Halloween Candy is Bittersweet.

October 27th, 2008 · No Comments

You have two choices this Halloween:

Support chocolate manufacturers who ONE: use genetically modified beet sugar, who TWO: puts out a food product that contains pesticides and THREE: who supports the use Child Slave labour.
Reject these companies by not purchasing their product and send them an email asking them to stop!

Hershey and M&M/Mars are the two biggest chocolate manufacturers in North America and these are the chocolate manufacturers I am talking about.

These are pretty bold accusations I am making and just so you don’t think I’m telling tall-tales, allow me to explain…

ISSUE ONE: GM Foods. Anything genetically modified is not good - Genetically Modified Foods: Just Say No! This is a huge issue that has been around since the early 1990’s and the controversy that surrounds GM crops are numerous. But to summarize, the arguments focus on: long-term health of consumers, and environmental safety and conservation, labeling and consumer choice, intellectual property rights, ethics, food security, poverty reduction, and potential disruption or even possible destruction of the food chain.

*The real reason for use of GM foods? MONEY*

ISSUE TWO: GM Beet Sugar. I bring this to your attention because if you were to read the wrapper of that Kit-Kat bar you just scarfed down, you will NOT see the 1 ingredient that is most harmful you - GENETICALLY MODIFIED BEET SUGAR.

Sugar beets are grown on only about 1.3 million acres by about 10,000 farmers in the United States, mainly in Northern states from Oregon to Michigan. They have been genetically altered (along with maize, canola, soybean, rice, potatoes, tomatoes…the list is scary) and what that means is the DNA of the vegetable has been changed so it can withstand large amounts of RoundUp weed and insect killer. Before this modification, farmers - such as Robert Green - walked a very fine line between keeping the weeds at bay, and killing their crops. GM cures this issue but along with that cure comes serious complications. So basically, altering the DNA of the vegetable allows the farmer to use more RoundUp on the food…soooo…ya. No amount of argument will convince me that the chemicals from RoundUp aren’t absorbed into the plants root system. The scariest ingredient in the RoundUp is Glyphosate that has been linked to cancer.

*The real reason for use of GM sugar beet foods? MONEY*

ISSUE THREE: Child Slavery. While little 12-year-old Annie sits there savouring the chocolate flavour of the Aero Bar she just stole from her brother’s Halloween candy stock-pile, there are children in West Africa, from Côte d’Ivoire (or Ivory Coast), who are sold into slavery to harvest cocoa beans under extreme abuse and inhumane conditions. American University in Washington, DC has done some extensive research on the topic of child trafficking, slavery that you should take the time to read - Chocolate and Slavery.

*The real reason for use of cocoa from a child slavery driven economy? MONEY*

IRONY 101. I now ask you to read Mars’ 5 core Principles. (I personally like “Efficiency: we use resources to the full, waste nothing and do only what we can do best“) and scan through Hershey’s list of Code of Conduct. HA!

I admit that writing this article has taught me a lot about chocolate and I may have to go back and review my obsession for Mint Chocolate Chip goodies (live and learn right?) and on that note, if you still like chocolate you can still eat it. Just buy the organic chocolate that does it’s best to be pure of form, not containing anything harmful to humans or the environment, LISTS where the cocoa comes from - like this Chocolate Lovers Choose Organic. And just to drive the point home again, send them an email asking them to stop!

OH and one final thing…Happy Halloween.