Planetoverhaul.com

Think of a name of a company, corporation or a brand to you is considered powerful in the world. We all must agree that the ultimate goal of this company is profit. Yes profit, the number one goal of all companies.

Furthermore, are you aware that many companies are sacrificing the health of our planet and its inhabitants just to achieve this ultimate goal? In fact, some of them are committing destructive and exploitative practices. And the worst of them are committing atrocities that go beyond the realm of objectionable into criminal, dumping toxic chemicals without regard to public health and employing child labor.

Believe me or not, these evil deeds exist behind giant companies. To name a few, below are some facts I gathered fresh from the internet.

Nestle

More than 40% of the world’s chocolate comes from Côte d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) in Africa, where tens of thousands of children are estimated to be working in dangerous conditions on cocoa farms. Nestle uses cocoa harvested by slave labor, and only when Senator Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa) led an investigation and introduced legislation that would require chocolate sold in the US to be labeled “slave-free” did the company act.

Pfizer

Air and water pollution, disregard for safety standards and experimentation on Nigerian children: these are just a few of the environmental and human rights offenses perpetrated by the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. It’s hard to imagine how Pfizer officials can bear to look at themselves in the mirror every day after what they’ve done.

Wal-Mart

“Save Money, Live Better”. That’s Wal-Mart’s slogan, but Wal-Mart workers themselves certainly wouldn’t say that they live better after beginning employment with the retail giant. A 2005 study found that Wal-Mart reduced the take-home pay of workers by an astounding $4.7 billion dollars annually, adding insult to injury considering that workers are often forced to work overtime for zero pay.

ExxonMobil

The Exxon-Valdez oil spill is by far ExxonMobil’s most well-known environmental offense, but it’s certainly not the only one. The oil giant was ranked sixth on the Toxic 100 list of US corporate air polluters, and has been accused by Greenpeace of sabotaging efforts to deal with climate change, manipulating peer-reviewed studies and misleading the public with junk science. Indeed, though they have since cut off funding, ExxonMobil once financially supported a number of global warming denial organizations.

Chevron

Chevron has launched a huge multimedia advertising blitz about its supposed commitment to smart energy use and renewable energy sources – all while destroying pristine forests in places like Ecuador and Bangladesh, and causing myriad health problems right here in the U.S. thanks to the toxic waste at its refineries.

Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical (along with Monsanto) will never escape the shadow of Agent Orange, the chemical used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War during the ‘Herbicidal Warfare’ program, which lead to 400,000 deaths and disabilities and 500,000 children born with birth defects. But even with this evil legacy – and that of Napalm, which it also produced – Dow is not contrite. This corporation continues to pollute the earth without apology.

Monsanto

Despite the inroads that Dow Chemical has been making lately on the evil corporation front, Monsanto still reigns supreme. It’s hard to overstate just how socially and environmentally irresponsible this company really is. Monsanto has manufactured herbicides (which, during manufacturing, create dioxin as a by-product), Agent Orange, plastics, fuel additives, saccharin, industrial fluids, fertilizers, pesticides and anti-freeze in the past. Some years ago they chose to focus on ‘life sciences’ and are now the world’s largest seed company. They’re also the creators of Recombitant Bovine Growth Hormone (rGBH) and the world’s largest producer of genetically modified food.

Aside from what mentioned above, can you name other companies?

This article originally appeared on EarthFirst.com.