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Schwarzenegger Signs Law To Help Stop Human Trafficking

LOS ANGELES (KCBS) -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill, designed to help stop slavery and human trafficking in California, into law Monday.

At the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill to help eliminate slavery and human trafficking from the supply chains of companies and manufacturers that do business in California.

"We are here today to say loud and clear that slavery still exists," he said. "It is destroying thousands of lives around the world, and it is our moral obligation to do something about it."

KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:

The governor was flanked by Senate president pro tem Darrell Steinberg and actress Julia Ormond, who is the founder of ASSET - the Alliance to Stop Slavery And End Trafficking.

There are an estimated 12 million slaves around the world, thousands of them working in California -- in the sex trade, in sweatshops, and in the fields of farms.  Now companies will be forced to show how they are making sure their products aren't made by slaves.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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