NEWS: Chocolate Industry Eyed for Child Labor

U.S. lawmakers are slowly beginning to personally boycott chocolate. Because of persistent allegations that the West African cocoa farms use child slave labor. The industry group, The Chocolate Manufacturers Association, is surprised by the charges and states that cocoa manufacturers are abiding by a 2001 agreement that aimed to curb these practices.



Interesting and if the Senator feel that this is the case, he should launch and investigation. Such a boycott would be hard to sustain over the long term I suspect especially in my house for instance. My wive does not look favorably on terms such as "carob". Perhaps pressure can be placed on the manufacturers.

[edit on 2/14/05 by FredT]

Good story Fred


...But it would be nice if "US lawmakers" paid the same attention on the home front.

The Bush administration just brokered a deal that practically legalizes child labor abuse in the USA.

newstandardnews.net...

As part of its agreement with the federal government... In a deal critics say grants the world’s largest retailer special treatment, Wal-Mart Stores will pay $135,540 to settle charges of 24 child labor law violations in which minors used dangerous machinery, including chain saws, forklifts, and cardboard balers.

The settlement also gives Wal-Mart a15-day advance notice before the Labor Department conducts future "wage and hour" investigations.

...

" "Giving the company 15 days' notice of any investigation is very unusual,... The language appears to go beyond child labor allegations and cover all wage and hour allegations," ...says John R. Fraser, who served as the government's top wage and hour official under President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton."

Notice Before Inspections for Wal-Mart

LOL! This is just corrupt politics. Those supposed boycotting senators probably just haven't been bought-off by the chocolate market yet, and are finding a new way to get bought off. How do they buy them off? Give them insider stock information, its how businesses and congressmen do it because otherwise they'd have a paper trail. It's a fact that the average net worth of congressmen/women is 15 million. Aristocrats always wind up ruling the peasants, even in a democracy. The only difference in a democracy is that the aristocrats are in competetion to rule.

Who's surprised about this? Not me. And it's nations with practices such as these (and these are just the obvious ones) who are to tell the world, thru the UN, how to protect freedom? It's representatives from regimes such as these, in which slave type labor has *always* been present, who want to dictate trade terms thru NAFTA-type agreements?

Heh, and I was starting to believe they hype about slavery just being an invention of the Southern White American!

it is all about money...
this administration is no different than any other in that respect...

the problem with democracy is the same no matter what age in history...
the Greek and Roman governments dissovled largerly due to the political corruption..
now OUR wonderful democracy is being sold out from the same corruption...
no type of government is immune, but ours should have more of an oversight...

the people are our only oversight... and we have become too servile... to complacent in our moderate success... now the country that was the greatest in the world is soon going to be playing 2nd or 3rd fiddle to the rest of the world powers... already 2nd to the european union in many ways...

it is us, that have allowed this... and our reluctance to hold our leaders responsible for their actions... if we don't impeach a president every 50 years or so, then maybe we should, just to keep them on there toes... REMIND THEM OF WHO THEIR BOSS IS... for those that don't remember... politicians are supposed to work for US, the people... so that means WE are their bosses...
and sometimes firings are neccessary...

the first thing that needs to change is election and campaign reform...
if we get that, then the grand experiment might last another hundred years...