Products with principles: Are you an ethical shopper?

A new guidebook shows consumers with a conscience how to embrace saintly brands - and shun the sinners. Martin Hickman reports

Everything we buy, from bananas to perfume, makes a difference somewhere, whether to an old woman drawing water from a well in India or to a battery chicken in Norfolk.

Pulling one product from the shelf rather than another can alter the lives of people far away, or make a big difference to the environment and animals closer to home.

But knowing which products do the least and most harm can be difficult to ascertain. A book on ethical shopping - published today - seeks to solve that problem and guide consumers through the maze of considerations confronting those who would make the world a cleaner, kinder place.

From tea to motor cars and shampoo to whisky, the Good Shopping Guide analyses more than 700 products in 85 sectors. A team of researchers has checked the credentials of everyday brands such as Dove and B&Q on animal welfare, human rights, environmental reporting, boycotts, and involvement in the arms trade and nuclear power.

Out of 700 brands, only one, the electricity supplier Good Energy scores a perfect 100 on the guide's Ethical Company Index, but there are strong performances from several household names such as Marks & Spencer (79), Boots (77) and Whitbread (75).

By contrast, many well-known brands do dismally, often because of the perceived shortcomings of their owners. So the bedtime drink Horlicks scores only 25 because it is made by GlaxoSmithKline and likewise Esso which is owned by Exxon Mobil, scoring just 5 - the lowest.

William Sankey, the book's editorial director , believes that consumers do have substantial power: choosing one coffee over another can help the farmers of Africa or Asia while buying an eco-friendly washing-up liquid can cut pollution in the UK.

"We don't have to feel powerless about the world's problems," he writes in the book's introduction. "Our till receipts are like voting slips - they can easily be used constructively.

"This is something that the big corporations will have to notice... If you care about global warming, pollution, animal testing, factory farming, the arms trade and the exploitation of people, you are certainly not alone. More shoppers are taking an interest in the origins of their purchases."

Indeed, the evidence from recent research suggests the public is becoming more interested in shopping ethically.

The Cooperative Bank's Ethical Consumerism Report 2005 reports "steady growth" in the sector with the rising popularity of organic food, Fairtrade, low-energy products and ethical investment. Organic clothing, whose primary benefit is to protect poor foreign workers from pesticides, can now be found in high street stores such as H&M while sales of Fairtrade products have leapt from £33m in 2000 to £195m in 2005.

Ethical grocery shopping is growing far quicker than conventional grocery shopping, at 7.5 per cent a year, according to a recent report by the Institute of Grocery Distribution. It found a "clear hierarchy" of the importance of different ethical issues to consumers as follows: the environment (75 per cent), animal welfare (67 per cent), Fairtrade (66 per cent), free range (61 per cent) and organic (45 per cent).

As these issues become more important, the public has to assess competing considerations. Are organic apples air-freighted from New Zealand a better choice than ones sprayed with pesticides from Kent? How does one balance the impact on workers rights with the impact on pollution? The Good Shopping Guide weighs up these considerations when awarding brands its Ethical Company mark.

Vacuum cleaners

Issues: Energy efficiency is a key point. The average vacuum cleaner uses only about a quarter of its energy on suction; the rest is wasted on heat and noise. Companies such as Medivac make cleaners with high-efficiency filters to minimise the amount of dust re-emitted. Dyson is criticised for not having an environmental report. Philips receives a low score for involvement in nuclear power. Hitachi is marked down for nuclear power and human rights.

Tips: Consider buying a reconditioned machine, repair a broken one, or use old-style non-electric carpet cleaners. When vacuuming, do not overfill the dust bag.

High score: Medivac, Miele, Morphy Richards, Rowenta

Low score: Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips

Bananas

Issues: Bananas are a minefield for the ethical buyer - does one buy organic, fair trade, Windward Isles or cheap plantation bananas? The guide says workers on big plantations run by the big multinationals in Central and South America may toil for 12 hours a day in poor conditions. Since the 1960s, companies have been growing more of the higher-yielding varieties which are more susceptible to pests and disease and so require more pesticides. In the Costa Rican banana industry, 20 times more pesticides are sprayed than is normal in industrialised countries. Bananas from the Windward Isles are smaller, sweeter and grown on smaller plots.

Buying tips: Organic and fair trade are the best way to limit pesticides and ensure the fruit, and the workers who grow it, are healthy. Fyffes scores highly because it imports most of its fruit from the Windward Isles.

High score: Fyffes

Low score: Bonita, Dole

Shoes & trainers

Issues: Dozens of materials, many of them synthetic, make up the average shoe. One of these, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is highly damaging to human health and the environment and is being phased out by many high-street names. Leather uppers are tanned via a 20-step process that involves heavy chemicals that, in many poor countries, is discharged untreated into drinking water. The shoe industry relies on the cheap sweat of foreign workers, often in totalitarian states that ban independent trade unions. According to one calculation, a Thai worker would have to toil for 26 million days to earn as much as Tiger Woods does from his five-year contract with Nike.

Buying tips: Some companies such as Puma, Nike and Timberland, although not scoring highly, have improved their record on workers' rights. But the guide says smaller companies are "slipping through the net unnoticed", adding that Shellys, LK Bennett and Dolcis are on the Burma UK Campaign's "named and shamed" list. Adidas, Fila and Umbro are taken to task for their records on environmental reporting and human rights.

High score: Birkenstock, Cheatah

Low score: Adidas, Fila, Hush Puppies, LK Bennett, Reebok, Shellys, Umbro

TV & video

Issues: Our quest for bigger TVs has resulted in sets being thrown out before they break down. About 2.5 million TVs are dumped every year in the UK. Many sets use almost as much energy on standby mode as they do when they are being watched. New sets require large amounts of raw materials: sand for the screen, lead oxide and graphite for the cathode ray, chemicals for the circuit boards.

Tips: Try to buy second-hand and switch off the TV when not in use. If the TV or video breaks try to repair it. On brands, Sony-owned Aiwa is said to have a poor record on human rights. Samsung receives poor ratings for animal welfare and armaments. Toshiba scores poorly for nuclear power, human rights and armaments and other criticisms.

High score: Akai, Cenderwasih Bay, Bang and Olufsen, Beko, Matsui, Sharp

Low score: Aiwa, Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo, Sony, Toshiba

Chocolate

Issues: Chocolate makers have worked to improve labour standards in Africa and have developed the Global Industry Protocol, but concerns remain over slave and child labour. The Good Shopping Guide quotes a report suggesting that it is hard to ensure cocoa from Ivory Coast is "slavery-free". A survey by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria found the majority of children working on cocoa farms were under 14. The guide says: "Mars and Nestlé have tended to buy large amounts of cocoa from Ivory Coast, whereas Cadbury's has said that it buys 90 per cent of its cocoa from Ghana, which is a signatory to a tough code of conduct against trafficking of child workers." Although banned in the European Union, the pesticide lindane is thought to be used on plantations.

Tips: Buying fair trade ensures bars are not made by child labour. The guide criticises Kit Kat's maker Nestlé over animal welfare, GM and other issues. Mars, which makes Mars Bars, Snickers and Twix, fares poorly on GM, animal welfare and other areas.

High score: Divine, Plamil, Traidcraft

Low score: Terry's Chocolate Orange, Kit Kat, Mars

Skincare

Issues: Skin lotions and potions labelled "natural" may contain only 1 per cent natural ingredients. They may contain chemicals such as propylene glycol, associated with kidney damage, and formaldehyde, a known irritant. Some products inflame the skin of people with eczema and asthma. Friends of the Earth say our bodies are contaminated with 300 man-made chemicals. Labelling may imply the product was not tested on animals, when in fact it has.

Buying tips: Buy products with a low chemical content. Look for the animal welfare equivalent of the Fairtrade mark - the rabbit stamp of the Humane Cosmetics Standard. Neutrogena, owned by Johnson & Johnson, scores poorly for its record on organics, GM, animal welfare, marketing, political donations and other matters. Ponds, owned by Unilever, scores poorly for animal welfare, while Oil of Olay is made by Procter & Gamble, the pharmaceuticals giant which scores only 27 out of 100.

High score: Boots, E45, Green People, Hemp Garden, Honesty, Lush, Natura Organics, Weleda

Low score: Neutrogena, Oil of Olay, Ponds

Cars

Issues: Europe is the world's biggest car producer and pollution from cars accounts for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon monoxide spewed out of exhausts causes problems for people with breathing difficulties. Carbon dioxide is a massive problem, despite use of more efficient engines, because the number of cars is growing. Nitrogen dioxide helps produce smog, which famously hangs over Los Angeles but is a problem in British cities too.

Buying tips: Go green with an electric, hybrid or super-efficient car rather than a gas-guzzling sports or luxury model. When driving, avoid fast braking, switch off the engine in a jam, check tyre pressure regularly, remove unnecessary roof racks and avoid carrying around heavy objects in the boot. The guide includes a list drawn up by the Environmental Transport Association.

High score: Honda Civic 1.4 IMA Executive; Toyota Prius 1.5 VVT-i Hybrid; Citroen C1 1.0i; Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVT-I and Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi.

Low score: Lamborghini Diablo 132; Bentley Arnage RL; Aston Martin Lagonda DB9; Rolls Royce Phantom and Volkswagen Phaeton 6.0 4Motion.

The fifth Edition of the Good Shopping Guide is published today by Ethical Marketing Group, price £14.95