El Paso Zoo sounds alarm about palm oil

Many people around the world are talking about palm oil and its negative effects on the environment.

Palm plantations like those in Southeast Asia are destroying rain forests at a very rapid rate to grow more palm trees.

As a result of this destruction, thousands of plant and animal species may be threatened with extinction including orangutans, tigers, rhinos and elephants.

The El Paso Zoo has been involved in educating the public about this threat for many years and most recently developed a palm oil guide and scanner application for smart phones and other iOS devices (http://elpasozoo.org/Press-Release-68.php).

The free Palm Oil Guide and Scanner app, sponsored by the El Paso Zoological Society, helps consumers in the United States find out what products contain palm oil so that they can make an informed decision, buying a product containing palm oil or a similar product without palm oil.

Organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace also are sounding the alarm about palm oil production and climate change.

Forest fires used to clear vegetation in the establishment of palm oil plantations are a source of carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change.

Now that the Food and Drug Administration is making steps to ban artificial trans fats from our food supply, many are predicting that the amount of palm oil in food products will increase because it is readily available to food manufacturers and is cheaper than other oils.

The American Heart Association is one of the groups that has pressured the FDA to move in the direction of banning artificial trans fats.

They also state on their website that there is a health concern with palm oil. The AHA website states, "When you must use oils for cooking, baking or in dressings or spreads, choose the ones lowest in saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol -- including canola oil, corn oil, olive oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil. Stay away from palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil and cocoa butter. Even though they are vegetable oils and have no cholesterol, they're high in saturated fats."

The palm oil industry is trying to become sustainable, but should we also alert the public about the saturated fat health concern? If banning palm oil is not possible, we should at least require that products be labeled with a health warning as well as information indicating if the oil comes from a rainforest friendly and sustainable palm plantation where 100 percent of the oil is traceable.

Unfortunately, not all products today are clearly marked with the words "palm oil" or "palmitate" because of the nearly 50 other names used to describe how the oil is included in products (http://elpasozoo.org/docs/appfaq.pdf).

This fact makes it difficult for the consumer to remember all these names for palm oil and then choose to stay away from it.

The El Paso Zoo palm oil guide and scanner app helps to identify palm oil in many products, but not all products with palm oil are in the database.

If we can't avoid palm oil as an ingredient, how can we choose not to eat it?

Rick LoBello is education coordinator at the El Paso Zoo.