This is in response to the letter “Lack of social responsibility” by Muhammad Saifuddin (April 29). I strongly believe that social responsibility starts with consumers. If a consumer buys goods at a low price he should know in what circumstances these goods have been produced.
I know in some countries young girls are employed for harvesting cotton from polluted fields. These girls will never be able to become mothers and they risk getting cancer at an early age. Since I know about it I never buy clothes made in these countries.
I would also not buy cheap toys, if I knew that the manufacturer employed children or produced its goods in a working environment that posed health hazards to workers. Only these two samples show how efficiently consumers can do their bit on social responsibility.
It is definitively wrong to connect the tragedy in Bangladesh with the behavior of Western multinational companies. We have several non-government organizations in Europe that keep a close watch on importers of cheap products, especially in the garment industry.
Any breaches in terms of child labor, unhealthy working conditions and environmental violations are immediately made public and importers are taken to task.
If all nations handle it the way it is done in Europe, working conditions of workers in poor Asian countries would improve for sure. However, the main responsibility lies with consumers themselves. The intention to buy “as cheap as possible” ultimately hits the workers hard. — Jan Frederic, by e-mail
Consumers’ responsibility
