As reported by Procurement Leaders earlier this week, an investigation by a leading English newspaper has once again exposed the pitfalls of sourcing from countries where child labour is viewed as routine.

And it’s ironic that many of us would have read the findings of The Observer’s  expose of child cotton pickers on Sunday in bed – under cotton sheets purchased from retailers on whom the spotlight will undoubtedly fall after this damning investigation.

According to the report, children as young as six were found to be spending up to 10 hours a day in Egypt’s cotton fields, earning as little as 20 pence an hour.

Despite a law banning those under the age of 14  from working – and a high profile campaign aimed at  eradicating child labour at the African Nation’s Cup held in Egypt in 2006 -  the problem persists and is likely to do so for as long as NGO’s claim that dealing with the problem is “impossible” (they claim that it is often simply an issue between families).

But while many companies who source cotton from Egypt claim (rather lamely) that their suppliers are required to meet certain standards solely within the factories that produce their products, they appear unprepared to look beyond those four walls and into the fields which, the Observer estimates, employ of one million young Egyptians.

“I think they (the companies) would be horrified,” said Juliette Williams, a spokeswomen for the Environmental Justice Foundation, before pointing out that Egyptian cotton is the only cotton sold with the country of origin as a selling point.

Unless action is taken, the label may soon develop altogether different connotations.