Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantation on the slopes of Mount Cameroon. Photo: Marco Schmidt / Wikimedia Commons.
Friend highlights concern over palm oil
An online petition highlights the problems of palm oil
Banbury Friend Maria Huff is backing an online petition that highlights a concern over how palm oil is produced. She is also concerned about the association of the word ‘Quaker’ with this.
Maria told the Friend that palm oil is widely found in foods, cosmetics and bio-fuels, but that its increasing use is causing problems. Among them is the destruction of virgin forest in Indonesia, which has led to loss of habitat and an increase in climate change gases.
‘PepsiCo – a global company with massive brands – uses the “Quaker man” brand. But the way it buys its palm oil does not go far enough to justify the integrity of the brand they are borrowing from Quaker heritage,’ Maria added.
She explained that she had been following an ongoing campaign run by activists SumOfUs, and said that she was ‘delighted’ to add her Quaker voice.
