Become an ethical pest, urges Government Minister
Ask more questions about where your goods are from, Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas said today.
Speaking to shoppers, consumer groups and chiefs of high street chains in London today, Gareth Thomas said the growing number of people wanting to shop ethically are entitled to more information about the source and production methods of their food, clothes and furniture from the places they shop.
Gareth Thomas is backing the new ‘Be an Ethical Pest’ campaign created by the Ethical Trading Initiative. He said,”Despite the economic downturn, sales are rising in ethical goods as are consumer concerns. A survey published last week showed that last year 60% of under 25’s said they bought the clothes they wanted and really didn’t care how they were produced whereas this year it’s gone down to just 36%.
“The public are obviously committed to the idea of helping developing countries through their weekly shopping, but there’s not enough information out there to help people shop ethically.”
East Asia has trebled its share of world trade since 1980 and lifted half a billion people out of poverty. Despite having 12% of the world’s population, Africa’s share of world trade fell from 8% in the 1970s to 1.3% in 2005.
Gareth Thomas said,”This is not just about trade; it’s about trade that works for local people. The public are entitled to know how ethical different shopping chains are – which ones are committed to getting their suppliers to pay a living wage, how transparent they are about their supply chains and which can be trusted never to source goods made with child labour.”
Questions to ask when out shopping from the ETI’s Ethical Pest campaign;
Do you know which country this product comes from?
What are you doing to protect the rights of workers who are making your products?
Do you know how much the workers making your products are paid?
