Save the Orangutans

Palm Oil

How many times have you bitten into some kind of store-bought cookie and thought, “How long has it been since I’ve had these?” How many times have you bitten into that same cookie and thought, “Have I checked the label for palm oil?” Many of you have probably thought the first but how many have thought the second? Do you even know what palm oil is? 

              Since it is thought palm oil is going to be the world’s most produced and internationally traded edible oil by 2012, you may want to know a little about it. Palm oil is taken from the pulp of the fruits of the oil palm. The oil palm looks like a fern. Palm oil is found in things like candles, pastries, crackers, cereals, popcorn, shortning, margarine and other baked goods.

              Palm oil has many downsides though. It isn’t good for you or the rainforest. Palm oil is high in saturated fat and low in polyunsaturated fat so it promotes heart disease. Palm oil can also raise your cholesterol level. Palm oil also is very bad for the rainforest. 

              Rainforest land in Indonesia and Malaysia is cleared so that palm oil plantations can be planted. Imagine 54 elephant families, 65 Sumatran tigers, 65 Sumatran rhinos and 2,500 orangutans, (Sumatran means they are from Sumatra, one of the biggest islands in Indonesia) now imagine them all dying. Why did they die? Because 1,240 miles of rainforest was cleared so that palm oil plantations can be planted. Palm oil is bad for you and the rainforest!

              Palm oil is used for a couple of reasons. As of Janurary  1st, 2006, companies have to declare how much trans-fat is in each product, since palm oil is trans-fat free where as other oils have trans-fat, companies can say (truthfully) their product is trans-fat free. Also, palm oil is 1/3 cheaper than soybean oil, the most widely used oil. But frankly, wouldn’t you be willing to pay a little more to protect you and the rainforest? Do you think companies are right in using palm oil?