Children who the BBC saw picking jasmine for perfume - Source: BBC

By: Helena Dias and Gustavo Araújo (Grade 3)

Many people around the world love buying perfumes and always wear them. However, do you know how it is made? Well, the history behind it isn’t romantic at all.

Perhaps, you know that someone gets the jasmine and takes it to the factory to start the production. But did you know that those people are in fact children?! 

Those kids must wake up early in the morning, at least at 3 am to pick Jasmine flowers. They have to collect as many flowers as possible. Besides the hard work, they just receive 1 dollar per kilo. 

The worst part is, their “job” isn’t safe at all. BBC has interviewed a family that unfortunately, depends on this type of job and they told the reporters that their kids are developing many health problems. One of the most common one is eyesight. Their vision is becoming blurry and they are having a lot of allergies. This happens because of the contact with pesticides without protection and the jasmine’s extract. 

The brand responsible for this hideous felony is well known in the fashion industry: Lancôme, a branch of L’Oreal.

L’Oreal answered that they are “actively committed to respecting the most protective internationally recognised human rights standards”, adding that it “never requests Fragrance Houses to go lower than the market price for ingredients at the expense of farmers. Despite our strong commitments… we know that in certain parts of the world where L’Oréal suppliers operate, there are risks to our commitments being upheld.”

They’re saying a plethora of things on paper, but in real life all that glitters is not gold. Do you think that one day this pernicious act is really going to end?!

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