Below you will find information on child and other labor
issues in salt production; this is followed by the Israel connection. Then you will find some information on why
you actually need salt—so don’t completely boycott all salt! After that you will find information on
Ethical Salt; if that is all you need to read, please scroll down.
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Child and other labor
issues:
Bangladesh—for documentation of child labor in salt mines,
scroll down at the link to the second chart; the first entry under ‘Industry’ is
what you are looking for, it has links to more information. http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/bangladesh.htm
Cambodia—Child labor documentation, similar to the above;
scroll down at the link to the second chart.
The second entry under ‘Industry’ documents child labor for production
of salt with links to more information. http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/cambodia.htm
India—“In India's salt-producing area thousands of families
- including children as young as 10 - toil in the desert using a harvesting
technique unchanged in centuries.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7305988/Salt-mining-leaves-bitter-taste-for-Indian-workers.html
Kenya—“Due to low education levels and high poverty rates
most of salt farm employees still work under extremely poor conditions; they
lack essential safety gears like gloves, boots, helmets, overcoats, scrapers
and basins. Long term exposure to brine
and associated chemicals . . . results
into numerous health complications to the field workers. Salt farming in the
region is also related to severe ecological issues at Kenya’s coastal strip.” http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_3_February_2013/21.pdf
Korea— “ . . . disabled people forced to work
under slave-like conditions, which later revealed the wider inhumane labor
conditions across the salt producing industry.” http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2014/02/116_151780.html
Niger—while no specific figures are given for children
working in salt mines, the figure for a different type of mine was that child
labor made up 43% of the mine workers. Also
see the link below for Sengal, which directly addresses Niger’s children
working in salt mines. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2000/01/chld-j07.html
Sengal—“The
boys generally dig the pits, maintain them and fill sacs of between 18 and 25
kg
(worth
10 to 15 Fcfa each). Girls, generally accompanied by their mothers, help pile
the sand, put it in bags and transport it. In some places girls carry loads of
salt on their heads in tubs for up 15 kilometres to the nearest pick-up point.” http://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Miningandquarrying/MoreaboutCLinmining/lang--en/index.htm
~~~
Israel is in the salt
business, and they target children with human rights abuses.
For information on the later please see ‘Palestinian
Children Under Attack:’
And ‘Don’t Fund Real Horror:’ http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/2014/10/dont-fund-real-horror.html
Here are a few details about Israel’s salt export business:
Israel is the world’s largest exporter of inorganic
compounds, an export category that includes salt:
Israel marketed 421 metric tons of salt in 2010: http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2010/myb3-2010-is.pdf
In 2012 Israel’s salt exports were valued at $21,595,000 in
US Dollars.
An Israeli Investment firm ran by Shari Arison recommends
investing in Israeli salt. She is ranked
No. 64 in ‘Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women,’ according to her web site: http://www.shariarison.com/en/content/arison-investments-company-salt-earth
There are a number of Israeli salt businesses, ‘Salt of the
Earth’ is just one, and possibly the worst:
http://salt.co.il/index.php?sitelang=en
According to ‘Who Profits,’ ‘Salt of the Earth,’ also known
as ‘Melach Ha'aretz,’ and another Arison
brand, ‘Salit,’ are all exploiting Palestinian resources and operating out of
illegally occupied Palestine for Israeli profit. Israeli salt is not only sold under brand
names, it is sold in bulk as an unbranded or generic commodity, and can be
packaged under many brand names. Simply
boycotting these brands (which of course you should do) will not guarantee that
Israeli salt will not make it into your salt shaker. Check the label on all salt for country of
origin information. If it isn’t stated
that salt could come from anywhere. The
best way to know that your salt is ethically sourced and supports ethical
business practices is to purchase Fair Trade Certified salt or salt from a
known ethical brand. Keep reading, we tell you how to find ethical salt
below. Meanwhile, here’s ‘Who Profit’s’
scoop on ‘Salt of the Earth:’ http://www.whoprofits.org/company/israel-salt-company
~~~
Please don’t skip
your salt unless you are under doctors orders! Salt is necessary for life. While we know that too much salt does us
harm, not enough salt can be just as harmful.
Salt helps regulate water balance in our cells, it is involved in the
micro-electrical systems that regulate and empower our muscles, and it helps
usher nutrients into our cells as well as helping eliminate cellular waste. Many people feel that raw minimally processed
salt is far better for our bodies than the highly processed corporate
salt. The brands recommended below are
not only ethical; they are healthy tasty life giving salt. For more information on the benefits of
natural salt please see: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/05/end-war-on-salt.aspx
~~~
Ethical Salt is
Available!
Salt is a commodity, often sold in bulk and packaged by
various brands—so avoiding a few brands isn’t likely to be a useful
strategy. ‘Real Salt,’ ‘Celtic Sea
Salt,’ and ‘Aloha Bay’ are the ethical brands that we have researched, however
there are probably more. (If you know of
others, please leave a comment!)
Many countries, regions, and even communities have small
salt works producing sustainable, ethical salt for the table. Check with your local farmers' market, co-op, or natural food
store and see what they have to offer. To
avoid commodity salt, you want to buy it in a package of some kind, rather than
bulk—unless the bulk salt offered is single-sourced. Read the label on the package (or the bulk
container) and look for country of origin information. If it comes from a country where you know
there are ethical or labor problems or if it doesn’t say where it’s from, look
for ‘Fair Trade Certified’ or ‘Certified Organic.’ Products involved in child or slave labor, or other
ethical issues are denied both of these certifications. If it isn’t Fair Trade Certified, Certified Organic, and if there is no country of origin information, (or if it is from
Israel) don’t buy it. It is likely to be
an unethically produced product. Bear in
mind, just because a product claims to be Fair Trade or Organic doesn’t make it
so. Always look for the word
‘Certified.’
Order On-Line:
If you can’t find acceptable salt locally, there are a
number of companies that offer it on-line.
Here in the US Azure Standard
* carries both Celtic Sea Salt and Real Salt: https://www.azurestandard.com/
Aloha Bay, markets
Fair Trade Certified pink Himalayan salt from ancient deposits in Pakistan, you
can order on-line directly from them: http://www.alohabay.com/products/tablesalt/table_salt.html
Celtic Sea Salt, is produced
from sea salt in France and is available from many on-line retailers. Here is one example: http://healthfree.com/shop/index.php?l=product_list&c=3
Real Salt, produced
from ancient salt deposits in Utah, can be purchased by phone or on-line: http://www.realsalt.com/
* Besides salt, Azure
Standard offers many other ethical, natural, healthy, organic options for
the table, kitchen, and home. They
deliver dry goods throughout the US via UPS and they have truck routes that
also deliver produce and frozen foods to drop points in many large and midsized
towns. Orders under $50.00 are charged a
minimal handling fee. Their prices,
however, are very competitive.
~~~
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Image originally from Wikimedia Commons:
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