WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Is Palm Oil in So Many Things?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm lourn bogle Bomb, and today's episode is a classic

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<v Speaker 1>from our archives. In this one, we're talking about palm oil,

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<v Speaker 1>some varieties of which have become ubiquitous in manufactured products,

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<v Speaker 1>which isn't great. Here's why, Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lourenvogo Bomb.

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<v Speaker 1>And you might not know what palm oil is, but

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<v Speaker 1>chances are, without realizing it, you consume it in some

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<v Speaker 1>form or many different ones every day. It's an ingredient

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<v Speaker 1>in about half of all packaged products sold at the supermarket,

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<v Speaker 1>from instant noodles and ice cream to pizza and packaged bread,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's also found in lipstick, soap, shampoo, and detergent.

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<v Speaker 1>In other countries, it's heavily used as a biofuel for

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<v Speaker 1>cars and trucks. Indeed, the world consumed seventy five point

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<v Speaker 1>eight million tons that's about sixty eight point eight million

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<v Speaker 1>metric tons of palm oil in twenty seventeen alone, which

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<v Speaker 1>amounted to more than a third of all of the

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<v Speaker 1>vegetable oils used on the planet. Palm Oil's ubiquitous presence

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<v Speaker 1>and the world's growing consumption of it has a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of environmental activists deeply worried. The Union of Concerned Scientists,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, warns that cultivation of the oil palm tree,

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<v Speaker 1>which produces the fruit from which palm oil is extracted,

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<v Speaker 1>is driving the cutting down and burning of tropical rainforests

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<v Speaker 1>in Southeast Asia, which is increasing health risks from pollution

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<v Speaker 1>and pumping planet warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as

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<v Speaker 1>well as driving animals such as orangutans, tigers, rhinoceros, and

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<v Speaker 1>elephants from their habitats. So what is palm oil anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>and how did it get to be so ubiquitous in

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<v Speaker 1>modern civilization? It wasn't always that way. Palm Oil is

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<v Speaker 1>produced from the fruit of the oil palm tree, which

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<v Speaker 1>is native to West Africa for centuries. It's been part

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<v Speaker 1>of the traditional diet in that region as a source

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<v Speaker 1>of fat and other nutrients, and is utilized as a

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<v Speaker 1>cooking oil and an ingredient in folk medicines. While the

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<v Speaker 1>palm oil it's processed for use in products is tasteless,

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<v Speaker 1>palm oil grown in the traditional fashion in West Africa

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<v Speaker 1>actually has an intense taste. It's an ingredied and soups

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<v Speaker 1>and other dishes. Farmers planted it in forests as both

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<v Speaker 1>part of agriculture and forestry, but the oil palm didn't

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<v Speaker 1>stay in Africa. Europeans brought the oil palm to Southeast

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<v Speaker 1>Asia in the eighteen hundreds and tried growing it on plantations,

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<v Speaker 1>but it didn't start catching on in a big way

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<v Speaker 1>until the mid nineteen sixties. One big booster was the

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<v Speaker 1>World Bank, which spent nearly one billion dollars to fund

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<v Speaker 1>oil palm cultivation in an effort to promote economic development

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<v Speaker 1>and lift people in rural areas out of poverty. About

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<v Speaker 1>half of that money went to fund a series of

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<v Speaker 1>projects in Indonesia, which became the world's biggest producer. Between

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen sixties and the two thousands, the amount of

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<v Speaker 1>land devoted to growing oil palm cultivation increased eightfold and

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<v Speaker 1>spread to tropical areas across the globe. We spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Jeff Connet, director of Friends of the Earth's International Forests Program,

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<v Speaker 1>which works to protect the rights of forest dependent peoples

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<v Speaker 1>by addressing the economic issues driving forest destruction. He explained

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<v Speaker 1>the plant was improved and hybridized, and varieties were developed

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<v Speaker 1>that grew very well in large monoch culture plantations, palm

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<v Speaker 1>oil became a lucrative crop to grow. It's efficient in

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<v Speaker 1>terms of crop yield per acre of land. Additionally, new

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<v Speaker 1>uses were developed. Cotton said it's good for replacing margarine

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<v Speaker 1>in that it's got a high melting point and when

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<v Speaker 1>it's refined it has no flavor that makes it good

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<v Speaker 1>for baking. In the mid two thousands, after the US

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<v Speaker 1>Food and Drug Administration started requiring the listing of transfats

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<v Speaker 1>on nutrition labels because they were linked to heart disease,

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<v Speaker 1>processed food manufacturers began looking to palm oil as a

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<v Speaker 1>trans fat free alternative. Then, around the same time, the

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<v Speaker 1>US and other Western nations drafted environmental laws encouraging the

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<v Speaker 1>use of vegetable oils such as palm oil as fuel

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<v Speaker 1>as a way to reduce carbon dioxide output and slow

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<v Speaker 1>global warming. But that well intentioned move backfired because the

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<v Speaker 1>clearing and burning of forests for palm oil cultivation actually

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<v Speaker 1>led to the release of massive amounts of carbon that

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<v Speaker 1>had been stored in the peat on forest floors. Connon

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<v Speaker 1>explained oil palm trees often grow best in places where

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<v Speaker 1>rainforests were It's definitely if factor in deforestation. Oil palm

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<v Speaker 1>cultivation brought other problems as well. Monoculture cultivation is needed

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<v Speaker 1>to produce a profit, and that wears out the soil

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<v Speaker 1>after twenty five or thirty years, Content said, leaving the

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<v Speaker 1>land unusable without intense and expensive effort. And while the

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<v Speaker 1>palm oil industry provides employment for millions of people, it's

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<v Speaker 1>also been plagued by accusations of human rights abuses, including

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<v Speaker 1>the use of child workers. A December twenty eighteen article

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<v Speaker 1>in Sierra Magazine, for example, describes Guatemalans working sixteen hour

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<v Speaker 1>days on oil palm plantations and suggests that use of

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<v Speaker 1>oil palm cultivation contributes to food scarcity because it's taking

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<v Speaker 1>up land where local farmers otherwise could be growing corn, beans, rice,

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<v Speaker 1>and other subsistence crops. In response to the growing criticism

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<v Speaker 1>of palm oil, various stakeholders, agricultural producers, manufacturers who use

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<v Speaker 1>palm oil in products, banks and investors, and some environmental organizations,

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<v Speaker 1>among others, has started a movement to promote sustainable palm oil.

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<v Speaker 1>The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, founded in two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and four, has established ac of principles, which includes avoiding

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<v Speaker 1>use of forests that provide habitat to endangered species, reduction

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<v Speaker 1>in the use of pesticides and burning to clear land,

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<v Speaker 1>fair treatment of workers according to local and international labor standards,

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<v Speaker 1>and consulting with local communities before new plantations are developed.

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<v Speaker 1>According to the rspo's website, nineteen percent of global palm

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<v Speaker 1>oil production is now certified as sustainable. But in addition

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<v Speaker 1>to promoting sustainability, it's crucial to stop the growth of

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<v Speaker 1>oil palm cultivation and reduce the amount of land devoted

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<v Speaker 1>to it. Consumers can help drive such change, Connett said,

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<v Speaker 1>because most palm oil in the US is found in

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<v Speaker 1>junk food and cosmetics, the best way to avoid it

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<v Speaker 1>is to not eat junk food. Today's episode is based

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<v Speaker 1>on the article palm oil is Everywhere, Here's why that

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<v Speaker 1>Matters on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Patrick J. Higer.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klaying. For

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