Too often global trade means someone profits at someone else's expense, and we, the consumers, feel there's little we can do about it. Product certification levels the trade playing field and gives us a voice, through the simple act of putting the right products in our shopping baskets.

Half of the world's population is desperately poor, living on less than $1 per day. Product certification ensures that producers, who are disproportionately living in poverty in developing countries, get their fair share of their products' market price. It allows them to feed their families, send their children to school, survive the fluctuations of the market, reinvest in their businesses and diminish dependency on aid.

Because producers receive livable wages, product certification creates new markets for our products as well.

With the world's population increasing, the need to responsibly manage our forests and natural resources is more critical than ever. Requiring chemical-free and sustainable agricultural and forestry practices is essential. Product certification guarantees the protection of our forests and the creatures and people that inhabit them.

Product certification ensures that indigenous peoples benefit from products produced from their land.

Through third-party oversight from production to market, product certification guarantees that product labels live up to their promises and that products are of the highest quality.

Global trade offers us an unprecedented number of choices but few that satisfy our values. Product certification makes it easy to use our purchasing power to express our values and make the world better for people and the environment.