Since the average consumer discovered the link between diet and heart disease, more and more are paying closer attention to the labels on food products. Organisations such as the Heart Foundation have encouraged and made it possible for us to choose ‘healthy heart’ produce and adopt a much healthier and active lifestyle.
Unfortunately, many companies still use Palm Oil in their products, and here in Australia legislation allows Palm Oil to be listed simply as a ‘vegetable oil’. The horror surrounding that useless piece of legislation is that not only are unsuspecting consumers swallowing a product that promotes heart disease, it is also a product whose agricultural methods are destroying rainforest, releasing tonnes of carbon emissions into our atmosphere at an alarming rate, and further threatening already endangered animal species such as our Bornean and Sumatran Orangutans, the Sumatran tiger (only about 250 of these animals are left in the wild), the Asian Elephant (only about 2,900 elephants remain in all of Sumatra) and Sumatran Rhinos (less than 400 survive).
Please don’t be fooled by the healthy and environmentally friendly propaganda that some companies are painting of Palm Oil with labels stating “contains no trans-fatty acids” and “can be grown organically in tropical regions.” It might be grown organically – but the negative impact on our environment far outweighs the positive.
Did you know that 80% of the world’s palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia?
Did you know that peatlands are being drained and burned to make way for Oil Palm Plantations there?
And did you know that the burning of the peatlands is releasing approximately 2 billion tonnes of Carbon Emissions each year? 2 billions tonnes!!! This agricultural rape of peatlands has made Indonesia the third largest contributor of man-made greenhouse gases in the world.
Did you also know that as the forests are cleared for Oil Palm Plantations, there is less and less habitat for the endangered wildlife?
Palm Oil has been popular with producers because it is semi-solid at room temperature, making it useful in products such as cookies, crackers, spreads, and bars. It is also less expensive than soy and other vegetable oils, making it even more attractive to the manufacturers. Again, they (like us) make a choice as to what is more important – the health and safety of their consumers (that’s you and me) and the environment (that’s our home), or profits.
Some of the products to avoid because they use Palm Oil are listed at Angel Fire’s Palm Oil Product List.
Make a better choice about what products you use by checking the label – not only for your own health and that of your family, but also the planet and the animals that walk upon it. There are high-oleic canola, soy, corn, safflower or sunflower oils now being used in some products, a much healthier alternative and made from renewable raw materials – ones that don’t require destruction for creation. It only takes a moment to look at a label and make a better choice.
I think the statement by Ellie Brown, Ph.D., co-author of Cruel Oil says it all:
“Consumers should understand that a seemingly small decision in this country – what kind of cookie, cracker, or hand lotion to buy – can have major consequences on the other side of the world.”
The RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) has created some hope for the industry, pledging sustainable practices in palm oil production… definitely a worth-while project. Again it is up to you as the consumer to weigh up the pros and cons: unhealthy side effects of the product and the negative environmental impact that non-RSPO members still use. I know this little Sustainability Nut Household is steering clear of palm oil for these reasons.
To learn more about how Oil Palm agriculture is killing our wildlife, our planet, and ultimately ‘us’ please go to Cruel Oil.
And to learn more about what RSPO is doing to help implement sustainable practices please visit their website.