Candy companies lobbying for destructive policies this week

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

This week, the members of the National Confectioners Association (NCA) are converging in DC to lobby for some sweet deals for the biggest candy companies in the world.  While they are in DC listening to words of wisdom (?) from Pat Buchanan, they will be flooding the offices of our members of Congress to "discuss" food safety, child nutrition legislation, future biofuels, ethanol and sugar.  Additionally, tonight the "Chocolate Council" of the NCA -- formerly known as the Chocolate Manufacturers Association -- will be meeting in a fancy downtown hotel while children work on West African cocoa farms to produce massive profits for these U.S. corporations.

It is extremely disturbing that despite the global food crisis, the problems of obesity in the U.S. and the widespread abuse of labor rights and use of child labor in the sugar and cocoa industries globally, the candy industry continues to reap profits from this destruction. 

For years, the major chocolate companies represented in the NCA have failed to improve the conditions for farmers in West Africa, especially Cote d'Ivoire.  Despite spending millions of dollars on programs that are supposed to help children , children continue to work on cocoa farms throughout West Africa.

Meanwhile, the global food crisis is highlighting the role that biofuels are playing in threatening food and land rights and contributing to environmental damage and climate change.

While the candy industry aggressively pushes for policies which we know are causing global crises, will we sit back and let them control Congress or will we take action to hold these corporations accountable?  Luckily, the NCA has made it easy for all of us to find out exactly who is responsible for pushing these destructive policies.  Click here to see a list of participants in NCA's Washington Forum along with their contact information.  Do you have something to say about food safety, child nutrition, biofuels, child labor and labor rights?  Let them know!

Another thing you can do to take action specifically on the issue of the cocoa industry is participate in Reverse Trick-or-Treating!  For the second year in a row, thousands of young people across the U.S. and Canada will deliver information about injustice in the cocoa industry along with fair trade chocolate to the houses where they go trick-or-treating.  To sign up to receive materials as a group, the deadline is October 1st and to sign up as an individual, the deadline is October 13th.  Check out www.ReverseTrickorTreating.org for all the details!