We often don’t know the consequences of our lives. It’s hard to reach to the source of everything we consume. We many times inadvertently cause harm with our choices.
If you wear makeup that contains mica, chances are that mineral was mined by a young girl in India.
Working 12-hour days, children as young as five-years-old are slaving away for your glittery eye shadow.
The Huffington Post reports:
A campaign by Made in a Free World, an organization on a mission to combat modern-day slavery, is fighting against child labor in India where 60 percent of the Earth’s mica is mined. The glittery mineral is used in many common cosmetic products sold internationally, and is often mined on the backs of Indian children working in sub-standard, dangerous and illegal conditions.
According to DanWatch, a nonprofit advocating for social justice issues, children as young as 5 years old are forced to enter crumbling mine shafts and use hammers to chisel away at the resource, even while it’s illegal for anyone in India under the age of 14 to be employed in mining. Children have been known to work 12-hour days for just $4 in mines in India, according to Agence France Presse.
I don’t wear makeup, but my daughter does. I plan to share this information with her and encourage her to share it with her friends.