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Behemoth
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds
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 Posted: Fri Sep 23, 05 8:55 am Post subject: Shoppers 'are threat to orang-utans' |
 
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https://www.foe.co.uk/
Shoppers 'threat to orang-utans'
Demand for crisps, bread, lipstick and soap could drive orang-utans to extinction, research suggests. The UK alone imports nearly a million tonnes of palm oil a year for use in such products, but campaigners say plantations for it destroy rainforests.
Friends of the Earth and international ape conservation groups warn in a report that 90% of the animals' habitat in South East Asia has been wiped out.
Their research claims the apes could become extinct within 12 years. The groups claim British supermarkets do not know where their palm oil is produced.
They are calling on the government to give company directors a legal duty to minimise their environmental impacts. Friends of the Earth palm oil campaigner Ed Matthew accused the government of "failing to clean up its own backyard".
He said: "Over 100 UK companies and every single British supermarket is helping fuel the obliteration of orang-utan habitat."
'Corporate greed'
The report, the Oil for Ape Scandal, said palm oil plantations have now become the primary cause of the orang-utans' decline in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Some experts estimated 5,000 orang-utans perished as a result every year.
The research claimed at least 84% of UK companies failed to take effective action to ensure they do not buy palm oil from destructive sources.
Ian Redmond, chairman of the Ape Alliance, said if the government failed to act, "it is we who will have to explain to our children that the orang-utan became extinct because of corporate greed and a lack of political will". |
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judith
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
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Leonie
Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 731
Location: West Sussex
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45665
Location: Essex
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
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| Posted: Fri Sep 23, 05 10:18 am Post subject: |
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I'm with Tahir on this.
I heard the 'spin' this morning on the radio, but I thought "c**p".
Habitat conservation is a matter for the (sadly relatively restricted) area wherein Orang Utangs live.
Palm Oil is produced, I believe, right around the tropics.
Its hardly a 'good' dietary oil, being very saturated.
But it is damn useful, and an important economic crop in many countries.
The yield of oil, per acre, is one of the highest for any oil-bearing crop.
And yes, that does mean its used as a biofuel, and shows great promise of being an important source of biodiesel raw material.
But that DOES NOT NECESSARILY mean *any* harm to Orang Utangs. |
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Lozzie
Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595
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sean
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
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Behemoth
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds
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sean
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
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Res
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow
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Res
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow
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Andy B
Joined: 12 Jan 2005
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Res
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
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Bec
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 71
Location: Newquay, Cornwall
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. I've used palm oil for soap making in the past, I'll make sure I don't buy it again. My recipes I use now use vegetable shortening, olive and calendula oil...I'll stick with that recipe.
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