Laura Carolan - My Blog

Hey Guys!

Below is a letter I drafted to companies who use Palm Oil. Below that I have included some websites and email addresses for fellow Australians to contact. PLEASE feel free to use this and also to give any feedback and more addresses to contact.

Thanks, Laura xo

To Whom It May Concern

As a once-regular consumer of products such as yours, I was shocked to learn that half of all packaged foods in Australia now contain palm oil. What is even more unbelievable is that it is hidden under the label “vegetable oil”, as well as other misleading names.

According to Choice Australia Online (http://www.choice.com.au/), “Palm oil contains more than 50% saturated fat… and The National Heart Foundation of Australia recommends avoiding palm oil”.

Not only is it bad for our health, but it’s killing our rainforests and it’s inhabitants too. Palm Oil is “widely considered to be the greatest immediate threat to forests and biodiversity in South-East Asia, with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) predicting that by 2022, the palm oil industry could wipe out 98% of Indonesia’s remaining forests. In Malaysia, from 1990 to 2005 more than a million hectares of forest were cleared for its production, accounting for most of the country’s deforestation during this period.”

And let’s not forget the extreme environmental impact – “Clearing and burning forest for oil palm plantations also creates massive greenhouse emissions. This pollution is far worse where plantations are established on peat bogs, which release huge amounts of carbon when drained and burned. Deforestation caused almost 12% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions in 2008, and oil palm is recognised as one of the largest driving forces behind this land-clearing.”

In light of all this, I ask that you please label which products contain palm oil so that as an ethical consumer I may make my purchases knowing that I am not contributing to the destruction of rainforests. Better yet, label products which do not contain palm oil as ethical alternatives, and I know you’ll see sales rise as a result of this.

Yours sincerely in hope,

___________________

CONTACTS:

*Arnotts:   consumers@arnotts.com

*Kelloggs:   http://www.kelloggs.com.au/Pages/ContactUs/tabid/260/Default.aspx

*Kraft:   http://www.kraft.com.au/Functional/ContactUs.aspx

*Mars:   http://www.mars.com/global/contact-us.aspx

*Nestle:   https://www.nestle.au.simplicitycrm.com/editors/content.aspx?config=contactus

*Pringles:   http://pringles.com.au/en_AU/Pages/ContactUs.aspx