In 2001, Congressman Eliot Engel (D) NY came across an article describing the situation with the worst forms of child labor (including child trafficking) on the cocoa plantations of Ghana and West Africa.  Timing was on his side as a large FDA bill what about to hit the Congressional floor and Engel slipped in and addendum that chocolate companies would have to mark their bars “No Slavery Here” if that was the case.  The FDA bill passed but before if hit the Senate, the candy lobby intervened and hired George Mitchell and Bob Dole as the henchmen to thwart the bill. Senator Tom Harkin (D) Iowa, a long time advocate for ethical child labor joined forces with Engel.  The result was The Harkin-Engel Protocol.  Simple the candy companies admitted that there was a problem and that they would voluntarily clean up the supply chain of the worst forms of child labor with remediation to be done by 2005.  It’s now 2011 and not a lot has been done. There is still no assurance that cocoa coming into our ports is free child slavery.  Here is a link to the Harkin-Engel Protocol