child slavery reports is coming from.
So please, buy slavery-free chocolate. It's a little more expensive, but it tastes better than that Hershey's muck, which is mostly sugar anyway. If we look at chocolate as an occasional treat rather than a daily requirement, it is easy to treat ourselves to only the best varieties for our tastebuds, our bodies, and our consciences.
This page has a huge list of corporations and their statuses on use of slave chocolate, and this one has a list of fair-trade and organic chocolate producers, where to buy them, and the products that they make.
Say no to slave chocolate. If I can turn my nose up at that bowl of Snickers and Milky-Ways in the break room at work, believe me, ANYONE can.
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