How many 'slaves' work for you? App shows users how their products are manufactured

Convinced you're leading an ethical lifestyle? You could be contributing to slave labour without even knowing it, and a new app now available tells you how the products you buy could be made using unethical practices.

Slavery Footprint asks users about their habits and purchases to see how products used in their day-to-day lifestyle could be originating from underpaid workers or child labour.

As users answer questions from the online survery, Slavery Footprint then works out how your habits, geographical locations, age, gender, workplace and even hobbies could be linked to illegal work practices.

Is users eat seafood, for example, they are told: "Bonded labour is used for much of south-east Asia's shrimping industry, which supplies more shrimp to the US than any other country. Labourers work up to 20-hour days to peel 40 pounds of shrimp. Those who attempt to escape are under constant threat of violence or sexual assault".

It also reminds users how different life is for people working in illegal conditions, telling users as they input their age "Many Pakistani boys are signed away to bonded labour at the age of 13. The contracts last until they are 30. If those boys were released today, they would have begun their work when: OJ Simpson drove his white SUV down a freeway, Bill Clinton gave his first State of the Union, and Justin Bieber was born."

There are estimated by the United Nations to be up to 30 million people in slavery, with almost a quarter of them believed to be children.

Of the people caught in the slave trade, a quarter are estimated to be in the sex industry, while the majority are forced into labour slavery.

A harsh reminder for anyone addicted to their smartphone was also issued by the app, which told users: "Coltan is an effective capacitor found in electronics. A US State Department official was interviewed about Coltan mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He pointed to the reporter's smartphone and said, 'The likelihood that one of these was not touched by a slave is pretty low.'"

The idea behind the app is to make people aware of the affect their lifestyle has on people in different parts of the world, and how what they use and buy could be contributing to unethical practices.

It said: "We don't believe this is someone else's problem. We built Slavery Footprint to help understand how slavery touches our lives and connect concerned citizens. Then we built campaigns and tools to communicate this collective ambition to end slavery with our favourite companies.

"There is no 'them' in our movement, there is only 'us.' Our footprints, advocacy, and campaigns are building a global movement to support companies who are trying to create a world where every product, and every person, is Made In A Free World."