'Cruel Oil' Report Exposes Palm Oil's Impact on Health & Environment

Forwarded message from Fidyl <fidyl@yahoo.com>

[ Subject: "Cruel Oil" Report Exposes Palm Oil's Impact on Health & Environment
[ From: Fidyl <fidyl@yahoo.com>
[ Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005
"Cruel Oil" Report Exposes Palm Oil's Impact on Health &
Environment Plantations Clearing Rainforest, Threatening
Already Endangered Species, Says CSPI

http://www.cspinet.org/new/200506021.html

Palm oil has long been known to promote heart disease,
but a new report from the nonprofit Center for Science in
the Public Interest (CSPI) says that palm oil production
also promotes destruction of the rainforest, particularly
in Malaysia and Indonesia. Further loss of forest may
push endangered animal species, including orangutans,
Sumatran tigers, and Sumatran rhinos, into extinction.

Production of palm oil is spiking upward, partly because
some food manufacturers are seeking alternatives for
partially hydrogenated oils, which promote heart disease.
CSPI strongly urges manufacturers to replace partially
hydrogenated oils, but to switch to the most healthful
oils possible. Companies that must use palm oil should
use as little as possible and obtain it from
environmentally sustainable sources, says the group.

Palm oil is the world's second-most-produced and
internationally traded edible oil, according to CSPI's
report, Cruel Oil: How Palm Oil Harms Health, Rainforest,
& Wildlife. More than 80 percent of the world's palm oil
comes from Malaysia or Indonesia—where it is mostly grown
on land that once was rainforest or peat-swamp forests.
When those forest areas are cleared, habitat for
endangered animals is destroyed.

"We applaud food manufacturers for moving away from
trans-fat-laden partially hydrogenated oils, and happily,
many companies are switching to such heart-healthy oils
as soybean, corn, or canola," said CSPI executive
director Michael F. Jacobson, who co-authored the report
along with wildlife ecologist Ellie Brown. "Consumers and
food processors should realize, though, that palm oil
still promotes heart disease and that producing palm oil
has a devastating impact on rainforest and endangered
wildlife."

One reason some food processors use palm oil is that it
is semi-solid at room temperature, making it useful in
products such as cookies, crackers, spreads, and bars.
Palm oil is also less expensive than soy and other
vegetable oils. Some of the products that use palm oil,
sometimes in combination with other oils, include
Pepperidge Farm Oatmeal Cranberry cookies, Voortman
Vanilla Wafers, Nabisco Golden Oreo cookies, Cadbury
Finger Dark Cookies, and many products sold at "health
food" stores. However, a new generation of more-healthful
vegetable oils also shows promise for foods that require
a more solid fat. High-oleic canola or sunflower oils are
now being used in some products. A new trans-fat-free
version of Crisco shortening is made with a blend of
liquid soybean oil and fully hydrogenated soybean oil.

While partially hydrogenated oils now have a well-
deserved bad reputation, CSPI says some companies have
tried to paint a healthful halo around palm oil. Labels
for various Newman's Own products, for instance, use
statements like "contains no trans-fatty acids" and "can
be grown organically in tropical regions," which make it
sound as if palm oil is beneficial both for human health
and the environment.

Most palm oil is produced in Malaysia or Indonesia.
Production in Indonesia has grown more than 30-fold since
the mid-1960s, to the point where almost 12,000 square
miles are planted in oil palm. In Malaysia, 11 percent of
the total land area (about 62 percent of the country's
agricultural land) is devoted to palm oil. Companies
sometimes profit from selling logs from the rainforest
and then burn the area to make way for oil palms. The
associated road-building, soil erosion, air and water
pollution, and chemical contamination also have
contributed to the loss of wildlife habitat and the
displacement of indigenous peoples.

"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," said Brown.

CSPI’s report highlights five endangered animals:

Sumatran tiger: The Sumatran tiger is one of only five
remaining tiger subspecies, reduced from eight by recent
extinctions. Only 250 of these animals may exist in the
wild.

Bornean and Sumatran orangutans: These are the only great
apes that exist outside of Africa. Both species are in
crisis and may well become extinct within ten years. One
study found that the orangutan population decreased by 45
percent in the 1990s, and much of their remaining habitat
is slated for conversion to oil palm agriculture.

Asian elephant: Only about 2,900 elephants are estimated
to remain in all of Sumatra, 800 in peninsular Malaysia,
and 1,000 in Borneo. The home range of one family of
elephants is about 25 to 65 square miles, so a breeding
subpopulation of 20 elephant families would need to roam
over about 500 to 1,300 square miles. Other Asian
elephants survive in other countries.

Sumatran rhinoceros: The two biggest threats to the
Sumatran rhino are illegal hunting and habitat loss. Road
building shrinks the animals’ travel corridors and makes
them more accessible to poachers. Their total population
is estimated at fewer than 400.

CSPI, Environmental Defense, the International Primate
Protection League, Rainforest Relief, WALHI/Friends of
the Earth Indonesia, and a dozen other organizations from
around the world are urging the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank, and other international aid
agencies not to fund oil-palm development projects.

In addition, 14 scientists today called on the Department
of Health and Human Services to encourage food processors
to move away from partially hydrogenated oils and palm
oil and toward more healthful

End of forwarded message from Fidyl <fidyl@yahoo.com>

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