The KInd Life Community Forum

I recently ordered new cotton bed clothes from an organic shop. In the package I found a brochure with a report about palm fruit oil.

1. It said palm fruit oil is so cheap, it is used in almost every thing like: detergent, snack bars, spreads, ect. - the list is very long.

2. It also said: no palm fruit oil in the world can be sustainable. (I'll list a few reasons in the end of my discussion)

This was shoking news to me. I mean we all know not to support Nestle since they use so much palm fruit oil in their products. Nestle is killing the rainforest. Who's seen that add with the monkey's kitkat bloody finger?

Anyway, not just Nestle alone is the bad guy here.

What shoked me most is that even in a lot of so called sustainable companies like earth balance, etc. and even organic vegan butter spreads (here in germany where I live) use palm fruit oil. An other organic brand here in Germany sells plain red palm fruit oil and claims it is sustainable and fair. HOW???

The article that came with my bed clothes says:

1. The rainforest ist being deforested to then plant palm trees there.

2. The native people in the deforestation area legally own that land. Then big companies come and just steal it. They destroy their homes, they are violent, they imprision the fathers and sons and if the natives come back to get some palm fruit (from their own land) for eating, they are confronted with violence and not only threatend by guys with weapons. Some get killed, etc.

I do not want palm fruit oil anymore. But how can we completely avoid it? It's earth ablance's main base for their spread. And not even all their palm fruit oil products are organic.

What about so called "sustainable palm fruit oil"? Well those companies who claim that, did not also they have to cut down rainforest or at least by already deforested land (both equally bad) to grow their palm fruit on. What happened to the natives

Thanks for posting, Andrea. I was not at all aware of this. It is especially disturbing because I just got back from Costa Rica and on the drive from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez we saw row after row of palm trees for miles. On the trip we met one organic farmer who has left most of his land undeveloped. He took us through the rainforest and showed us some trees that are hard to find anymore because people clearcut their land. Unfortunately, people like him are few and far between. We, as consumers, have the power to stop rainforest destruction. I will be on the lookout for products with palm fruit oil from now on. I'll have to say goodbye to Earth Balance buttery spread!