U.S. Confirms where Children Harvest, Mine, and Assemble

How often do you hear someone lament that everything causes cancer?  Or thatof course they are wearing clothes and eating food at the expense of another person’s exploitation?  In the United States, consumers often express their resignation about the cycle of violence and production.

Although this weary acceptance of unfair working conditions persists in the collective psyche, every so often, people become conscious of particular products that are created at the sacrifice of another person’s safety and dignity.  Usually, it involves a fight.  California farm workers, for instance, faced plenty of resistance as they raised the country’s consciousness and organized the famous grape boycotts.

Must this awareness always be brought about by workers risking their necks?  Can’t change come from something a little milder?  Like a government report?

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs is publishing a list that may mobilize U.S. consumers to change what they put in their shopping carts.  This list focuses on international products that probably were created, in part, by children.

The 2011 list sets forth one additional product, hand woven textiles from Ethiopia, that the Departments of Labor, State and Homeland Security believe might have been mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. A single product, charcoal produced in Brazil, has been removed from the list.

Current List of Products and Countries on EO 13126 List