DON'T USE OR EAT PALM OIL, IT KILLS THE ORANG UTANS!

[blackpanther]

Are you aware that palm oil is found everywhere, in such things as biscuits and soap, and thousands of products some of you probably eat, thinking it's OK as it's not an animal product.....

but in my opinion, vegans should never eat or use any product containing palm oil, as palm trees are grown on deforested land, and that land is the territory of the orang utans, who are killed for palm poil production. I personally always look if a product contains palm oil, and never buy those containing any.

To be well aware of that important problem, have a look at that terrible film: GREEN. 

Green is a female orang utan, and she's dying because of palm oil!

http://www.greenthefilm.com/

 

LET'S STOP KILLING THE ORANG UTANS, LET'S STOP USING PALM OIL!!!!

 

 

[Lisa Qualls]

Black Panther, thank you so much for posting this!  It is so important to get this information out there.

Tim Gier had a blog post one time called "Becoming Vegan", and I love thinking of it that way.  As it is defined, a vegan is someone who does everything possible and practical to eliminate all forms of animal exploitation.   I think there is a basic standard, but after that the "possible and practical" depends on one being honest with oneself and continuing to grow.  Donald Watson's vision was for us to continue to build on his foundation and to be progressive. 

If you had asked me to stop using palm oil when I was first becoming vegan I might have felt overwhelmed.  Now that I have been vegan for 6 yrs I am ready to take this step.  A year-and-a-half ago I was ready to eliminate mono-diglycerides when I found out they were normally animal-sourced.  Always "becoming vegan".

Thank you for posting this.

[blackpanther]

True Sam, at least as far as I'm concerned, I cook everything and never buy any prepared food. But even in vegan shops, in France, biscuits for example contain palm oil. The single online vegan shop in France (we're only beginning, and one is going to open in Paris soon...) told me they are aware of that problem and trying to solve it.....when palm oil is organic, it seems it doesn't come from deforested places. But I saw a program on TV, and it said the contrary.......difficult! so, I prefer not to buy any biscuit, and cook them myself!

 

yes Tim, I think being vegan must mean respecting all lives, and as far as food is concerned, not just avoiding animal products.....what I want with this post is warning people, so that they cannot pretend they didn't know..........and the film is heartbreaking, it's looking at it a few years ago that made me aware of that problem. I had never thought of it before, as for me palm oil was vegetal oil, so no problem.....

[Tim Gier]

Hi blackpanther!

 

Thank you for posting this.  I agree with you, being vegan isn't only about not using other animals, it is about respecting their lives.  It would be difficult to claim that we are respecting the lives of others when we support industries, such as the Palm Oil industry, which destroy their homes and cause them harm.  

[Sam Hillyer]

..from raw ingredients, so the use of pal oil products would not be a problem

[Sam Hillyer]

I was thinking today Noelle about this. I strive to avoid it anyway (in the UK it's allowed to be labelled as vegetable oil, did you know that?) but I was wondering what the vegan stance is on it, do they also avoid it?

I assume most vegans don't rely on prepared foods anyway and make most meals themselves from raw in