A Hidden Ingredient In Your Candy Bar: Exploited Labor

A Hidden Ingredient In Your Candy Bar: Exploited Labor
A new Rainforest Action Network video uncovers palm oil’s high human cost.
07/12/2016 10:55 am ET Dominique Mosbergen Reporter, The Huffington Post


What’s in that candy bar you’re munching on or the shampoo lathered in your hair? Along with the sugar and the chemicals, there may be a hidden ingredient you didn’t bargain for: exploited workers.

The Rainforest Action Network released a video Tuesday highlighting the human cost of palm oil, the ubiquitous commodity found in everything from ice cream to detergent. The video describes how the palm oil industry exploits its labor force, exposing workers to hazardous chemicals without adequate protection and turning a blind eye to the use of child labor on plantations, among other abuses.

RAN says the animated clip tells the real stories of three palm oil workers: Manik, who was trafficked into work on a Malaysian palm oil plantation; Sutantri, a young mother who was exposed without proper equipment to toxic chemicals; and Adi, a father who brings his children to work to help him meet his unrealistically high daily quotas.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/palm-oil-labor-abuse-video_us_57847ce2e4b0e05f052340bb?section=