In an interview for San Diego Red, biologist Arturo Angeles Castro revealed an ingredient that is having a negative impact on the habitat of orangutans and also contributes to the exploitation of children and young people for its acquisition, being the reason why companies hide it or change the name on the label of products that are in our pantry and we consume every day: Palm Oil.

This oil, which is mainly cultivated in the forests of Indonesia and Malaysia where conditions are suitable for palm trees to grow, is easy and cheap to produce, allowing the manufacture of many processed products such as: Skittles, Oreo cookies, Nutella, Kit Kat, potato chips, cereals, chocolates, pasta. It can even be found in detergents, personal hygiene products, make-up, etc.

Unfortunately, this ingredient´s high demand has led to the cutting down and burning of native vegetation in order to plant this type of palm.

"The rainforest has to be cut down constantly, at the rate of about 300 soccer fields every hour (7 thousand 200 soccer fields per day). Those are trees that cease to purify the atmosphere and all the remaining vegetation is burned, so they not only cut down air filters but also release much more carbon dioxide, without the trees being able to abssorb it, therefore accelerating global warming," explained Arturo Angeles.

In addition, the expert pointed out that this type of activity destroys the habitat of many species such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers and Sumatran rhinos, which die from lack of food or when they defend their habitat and confront the people who go in search of this palm.

This has resulted in the deaths of 50 thousand orangutans in the last two decades alone, which is why experts predict that this species will become extinct in the next five to ten years.

What can I do? If you are one of the many who consumes this type of products and want to stop or decrease your consumption so as to avoid contributing to this, the first thing the biologist recommends is to check the labels on the back of your products when you make your purchases, and identify that it does not say "palm oil" on the ingredients.

But be careful because, as we mentioned before, its a secret companies want to keep so they change its name: "the easiest way to know is that if the product is processed or packaged and it is not a food that grew on a tree then it is most likely to have palm oil; or if one of the ingredients ends in "Pam", or if it only says "oil/vegetable fat", said Arturo Angeles.

Although there is a certification of sustainable palm oil, the biologist said that "unfortunately that is more about marketing than about reality, since that certification was created by the palm oil producers themselves and they themselves dictated the guidelines, conditions and requirements for certification".

In view of this, Arturo Angeles makes an invitation not only to abstain from consuming these products because of the effects it is causing to the environment, but also because palm oil is not good for your health either, since as you can see most of the products that contain this ingredient are junk food.

"One can preserve, protect species based on the actions one takes in one's day-to-day life and based on what one buys and what one consumes," said the expert.

To learn more about this topic and others that the biologist will be sharing to lead a more friendly lifestyle for the planet, you can follow Neurona Ecológica's page on social media, as well as its YouTube channel.

Did you know about this? What do you think about this subject? Could you stop consuming these products?

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