How "Fair" is "Fair Trade"?

What product is produced with the most forced or child labor in the world? If you said, "Gold"; you're right.

Number two? Cotton.

Because I believe that ethical business isn't just the responsibility of producers, but also of consumers, I look for the "fair trade" label on products I buy. Even if it makes that purchase a little more expensive, I'm happy to do that -- and to know that I'm blessed to be able to make that slightly more expensive purchase.

Fairtrade International, one of the groups that certifies products as "fair trade", points out that cotton prices worldwide have been in steady decline for several decades, falling this year to $0.92 per kilo, the lowest level in 30 years. Of how many other products can you say that? Significant government subsidies for cotton production in countries like the U.S. put extra downward pressure on the price (according to Fairtrade, US cotton producers receive $4.2 billion in government subsidies annually, which is equivalent to the value of their entire crop. Well over half of US cotton production is "dumped" on the world market, often priced below the costs of production, even though cotton production in Benin is less than half the cost in the US. Does anyone else have ethical problems with this?!?).

Cam Simpson at Bloomberg News reported Thursday on the exploitation of children in the production of organic and fair-trade cotton in Burkina Faso. The most depressing statement of all?

In Burkina Faso, where child labor is endemic to the production of its chief crop export, paying lucrative premiums for organic and fair-trade cotton has -- perversely -- created fresh incentives for exploitation. The program has attracted subsistence farmers who say they don’t have the resources to grow fair-trade cotton without forcing other people’s children into their fields -- violating a key principle of the movement.

Bloomberg's Simpson followed one young girl, 13-year-old Clarisse Kambire, who has been working in cotton fields for two years, digging rows by hand, and then harvesting the same way. Devastating photos and videos are available here.

Fairtrade International is reportedly starting a review of Burkina Faso policies, following the publication of the Bloomberg News article.

Until then, what's a responsible consumer to do? Unfortunately, there's no easy answer -- there's no way I can trace all the cotton in my favorite turtleneck back to its source to know whether children in West Africa planted and picked that cotton, or whether children in Sri Lanka or India spun the yarn, or operated the sewing machines in Indonesia that made the shirt.

That doesn't cut me loose from the responsibility of trying to find out, of pressuring the store from which I buy to provide that information, and to abide by the agreements that they sign.

A spokesperson for Victoria's Secret, the Columbus, OH-based lingerie company which purchased some cotton from Burkina Faso, told Bloomberg News, "Our standards specifically prohibit child labor. We are vigorously engaging with stakeholders to fully investigate this matter."

Those words are nice -- and important -- but the follow-up will be critical.

I will be keeping that in mind this week, as I rush around trying to find those perfect last-minute holiday gifts.