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By Miriam Raftery
July 16, 2014 (San Diego’s East County)--Palm oil is in many of the foods you eat, from peanut butter to candy bars. It’s also in cosmetics, soaps and other personal care products. But as demand for cheap palm oil among major manufacturers grows, rain forests are being decimated in Southeast Asia and now, Africa.
This deforestation is endangering orangutangs, chimpanzees and other great apes by destroying their habitat.
The World Wildlife Fund estimates that about half of all products found in major supermarkets contain palm oil. It’s even in Girl Scout cookies.
Palm oil can be grown sustainably on plantations, without ravaging rainforests, or other ingredients can be substituted.
Now thanks to consumer pressure, some major companies are changing their ways. Starbucks, Kellogg and Dunkin Donuts have committed to using sustainable palm oil.
So the next time you’re shopping, check the label. Avoiding products with palm oil that’s not sustainably farmed – and letting companies know that you care about this issue –could save great apes from extinction.
For more information as well as sites offering products that are palm-oil free or made with sustainably grown palm oil, visit
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/stop-deforestation/palm-oil-scorecard.html
http://www.cmzoo.org/docs/palmOilShoppingGuide.pdf
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/shoppingethically/palmoilfreelist.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/Veganpalmoilfree
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