PALMED OFF by Sue

The other night, PANORAMA on BBC1 covered an investigation into PALM OIL cultivation in Indonesia. We've all heard of palm oil, but do we really know about the havoc being created by this massive industry and what we can do to stop it.
Indonesia is the third biggest carbon emitter on the planet - why? Thousands of hectares of forest are being cleared to make way for palm oil. Along with soya, palm oil is now being used in vast numbers of processed foods, often it's labelled as vegetable oil. Why is this a problem?
FIRSTLY, the destruction of the forests is disastrous.
SECONDLY no steps are being taken to stop illegal planting, primarily on land that has peat within three metres of the surface. Peat, along with methane, can release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
THIRDLY orang utangs and other animals, are losing their jungle habitat and will soon become extinct.
These are the main problems and we do not wish to be associated with what's going on.
We rarely buy processed food and when we do, we always check the label. Up until now, we hadn't known the full extent of the damage caused by palm oil production and certainly didn't know that vegetable oil almost always is, or includes, palm oil. So here's another no-no on the ingredients list.
If enough of us refused products that include the oil, and made our reasons known, the industry might get the message and use an alternative, but we're not optimistic. It's the cheapest oil and it seems the majority of processed food buyers are more interested in the price they pay than the price the planet is paying.
Friends of the Earth has more information here and there are plenty of other sites on the subject.