These days, our daily lives revolve around consuming products left and right.
Whenever a new video game console or a smart phone announces a release date, we are already
standing in line at the store hoping to be the first one to own whatever it is that we
have seen or heard about.
In our home, we have no shortage of items in our kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom that
makes us the kind of consumer that the retail industry enjoys selling things to.
Fortunately for retailers, many of us don't stop to think what's going into the items
that we put in our carts or shopping bags; and unfortunately for us, we may be unwittingly
contributing to a problem that persists in almost every industry imaginable.
So, in this video, we are counting down to 10 everyday products that you may never buy
once you have found out how they were made.
9.
TISSUE and PAPER NAPKINS
Whether they're for wiping off make up or the occasional tear, napkins have become part
of our daily routine and have been a staple in almost everyone's hopping list.
You would think that these paper products don't have any insidious secrets to keep,
right?
Unfortunately, many big paper napkin brands and manufacturers are known animal testers,
using innocent creatures to test different chemicals and other things on them to make
sure that it is safe for human use.
While some corporations support non-animal testing methods for their products, some of
them still employ the method from time to time when they have to.
8.
LOTIONS and SKIN PRODUCTS
Moisturizers, petroleum jelly, and lotions are great products to keep your skin have
that healthy glow.
Store and pharmacy aisles are stocked to the brim with different skin care products from
different brands that stand by their claim to giving consumers their youthful looks back.
However, at the cost of that youthful glow, skin care products – including makeup – are
notorious for animal testing and, in fact, many animal rights activists and advocates
have protested and boycotted a number of big name brands in the market due to their track
record in animal testing.
Sadly for our furry friends, major corporations prioritize on their consumers at the cost
of an animal's well-being.
Many of them end up being mistreated and harmed during testing if not worse.
7.
PLASTIC BAGS
Many plastic bags we use contain something called "slip agents".
This reduces the friction in the material which prevents them from getting stuck together.
While many parts of the world are slowly transitioning to biodegradable materials such as bags made
from recycled paper or biodegradable plastic products, there are still some places – even
in developed countries – that use regular, non-green plastic bags that contain animal
fat as the main ingredient in its slip agent.
Animal by-products are continuously being developed by manufacturers not only for use
in plastic bags as additives to its composition, but also – in the future – we may be seeing
several other products such as disposable diapers and hospital gowns that contain keratin
protein found in chicken feathers.
6.
RUBBER
It's in our wheels and in our furniture.
The use of rubber has been one of the most important discoveries in history and, to this
day, the product has served mankind extremely well.
In fact, in countries such as Liberia, it has become an essential cog in the economy
providing jobs and strengthening national income.
On the flip side, the rubber industry has become such a boom in Liberia that workers
are treated the same way as their products: as expendable commodities.
In 2006, a report was released when two of Liberia's major rubber plantations were
at the hands of former combatants in the country's destructive civil war.
In the report, it was revealed that the workers at the plantations were mistreated and were
working slave labour since the rubber industry in Liberia – unfortunately – is not properly
regulated and tracked.
A major tire company went under fire after being accused of buying rubber products from
these plantations.
According to the tire company, however, they stated that they do not know from whom they
were buying their tires – a claim that may certainly be true.
This poses as an issue because it only exacerbates the problem that there are people in factories
and plantations that are continually being abused and taken advantage of in order for
some individuals to earn money.
5.
STICKY NOTES
We all love sticky notes.
Having to see those bright yellow squares attached to papers, boards, and table tops
kind of gives us a sense of being busy and productive.
At first glance, they don't seem all too complicated and may not have too much to say
in terms of chemical content but – that aside – many sticky notes manufacturers,
including big brand corporations, have been known to test their adhesive chemicals on
animals.
To make matters even grimmer, some of these tests are required by law in certain areas
to make sure that the product is safe for human use.
4.
PALM OIL
While its popular use in Asia is in the form of cooking oil, Palm Oil has become an essential
ingredient in many products from cosmetics to car fuel in much more developed countries.
Products such as face creams and lotions contain palm oil as a form of preservative to extend
the product's shelf life.
Over the years, environmental activists have placed palm oil plantations and farms under
their radar because of the destructive nature of collecting it but it does not come close
to how palm oil plantations use slave labour to produce it.
The Palm Oil industry produces about $40 billion per year and its major production is based
on two islands in Indonesia namely Borneo and North Sumatra.
Employing contractors to hire workers, Palm Oil farms force their workers to sign contracts
that require them to work for years.
They are loaned money instead of being paid a salary; and are required to buy everything
they need from the company store.
Any attempts of escaping warrant severe beating from company guards.
While many large corporations in Asia have condemned the practice, there are still some
who have been discovered to turn a blind eye and continues to employ contractors and buy
their supplies from farms that are known hotbeds of slave labour.
3.
COUNTERFEIT HANDBAGS
Who would not want a bargain on a designer bag?
Sadly, though, designer bags do not come cheap and many people end up in debt because of
a purse.
Because of this, many enterprising individuals have taken advantage of the situation to offer
consumers a cheaper, less-reputable alternative of counterfeit luxury bags.
The practice of producing and selling counterfeit bags is illegal but is rampant in many countries,
mostly in the developing regions of Asia where the manufacturers themselves are based.
With a $600 billion worth in the market, counterfeit bags are built on abusive child labour that
the international community have tried to break and shut down.
The profits from the labour itself are known to finance other, mostly illegal, activities.
In some factories, children worked day and night to produce the counterfeit bags and
in order to prevent any of them from running away and escaping, many of these factories
have been known to break these children's legs and tie them to their seats.
All of this just to satisfy a demand from – ironically – Western consumers.
As authorities and international civil rights groups continue to tell the public, as long
as people keep buying, the counterfeit industry will be difficult to put out of business and
children will continue to be horribly abused.
2.
BRANDED CLOTHING
As insidious as the counterfeit bag industry is, branded clothing comes in at number two
for the same reason: child and slave labour.
While known luxury brands have made efforts to move their production away from places
that have illegal employment practices, there are brands that are still known for having
their manufacturing done by children in mostly impoverished countries because of cheaper
costs.
Clothing brands and even retailers have gone under the microscope of activists because
of public outcry against sweatshops.
In countries such as Bangladesh, many retailers and brands find factories and sweatshops that
will produce their products regardless of the method.
Workers are subjected to extreme conditions with very little compensation.
Several factories where they work are located in condemned buildings that are an inch away
from collapsing.
In fact, a few structures have collapsed and have killed workers; a fact that many retailers
have refused to comment on and actively turn their heads away form.
1.
ELECTRONICS
Our smartphones have become one of the most useful things that never leave our side.
The same goes to our laptops and tablets.
It seems like all the bells and whistles have been put in our electronic devices in order
to make our lives much, much easier.
However, though our lives may have been improved by our gadgets, the lives of those who have
actually assembled them have been made miserable by tech companies who are cashing in on cheap,
overseas labour.
Certain big tech corporations have been – and still are – under fire for using slave labour
and sweatshops to assemble their products.
Most notably, in China, a factory has gained quite the notoriety for abusing its workers:
forcing them to work in horrendous conditions and lengthy hours.
It was even reported that the workers are cramped in small, prison-like quarters.
It has even gotten so bad that there were reports of suicides just so they could escape
the abuse.
In the said factory, rumour has it that the administrators have installed nets in order
to catch any worker who decides to jump off a floor and plummet to his or her death all
for producing a smartphone that would cost hundreds of dollars – a price tag that cannot
even match the amount of hardships these innocent labourers go through on a daily basis.
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