The Department of Labor has recently released it’s list of slave-made goods.  You can read the whole report here, or check out a summary on the Change.org blog.  This list empowers us as consumers to avoid these products as much as possible.  It doesn’t mean all products on the list are made by slaves but they definitely have the highest incidence.  Now that we know, the information can shape our decisions about what we buy. Here is a brief synopsis:

• The most common goods which have significant incidence of forced and/or child labor are cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, rice, and cocoa in agriculture; bricks, garments, carpets, and footwear in manufacturing; and gold and coal in mined or quarried goods.
• 122 goods in 58 countries are produced with a significant incidence of forced labor, child labor, or both.
• More goods were found to be made with child labor than forced labor.
• Bolivia: nuts, cattle, corn, and sugar
• Burma: bamboo, beans, bricks, jade, nuts, rice rubber, rubies, sesame, shrimp, sugarcane, sunflowers, and teak
• China: artificial flowers, bricks, Christmas decorations, coal, cotton, electronics, garments, footwear, fireworks, nails, and toys
• India: bricks, carpets, cottonseed, textiles, and garments
• Nepal: bricks, carpets, textiles, and stones
• North Korea: bricks, cement, coal, gold, iron, and textiles
• Pakistan: bricks, carpet, coal, cotton, sugar, and wheat

We’ve posted this link before but if you want to request that your favorite brands are slave-free, check out Chain Store Reaction.