Palm Oil Research Paper

Words: 745
Pages: 3

If you looked into your pantries, medicine cabinets, or read the ingredients on your pet’s food bags you would most likely find at least one common item: Palm Oil, a type of edible vegetable oil, derived from the palm fruit that are grown on the African oil palm tree. They originally come from Western Africa, but can flourish wherever heat and rainfall are abundant (WWF). They are very versatile and cheap which makes it desirable by many big name corporations and businesses. The problem is its conventional production is driving massive deforestation and threatening endangered species in Malaysia and Indonesia, where the Palm Oil plants are being manufactured and sent all over the globe. Companies made the big switch over to palm oil after the huge revelation over trans-fats. On the palm oil segment discussed on the Leonard Lopate Show radio show, specialist Calen May-Tobin who’s a policy analyst & advocate for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Tropical Forest and Climate Initiative, stated how it (palm oil) is stable at room temperature unlike other oils and doesn’t have the trans-fat alongside the saturated-fat, which had been seen in the past. He noted …show more content…
Brands like Kellogg’s, Colgate, McDonalds, Kraft, etc. all use this when you could just find a better option. Because in the end, Palm Oil isn’t much better than other vegetable oils other than the fact of price, which is mainly due to child and slave labor in Malaysia and Indonesia. But because the demand for these products is going up they could be looking to make more plantations in Central and South America. We could help stop this by going directly to the companies using the oil and demand a “Deforestation Free Commitment”, although as an individual it doesn’t seem like much every little bit of exposure could help put an end to future environment