Hang Around for Reasons to End the Palm Off on Palm Oil | Wonderful Species on the Brink of Extinction, In Part for Cosmetics

Hang around for reasons to end the palm off on palm oil
GABRIELLA COSLOVICH - The Sydney Morning Herald
June 30, 2010


Wonderful species on the brink of extinction, in part for cosmetics.

We took our four nieces to the Melbourne Zoo recently. The things we saw. Butterflies hatching in cocoons shaped like precious jade pendants. A cassowary with a pelt of feathers so glossy and thick that it looked like something Kate Moss would wear down the runway. Seals that shot through the water like rockets, sleek and euphoric as they darted and flipped, creatures of awesome grace underwater, clownishly awkward above.

Mali, surely the cutest baby elephant in the world, so small, so fat, so wrinkly. My nieces squealed in horrified delight as one of the adult elephants discharged a torrent of urine and a canon fire of poo. Of course, I laughed too.

But it was a day of conflicting emotions. I marvelled at the miraculous beauty and diversity of nature, and wondered whether one day such variety would be found only in the safe confines of a zoo. What kind of world would my nieces inherit? Many of the animals we saw were endangered, among them the siamangs, tree-dwelling primates, found mainly in the tropical rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia.

The fragility of life struck me as I looked at a couple of these shaggy creatures, nestled close together. They looked straight back, with melancholy, knowing eyes. One of them ever so gently groomed its mate. Those hands. Long, delicate, expressive, uncannily human as they softly swept across its mate's black fur, checking for bugs, for dirt.

Next door lived their cousins, the orang-utans, auburn-haired trapeze artists extraordinaire, effortlessly swinging, whirling, pivoting on their artificial jungle of ropes.

Endangered trapeze artists. On the brink of extinction. Of course, I knew this in that dim, foggy way we have of knowing many things we'd rather not. But coming face-to-face with an orang-utan made it impossible to ignore.

One of the greatest threats to orang-utans is the clearing of their natural habitat in the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia to make way for oil palm plantations. According to a 2007 United Nations report, between 1967 and 2000 the total oil palm area in Indonesia grew from fewer than 2000 square kilometres to more than 30,000 square kilometres. The demand for palm oil was expected to double this area by 2020.

As forests are cleared for plantations, confused orang-utans can be found wandering into the newly planted areas that used to be their home. They're an intimidating sight, and it's common for them to be killed by plantation workers.

Palm oil is now ubiquitous. It's found, according to the UN, in one out of 10 supermarket products, including margarine, baked goods, sweets, detergents and lipsticks. But it is not necessarily labelled as ''palm oil'' in the ingredients list - it might be called palmate, or sodium laureth sulphate (which can also be from coconuts), or glyceryl stearate, or scores of other mystifying variations. The zoo is urging people to sign an online petition requesting Food Standards Australia New Zealand to make it compulsory to clearly label palm oil as ''palm oil'' - the chance to sign the petition ends today.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of processed food, so I didn't think I'd be causing too much trouble. Nonetheless, after our visit to the zoo, I checked the contents of my bathroom cupboard. What I found was highly unsettling.

According to the Australian Orangutan Project, more than 1 million kilograms of palm oil makes its way to Australia each year - and my bathroom had an arsenal of the stuff. Even products from companies that promote themselves as somehow more virtuous and natural than the rest included palm oil (albeit not labelled as such) in the fine print. My favourite shampoo and conditioner had ''retinyl palmitate'' in it. My (cheap) deodorant had ''steareth-2'', a chemical containing palm oil. My lip balm had ''glyceryl stearate'' in it, so too did my face cream, exfoliant and hand cream.

How many orang-utan scalps was I personally responsible for? I had no option but to sign the petition, and reconsider my purchases. People can have an effect on the demand and use of palm oil - they did last year when public pressure compelled Cadbury to stop using it in its chocolate.

My face cleanser, by the way, was in the clear, no palm oil or synonymous chemicals were detected. Although it did have something in it called methylchloroisothiazolinone. Thought I'd do a cross-check. The online ''cosmetics database'' rated it as hazardous and to be avoided. And that's a whole new stratosphere of anxiety.

Gabriella Coslovich is an Age senior writer.

http://www.orangutan.org.au/assets/images/adoptions/infants/carlos_tn.jpg