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Welsh Greens go ape over supermarkets

Friends of the Earth campaigners will be out on the streets across Wales this Saturday (29 October 2005) to stop supermarkets from contributing towards the extinction of the orang-utan [1]. The groups are also calling on Cardiff MP Alun Michael, as Minister for Industry, to take action to make companies behave responsibly.

The much-loved apes are at risk because rainforests in South East Asia are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is a vegetable oil found in one in ten supermarket products [2].

To help prevent this destruction, Friends of the Earth wrote to Britain's biggest supermarket chains at the beginning of 2005, and asked them to trace their palm oil and adopt minimum production standards. Not one British supermarket can guarantee that its products meet such standards. Their failure to act means that shoppers are unwittingly contributing to rainforest destruction and the extinction of Asia's only great ape.

Campaigners from Friends of the Earth groups are asking shoppers to call on their local MPs to support new legislation that would help stop UK supermarkets buying products from destructive sources. Cardiff South & Penarth MP Alun Michael, as Minister of State for Industry and the Regions, is the man charged with seeing a new Company Law Reform Bill through Parliament [3]. As such, he has the opportunity to ensure that companies are required to minimise their destructive impacts.

Friends of the Earth Cymru Director Julian Rosser said:

"Palm oil is found in one in 10 supermarket products and is threatening the survival of the orang-utan. But Tesco and the rest are refusing to do anything about it. We want them to find ways of sourcing palm oil that do not destroy precious rainforest, and we want Alun Michael and the UK Government to act to stop British companies profiting from the destruction of the environment overseas. Customers don't want to buy products linked to rainforest destruction or be responsible for the extinction of species like the orangutan."

The biggest threat to the orang-utan is the destruction of their forest habitat to make way for palm oil plantations. Recent research published by Friends of the Earth shows that almost 90 per cent of orang-utan habitat had now disappeared, with the orang-utan population falling by 50 per cent in the last 15 years. If current trends continue the orang-utan will be extinct within 12 years [4]. Ninety percent of the world's palm oil exports come from plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, the home of the orang-utan.

Notes

[1] Friends of the Earth groups in Cardiff, Pembrokeshire, Barry, Vale of Clwyd, Torfaen and Chepstow will be taking part in the day of action.

[2] www.palmoil.org.uk

[3] The Company Law Reform Bill is now passing through Parliament. This is the biggest shake up of company law in a generation. Company directors are only required by the draft bill to 'consider' their impacts on the environment. Friends of the Earth Cymru is calling on the Government to ensure company directors have to minimise negative environmental and social impacts of their business and not just think about it

[4] See Friends of the Earth's report 'Palm Oil & Orang-utans - The Oil for Ape Scandal' at www.palmoil.org.uk