“Indonesia’s Palm Oil Industry Rife With Human-Rights Abuses”
Bloomberg Businessweek, July 18, 2013
“Palm oil and its derivatives are found in thousands of products worldwide, from doughnuts to soap, lipstick to biodiesel. Globally, palm oil consumption has quintupled since 1990. Demand in Asia, where palm oil is widely used in cooking oil and noodles, has driven the growth of a $44 billion industry. In February, exports from Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil, hit a five-year high. … China is the world’s largest consumer of vegetable oil, of which palm oil is the world’s most-produced variety. Since the late 1970s, as the Chinese shifted away from traditional staples such as rice and grains and toward a higher-fat diet, palm oil imports have grown 150-fold. … The human costs of the palm oil boom, however, have been largely overlooked. A nine-month investigation of the industry, including interviews with workers at or near 12 plantations on Borneo and Sumatra—two islands that hold 96 percent of Indonesia’s palm oil operations—revealed widespread abuses of basic human rights.”
Quickie analysis: Bloomberg Businessweek found evidence of forced labor, child labor, debt bondage, human trafficking, beatings, exposure to toxins, and more. The article also mentions, by name, companies and consumer products (in addition to foods) that use Indonesian palm oil.
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