Palm Oil: The Hidden Cost

Palm oil has become one of the most ubiquitous products around, found in everything from lipstick to margarine and toothpaste. It’s estimated that one in every ten supermarket products contain it, usually described simply as ‘vegetable oil’. Now Palm Oil is being touted as a sustainable alternative to the world’s energy problems. But environmentalists claim palm oil cultivation is contributing to global warming and threatening biodiversity, leading to rivers being polluted and indigenous people being forced from their land. Much of the world’s palm oil comes from plantations in Indonesia. It’s grown on land ‘reclaimed’ from the rainforest, driving animals like orang-utans into extinction. (jakelijan virallinen teksti)