For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004

Contact: Melissa Schweisguth: 510 551 9685 Mauro Pineda 415 404 0004 X268

Friday, Feb. 13 could be a very lucky day for West African cocoa farmers if a delegation of human rights, environmental and faith based organizations meeting with M&M/Mars in Chicago gets its way. The delegation, led by international human rights group Global Exchange, wants the giant candy company to start selling Fair Trade chocolate so West African cocoa farmers won't need to use abusive child labor to survive economically. The delegation meeting with M&M/Mars will take place at 11am the day before Valentine's Day and in the middle of African American History month.

"For two years M&M/Mars has refused to respond to the growing outcry for Fair Trade Certified chocolate from thousands of concerned consumers and cocoa producers alike," said Global Exchange Fair Trade organizer Melissa Schweisguth. "We are representing the voices M&M/Mars has ignored for too long, and demand a concrete plan for immediately purchasing on Fair Trade Certified cocoa by M&M/Mars." The delegation includes Global Exchange, Call to Action, the Chicago Fair Trade Coalition, the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, the Sacred Heart Order of Franciscan Monks Province Peace and Justice.

The Feb. 13 meeting is part of a national day of action demanding that M&M/Mars sell Fair Trade chocolate. Events are planned in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and other cities. M&M/Mars is being highlighted because the company is an industry leader and because its chocolate has a profoundly unfair ingredient. Snickers, Milky Way, M&Ms packet and Dove Bar are tainted with the bitter taste of abusive child labor, as defined by international labor standards.

On Valentine's Day millions of Americans will unwittingly consume the blood, sweat and tears of West African children. Two thirds of the world's cocoa crop is produced on West African cocoa farms, where the State Department and the International Labor Organization have documented the widespread use of abusive child labor, and even child slavery. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture reports that West African cocoa farmers earn on average as little as $30 to $108 per household member annually from cocoa. But M&M/Mars refuses to purchase Fair Trade cocoa or sell Fair Trade chocolate.

Fair Trade certified chocolate, which provides a living wage to farmers, is the best solution to the child labor crises. Fair Trade certification guarantees a minimum price per pound, prohibits abusive labor and offers hope, dignity and economic success to cocoa farmers. M&M/Mars has sales of about $16 billion a year. The three private owners of the company are each worth $10.4 billion! Can't M&M/Mars affortd to get on board the Fair Trade train? ###