# Aside from diamonds and chocolate, what other products are ethically questionable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300 "2016-04-05T22:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pieceoftheuniverse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@pieceoftheuniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pieceoftheuniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/41 "2016-04-06T17:27:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > How about: is there anything you can buy that’s _not_ conflict free? ☹ Depends on your definition of “conflict.” There’s an interesting site called [Ethical Consumer](http://www.ethicalconsumer.org). Here’s their page on [fast food chains](http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/food/fastfoodchains.aspx). It lets you scale based on issues, like “people,” “environment,” “animals,” “politics,” and then rates the company appropriately. So if you don’t care about how a place treats animals, you slide that scale to the left. If you care about the environment above all else, slide that scale to the right. It’s … neat? Freaky? Freely subjective? I don’t know the right adjective. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/42 "2016-04-06T20:09:02Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Actually, when Sam was still running the place, it was a point of pride that everything was made in the U.S. > Can’t say about the factories, though. This was not true. They _did have_ a lot of signage all over their stores with “made in America” verbiage, but that was just hype. People would find these signs on top of foreign made products all the time. Consumer Reports would have pics of that on their “Selling It” back page. I can guarantee that none of the VCRs Walmart ever sold was made in the USA. And no TV since the 70s when Walmart was a small regional chain. (There were specialty US TV makers after that, but Walmart wouldn’t have sold any.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/43 "2016-04-06T20:14:32Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Slave labor at Goodwill.](http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/06/24/2201101/goodwill-pays-cents-per-hour/) Man, some people really love to overuse semantically loaded words, like “slave”.:rolleyes: Because\* of course \*they buy and sell their workers, whip them, and they arent free to leave. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/44 "2016-04-06T20:16:16Z")
Blood oranges. I mean, it’s got “blood” right in the name. [What it says on the tin](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), man. I can’t even imagine the abuse, bondage, and conflict necessary to bring those to the market. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/45 "2016-04-06T20:18:51Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Almonds are basically stealing water from California and making their drought worse. Not entirely true: > **[Yes, Almonds Use a Lot of California’s Water. They’re Also a Convenient...](https://slate.com/business/2015/04/almonds-in-california-they-use-up-a-lot-of-water-but-they-deserve-a-place-in-californias-future.html)** > > This year’s “rainy” season is over, and California is beginning to accept its fate: Business-as-usual farming in the Golden State may soon become a... > **[Almonds Not the State's Worst Water Offender](https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/almonds-not-the-states-worst-water-offender/84569/)** > > The California almond is getting a bad reputation. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/46 "2016-04-06T20:19:55Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Children in cocoa production](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_in_cocoa_production) I sure as hell dont want children in my cocoa, they ruin the taste. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/47 "2016-04-06T20:20:37Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > > [@boffking](#): > > > > Almonds are basically stealing water from California and making their drought worse. > > I came here to say the same thing. I don’t know why almonds get singled out for this. Most food that’s grown on land uses a great deal of water. See [this infographic](http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/) for examples. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/48 "2016-04-06T20:41:51Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > I seriously doubt the [almonds](http://australianalmonds.com.au/) I buy are stealing water from California. My money is on those singing raisins 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/49 "2016-04-07T02:57:45Z")
Powdered rhino horn. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/50 "2016-04-07T03:31:10Z")
I make sure all my products come from rich countries. Those poor brown people in third world nations will probably spend it all on booze or something. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/51 "2016-04-07T03:37:38Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Apparently canned dolphin cannot be produced without condemning innocent tuna to an unpleasant death. I’m weak, though. I eat my dolphin salad sandwiches anyway. > [@Velocity](#): > > Post of the thread. As I read that post: Wait, maybe someone hasn’t posted the joke Wait, I’m not parsing this sentence…But what about the…? Oh dammit. No fair posting the punchline first. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/52 "2016-04-07T04:58:48Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I don’t understand this “sweatshop” thing. How can you make money from a shop that sells sweat? Who would buy such a thing? Pocari Sweat! [Pocari Sweat - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocari_Sweat) It actually tastes OK! As for questionable products, Voltaire wrote about cruelty on sugar plantations being the price Europeans paid for sugar back in the 1700s. From the Wikipedia page on sugar: In the 18th century AD, sugarcane plantations began in Caribbean, South American, Indian Ocean and Pacific island nations and the need for laborers became a major driver of large human migrations, including slave labor[4] and indentured servants.[5] ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/53 "2016-04-07T06:15:16Z")
Well, at the risk of being a rabble-rouser, I nominate baby milk formula. Just search “Nestle formula boycott.” Essentially, in the 70s and 80s, Nestle sent drug reps dressed as nurses to third-world countries, armed with just enough baby formula samples to get the babies started…and the mothers to lose their milk supply. Not to mention that the impoverished mothers often lacked a clean water source. Oh, and they did this in 1st world hospitals as well, to the point that breastfeeding seemed subversive and “hippie” into the 90s. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/54 "2016-04-07T06:21:06Z")
Kopi luak is bad. That’s the stuff from Indonesia popularized by the “Bucket List” movie with Jack Nicholsen. An Indonesian civet, the luak, eats the coffee beans and poops them out, then the beans are collected for making coffee. Unfortunately demand increased so much after the movie that countless luaks have been captured and held in deplorable conditions in order to harvest enough beans. Don’t buy it! (It also doesn’t taste particularly good, at least in my opinion. I’ve had it.) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/55 "2016-04-07T06:50:59Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > ISIS is purported to be selling petroleum to fund its horrors. Not so much any more (the coalition has been pretty successful in blowing up their ships and wells as I understand) but they’re still extremely active in plundering and smuggling antique artifacts. They’re publicly destroying large statues of “false idols” for PR, but anything that can be moved easily they’ll sell to collectors. Coins, pots, jewelry, weapons and armour, seals, documents, clay tablets, figurines… ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/56 "2016-04-07T13:39:57Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > We can’t be perfect, and can only do our best. For example, I never buy seafood that is from a far-away place, preferring U.S., accepting Canadian. Reminds me of a documentary I once saw. It started following Norwegian shrimp fishers. Then it showed the boxes of shrimps sold in some shop of the Norwegian port the fishing ship was based in. And then, they showed the shrimps being frozen onboard, then sent to Morroco for one part of the processing and from there to some south-Asian country for the rest of the processing before being flown or shiped back to Europe, including to Norway and the port shown at the beginning. Not sure if they were sold as “Norwegian” shrimps. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/57 "2016-04-07T16:44:33Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Several years ago, a regional grocery chain started selling salmon that was caught in Alaska and processed in China. Regulations required that this be posted; they had to stop doing this because people refused to buy it. The supermarket I usually go to often has “Atlantic salmon” with a country of origin being Chile. I don’t buy it. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/58 "2016-04-08T01:29:45Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > The supermarket I usually go to often has “Atlantic salmon” with a country of origin being Chile. I don’t buy it. “Atlantic salmon” is a species of salmon. It is native to the North Atlantic, but it’s commonly used in salmon-farming, and in that context it’s found all over the world. It also occurs in the wild in the North Pacific, having been introduced there for farming purposes. Atlantic salmon marked with Chile as the country of origin is almost certainly farmed salmon spawned in Chile, not wild salmon caught in the North Atlantic and then shipped to Chile for processing. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/59 "2016-04-08T04:31:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Unless this gets more abstract this quite a non GQ topic. By its very title. No, if it gets LESS abstract it goes to IMHO or great debates. Its because its abstract it is prosaic … EVERYTHING is unethical. Its expression of opinion (like a poll ) when we get to getting less abstract and saying how unethical this and that is … Its a great debate when its the western status quo vs eastern european status quo vs China vs Thailand vs Marxism ,etc,etc ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300/60 "2016-04-08T15:47:34Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > “Atlantic salmon” is a species of salmon. It is native to the North Atlantic, but it’s commonly used in salmon-farming, and in that context it’s found all over the world. It also occurs in the wild in the North Pacific, having been introduced there for farming purposes. > > Atlantic salmon marked with Chile as the country of origin is almost certainly farmed salmon spawned in Chile, not wild salmon caught in the North Atlantic and then shipped to Chile for processing. Yes, that’s what the person behind the fish counter told me. When I said “I don’t buy it,” I meant that literally; I don’t purchase it, not I don’t believe it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aside-from-diamonds-and-chocolate-what-other-products-are-ethically-questionable/751300.md?page=4)