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

>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 know. It's the problem when a country depends on just one product,
like banana, because it's almost the only thing other countries will
buy from them. As far as the method of pest control goes, I only have
it from a documentary on the issue, but it seems that they do spread
those chemicals by plane with no consideration of who might be out an
working at the plantation.
>
>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.
>
I don't know if Fair Trade do have bananas on the list, for sure. I do
know that Max Havelaar(sp?) is much similar to Fair Trade and they do
have bananas.
--
Nikitta a.a. #1759 Apatriot(No, not apricot)#18
ICQ# 251532856
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