But I’m facing an ethical dilemma. What do I give? I refuse to support human trafficking and child slavery by buying chocolate from one of the big name distributors. And as the buzz around the new documentary The Price of Sugar raises awareness of slave conditions inflicted on Haitians in the production of our sugar, I don’t want to just go with pure sugar stuff either (and of course trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup as well). It would be easier to be a hypocrite, but that’s not sitting well with me. So that means I need to find fairly traded organic Halloween candy to give out this year.

Halloween is a $2 Billion dollar a year industry for candy and the average household spends around $17 each year on the candy supply to give out. To break it down – each piece of mini brand name candy costs you between 8-13 cents and the “fun size” pieces are between 20-30 cents each. Depending on the size of your neighborhood, that adds up. When I first started searching for fair trade Halloween candy a few years ago, the cheapest stuff I found in my search was $.50 a piece. I realized that attempting to have an ethical and green Halloween could really cost me. So at the time I turned to the internet.

Thanks to the groundwork done by the wonderful Candy Blog I found what I was looking for. While there doesn’t appear to be loads of options out there, there are some pretty good choices available. Apparently Global Exchange carries an entire Fair Trade Halloween Kit full of candy, decor, and info postcards. Pretty spiffy. I’m also a fan of their fair trade gold coins which will go well with the pirate theme Emma is insisting upon this year. Also available are Endangered Species Bug Bites. These mini-chocolate bars come in milk and dark chocolate varieties and are high on the yummy scale. I let Emma try one and asked if if she thought other kids would like them. She said, “no, just Emma, I eat them all.” We’re working on the sharing thing. Plus each piece comes with a bug trading card which I think are rather fun. If you are looking to avoid chocolate altogether, Yummy Earth carries organic lollipops and hard candy in a variety of interesting flavors (watermelon, pomegranate…). And of course, the Natural Candy Store carries all sorts of fairly traded, organic, and allergen free options.

But in addition to these online options, I am beginning to see some in store possibilities available this year. My local Whole Foods is offering individually wrapped organic gummy bear packages as well as large bags of the yummy Earth lollipops. Ten Thousand Villages carries bite size chocolate bars. It’s a start at least, and hopefully each year other stores will join in green Halloween offerings.

(this is a revision of a post that first appear at onehandclapping)

After four decades of hard work, the organic community has built up a $25 billion “certified organic” food and farming sector. This consumer-driven movement, under steady attack by the biotech and Big Food lobby, with little or no help from government, has managed to create a healthy and sustainable alternative to America’s disastrous, chemical and energy-intensive system of industrial agriculture. Organic food and farming represent

However, the $50 billion annual natural food and products industry is threatening to undermine the organic movement by flooding the marketplace with conventional products, greewashed with “natural” labeling. “Natural,” in the overwhelming majority of cases is translates toconventional, with a green veneer. Natural products are routinely produced using pesticides, chemical fertilizer, hormones, genetic engineering, and sewage sludge. “Natural”,”all-natural,” and “sustainable,” products in most cases are neither backed up by rules and regulations, nor a Third Party certifier. Natural and sustainable are typically label claims that are neither policed nor monitored. For an evaluation of eco-labels see the Consumers Union Eco-Label website.

For example:

* Tests Show Widespread Presence of GMOs in So-Called “Natural” Foods

* “Natural” Silk Soy milk products are made with conventional soy, and often derived from dangerous hexane-extracted soy flour instead of whole soybeans.

* Dozens of “natural” and “made with organic” personal care and household cleaning products contain known carcinogens

* 90% or more of the vitamins and supplements now on the market labeled as “natural” or “food based” are spiked with synthetic chemicals.

Despite the staggering demand for certified organic products, retailers like Whole Foods Market, and wholesalers like United Natural Foods , Inc., continue to push “natural” products at a premium price, while hinder the advancement of organics with their market monopoly. In fact, the majority products sold and distributed by Whole Foods Market and UNFI are not certified organic, but so-called natural at certified organic prices. Meanwhile, independent and cooperative grocers often offer more certified organic products at competitive prices.

Will you stand up for organics?

Contact Whole Foods Market and UNFI today and tell them that you will buy only certified organic products for you and your family.

Sign the petition here.