Zoos Victoria

Don't Palm Us Off - Update (30 June 2011)

An amended Senate Bill has been re-introduced and passed the Senate unopposed.  The Bill has been changed to includer all grocery products including foods, cosmetics, detergents and even biofuels.  The vote now goes to the House of Representatives and may happen as early as this week.  Should it be passed, palm oil labelling will become mandatory in all products across Australia.  The process is now firmly in the hands of Australia's politicians - that is scary !  If you would like to continue having your voice heard then you are most welcome to write to your Federal MP and let them know how you feel about the legislation.  Watch this space for further updates.

Zoos Victoria have recently launched their newest campaign - Don't Palm Us Off !

This is a campaign that our staff and firm fully support and with everyone's help, we will make this campaign succeed.

What is Don't Palm Us Off ?

Every hour the equivalent of 300 soccer fields of forest are cleared in South East Asia to produce palm oil.

Derived from the fruit of the oil palm, palm oil is one of the world’s leading agricultural commodities and is widely used as an ingredient in food products, cosmetics and other household items.

More than 85% of the world’s palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia – the last remaining habitat of the orang-utan.

The sad fact is that palm oil is driving orang-utans to extinction. As their natural habitat is cleared to produce palm oil, the world loses more than 1,000 of this incredible creatures each year. At this rate, they will be extinct in the wild in about ten years.

So what has this got to do with you?

Every time you buy food at the supermarket, there’s a 40% chance you are adding to this crisis. Palm oil is rarely labeled in food products like chips, chocolates and ice-cream. It’s often a secret ingredient passed off as ‘vegetable oil’.

Because palm oil is not labeled you don’t have the choice about whether the food you buy is pushing orang-utans to extinction.

If palm oil is labeled, you’re not only able to make an informed choice about the food you buy, you are also able to exercise your rights as a consumer and demand palm oil from sustainable certified sources that do not drive orang-utans to extinction.

There’s a huge market palm oil but sadly palm oil from sustainable certified sources only accounts for between one and four percent of global supply.

You can easily do something about it.

Zoos Victoria has launched a campaign called Don’t Palm Us Off  to get mandatory labeling of palm oil in all food products.

All you need to do is visit www.zoo.org.au/palmoil and sign your name to support palm oil labeling. It’s your choice.

Don't Palm Us Off Fact Sheet