As a vegan consumer it's important to eat foods that are cruelty free or healthy or both! Palm oil is neither healthy or cruelty free!

Palm oil comes primarily from Indonesia-- Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, etc-- and is planted on the recently cleared tracts of rainforest lands.  Once the crops have gone through a few seasons, the land is no longer used and more rainforest is cleared. While there are supposed to be protections in place to ward against this, the governments have a history of negligence when it comes to protecting the rainforest, the indigenous peoples that live in the forest and the critically endangered animals and plants of the forest.

There have been murders of indigenous people speaking out against the actions of timber companies and palm oil plantations that the government refuses to acknowledge or address.  The rainforest continues to be destroyed for palm oil at alarmingly fast rates putting tigers, orangutans, elephants and rhinos on the brink of extinction.  There have been many orangutan babies that have been left orphaned or murdered to clear way for palm oil plantations.

Palm oil companies take advantage of the corruption and use the lucrative financial business of palm oil to continue destroying the rainforest and wiping out animals, plants, and precious lands.

Some companies work to use only "sustainable" palm oil but the entire industry is based off of the abuse of rainfores lands and corrupt government practices. The use of palm oil in general signifies this underlying destruction, corruption, and disregard for healthier environmental options.  It must be guaranteed by a corrupt government that palm oil companies are in compliance with loose provisions of "sustainability." It makes no sense to use an oil that has this amount of corruption even associated with it when there are much better options.

Additionally, palm oil is incredibly high in saturated fats-- not even heart healthy saturated fats like coconut oil-- but has been shown to increase cholesterol levels (the LDL cholesterol) thereby significantly increasing the risk of heart disease especially when compared with similarly less expensive oils like soy, canola, and olive oil.  There is no need to use this oil when there are cheaper, healthier and environmentally sustainable oils available.

How can a company say it is vegan in good conscience which implies cruelty-free products when it uses ingredients that are directly contributing to the brutal destruction of indigenous cultures, endangered animals, and some of the last remaining rainforest lands on earth? This is not a vegan product so long as it contains palm oil.

Please sign this petition to use a different oil that does not directly harm plant, animal, and person alike. The cruelty of palm oil and the hypocrisy of a vegan company using it must stop now!