Though labor issues have largely been ignored, the punishing effects of palm oil on the environment have been decried for years. Still, giant Western financial institutions like Deutsche Bank, BNY Mellon, Citigroup, HSBC and the Vanguard Group have continued to help fuel a crop that has exploded globally, soaring from just 5 million tons in 1999 to 72 million today, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S. alone has seen a 900 percent spike in demand during that same time.
They sometimes pay up to $5,000 just to get their jobs, an amount that could take years to earn in their home countries, often showing up for work already crushed by debt. Many have their passports seized by company officials to keep them from running away, which the United Nations recognizes as a potential flag of forced labor.
Indonesians such as Jum make up the vast majority of palm oil workers worldwide, including in Malaysia, where most locals shun the dirty, low-paying jobs. The two nations share a similar language and a porous border, but their close ties do not guarantee safe employment. He has lived this way too long, he tells the AP over the phone -- scared to stay, and scared to leave.A half-century ago, palm oil was just another commodity that thrived in the tropics. Many Western countries relied on their own crops like soybean and corn for cooking, until major retailers discovered the cheap oil from Southeast Asia had almost magical qualities. It had a long shelf life, remained nearly solid at room temperature and didn’t smoke up kitchens, even when used for deep-frying.
Often hidden amid a list of scientific names on labels, it’s equally useful in a host of cleansers and makeup products. It bubbles in shampoo, foams in Colgate toothpaste, moisturizes Dove soap and helps keep lipstick from melting.The uneven jungle terrain is rough and sometimes flooded. The palms themselves serve as a wind barrier, creating sauna-like conditions, and harvesters need incredible strength to hoist long poles with sickles into the towering trees.
The AP talked to some female workers from other companies who said they were sexually harassed and even raped in the fields, including some minors. Some of the same companies that display the RSPO’s green palm logo signifying its seal of approval are accused of continuing to grab land from indigenous people and destroying virgin rainforests that are home to orangutans and other critically endangered species. They contribute to climate change by cutting down trees, draining carbon-rich peatlands and using illegal slash-and-burn clearing that routinely blankets parts of Southeast Asia in a thick haze.
I’m glad AP exposed the horrors of palm plantations in Malaysia & Indonesia, but there’s a hell of a story about the same industry in Colombia waiting to be told—massacres of peasant farmers & indigenous peoples, insanely corrupt gov’t subsidies, and changing the Amazon climate.
Now do slaves that work in mines to provide material for the electric car battery industry.
sjgeimer Why am I not surprised? As long as profit is involved, people will do the worst. That's why I try to avoid using products with palm oil as much as possible. Even if it's not possible to avoid everything, you still can limit the amount you use if you're careful.
What about slave made sneakers?
Must read
There no difference between this type of slavery and 'Systematic Slavery' in America in 21st century!!
We Americans protest black lives matter yet look the other way to slave labor in other countries
Man, seems Americans are enslaving everybody all over the world! They just can't help themselfs. I hope eurosexuals are not using the same product that enslaves people. Oh wait... You become fake news ap.
This is an issue but the millions of Chinese children making our cheap Walmart products isn’t? You guys have some fine investigative skills.
Now do slave made nikes and iphones
Ok ... now this is a story. Go deeper with it.
Any type of website you need, I can create it for you exactly the way you want it. Make your business known by having a cool and responsive website today. Just DM me and explain the website you want or click the link below to DM
BanPalmOil
If these guys are so stupid they got caught and sold into slavery a SECOND time, then I have zero sympathy. You can’t protect everyone from their own stupidity, no matter how hard you try.
I bet Hunter Biden did it
Now do a story about how China enslaves millions and how KingJames makes $ off slave labor shoe manufacturers. We will wait right here....
Palm oil is killing the Planet...
tony_c_garcia Of course.
sejorg I remember when people who call themselves 'environmentalists' shut down a palm oil alternative because they don't understand science. It's tragic in many ways. Also stupid.
incite much?
globalism is bad
Now do battery raw material mining... 🙉🙈🙊
Jerri_Lynn25 Plz anything will help. Even a quick prayer or a RT would be great. I hate begging for help. I feel like a bum. Can anybody plz help us God bless you 🙏🏻🙏🏻 $jessiemichelle83
Now do China and their slave labor camps.
A good list.
🤯🤯🤯 this is what I was talking about.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism
10th time you posted this
at least they don't have motion sickness to contend with
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