"MEow" wrote in message
...
While frolicking around in alt.food.vegan, Jay of Shaw Residential
Internet said:

I think this is a personal call that you have to make for yourself. I do
the
same thing, all the time. For instance, I refuse to buy bananas, a nice
vegan food, right? Because of the inhumane conditions applied to the
communities surrounding the plantations and the workers themselves, I
won't
consider bananas to be an ethical food to eat until the growing practices
become more ethical.

How about the Max Havelaar(sp?) bananas, or Fair Trade bananas?


I have no idea what the conditions are for producing fair trade bananas.
I've never seen them in my grocery store, either, though. Might be worth
looking into. If you find anything, be sure to post it here. I do love
bananas =)

By the way, I have no way of verifying my sources since I've never been to a
banana plantation, but everything I've heard suggests that the way they
'control pests' is by spraying pesticides over the crop workers and crops
alike - pesticides which then get into the local water table. That can't be
safe. Also, much like any crop product, the pay for workers is dismal and
local economies are so completely dependant on crop production that to
remove the product would surely cause much poverty and even worse
conditions. I don't know which is better. Kind of a sucky situation.

I'm sure some companies are working to change conditions but I honestly
don't know which ones, nor have I done any research into the subject lately.
Unlike the fair trade movement with coffee and the like, bananas are not
nearly as often talked about amongst people looking to consume ethically.
Thought it might be worth mentioning here.

-Jay

"Unlike you, I have no problem spanking men." -Angel