Palm Oil In the Firing Ring
9/21/2009 7:26:00 AM
Do you ever turn the bag of potato chips over and read the ingredient list? I’m sure some of those ingredients seem foreign and almost impossible to pronounce, while others seem familiar and show-up frequently on ingredient labels, like palm oil. Palm oil, according to Oil World, is the world’s most produced vegetable oil. It is cheaply produced in Malaysia and Indonesia and is often used in personal care cosmetics and body soaps. The palm oil industry has recently gone under fire, as in order to produce palm oil at the current rate, habitats are being destroyed and “green” activists are fighting back.
In response to the environmental affect palm oil production has, many cosmetics companies are creating products free of palm oil. It can be a struggle finding the necessary ingredients to formulate a product free of palm oil, but it is possible.
Sources:
- NYTimes.com: Bid to Make ‘Green’ Palm Oil Advances
Comments
Richard Zimmerman 09/22/2009 07:20
Orangutans are critically endangered in the wild because of rapid deforestation and the expansion of palm oil plantations.
If nothing is done to protect them, these majestic creatures will be extinct in just a few years.
Visit the Orangutan Outreach website to learn how YOU can make a difference!
http://redapes.org
Reach out and save the orangutans!