Running head: IN THE PALM OF OUR HANDS 1

In the Palm of our Hands: A Systematic Review of Palm Oil’s Effects on the World

Alexander E. Halinski

First Colonial High School: Legal Studies Academy

IN THE PALM OF OUR HANDS 2

Abstract

This paper sets out to explore and uncover the palm oil industry as it relates to both

human and animal rights abuses. The author starts by listing common household objects that

contains palm oil, explains background information of how palm oil got its rise as a cash crop

and its detrimental effects to both the animals and people it touches. The author then discusses

the effects of deforestation for palm oil plantations and how animal life is affected. Then the

author moves on to the human rights abuses within the palm oil industry and how it negatively

affects the health of the human body. The author closes the report on solutions to the problem of

palm oil.

Keywords: Palm oil, endangered species, human right abuses, human health,

deforestation, poaching
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In the Palm of our Hands: A Systematic Review of Palm Oil’s Effects on the World

Written on the labels of pizza dough, lipsticks, bleach, chocolate and bread is one

common ingredient; palm oil. Despite being in most everything in the grocery store the general

public has little to no knowledge of what they are buying. Palm oil is the most widely used type

of vegetable oil on the market, but where it is there is a dark shadow it casts. While palm oil

does have positive implications, such as the economic boom it has for countries it is produced in.

The detrimental effects it has on those same countries far outweighs any positive impact it has.

Palm oil boasts the highest oil yield of any oil making plant, as palm oil produces four

times more oil than olive oil. As expected, this has a large economic benefit to the countries in

which it is harvested and produced; however, it has a much larger detrimental effect on the

environment that surrounds it. It creates unneeded conflicts for animals who already have too

many problems to face in the natural world. Furthermore, it has severe human impacts such as

human rights abuses, and detrimental health effects far outweighs any profit margin no matter

how high. Palm oil is a silent killer for humans, slowly poisoning both the workers in the fields,

trapping them in an endless cycle of abuse and those who ingest it. But it is a much more

pressing problem for the animals who are slowly losing their homes and seeing their numbers

fall to dangerously low levels with an increasing threat of deforestation as their home is being cut

down to make room for the monoculture. Palm oil’s detrimental effects far outweighs any

positivity it brings to the countries it is produced in because of the ill defined laws and

regulations of the countries it is produced in.

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Environmental Impacts

Palm oil has numerous environmental impacts. This section aims to explore the most

prevalent of the impacts as it relates to​ ​the effect on endangered species, deforestation, and legal

policy that surrounds the issues of palm oil.

Effects of Deforestation

Palm oil plantations are commonly built on former rainforests as the soil in the forests are

suitable for production. A study showed that countries that are major exporters of palm oil have

a 270,000 hectare conversion of forest to plantation from 2000-2011 (Vijay, Pimm, Jenkins, &

Smith, n.d., p.). The process of clearing the land and preparing it for the plantation has

numerous detrimental effects on the atmosphere and climate change.

​It is a well known fact that trees take in carbon-dioxide and release oxygen. But what is

relatively unknown is that when the trees break down the carbon-dioxide into carbon and

oxygen, the carbon is then stored in the trees. Instead of other costly ways to clear the land, palm

oil companies have the land burned. Releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere and

subsequently the carbon cycle. Researchers estimate that deforestation of rainforests accounts

for up to 10% of gross anthropogenic carbon emissions (Vijay, Pimm, Jenkins, & Smith, n.d.,

p.). Carbon has been linked to the greenhouse effect: the effect of the world getting warmer due

to the increase of carbon in the atmosphere. The clearing of old growth trees and the underbrush

of the forests releases the stored carbon and contributes to the problem.

The United Nations came out with a report detailing the effects of climate change. The

report estimates that climate change above a 1.5 ^C could result in the globe losing a large

portion of its natural life, with almost 8% of plant species going extinct. This mass extinction of
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plant life would lead to a rise of carbon dioxide in the air as it is no longer being cleansed. The

increase of carbon in the atmosphere would result in a higher risk of forest fires, invasive

species, and other harmful effects that could lead to catastrophe.

Despite the general population believing that the warming of the globe means the Earth is

getting hotter, it really means that the world’s weather is getting more extreme. As of 2018, the

Earth has already experienced extreme weather, such as extreme storms, an increase in the

likelihood and intensity of marine heatwaves, drought, and flooding. (Hoegh-Guldberg, Jacob,

& Taylor, n.d.)

Palm oil plantations do hold a large amount of carbon, with mature palm kernel trees

holding between 15.1-59.5 Mg C/ha (Khoon Kho & Jepsen, n.d.,). But the amount does decline

as the trees ability to hold carbon does deteriorate after twenty years, at the end of the plants’

economic life. When compared to peat-swamp forests that have been logged, the process of

cutting down a few trees but leaving the forest mostly intact, found that these forests can hold

33% to 233% more carbon per hectare than its plantation counterparts.

The argument that palm oil plantations could rival the carbon storage of their natural

counterparts, that is untrue. Secondary forests, which were found to store a lower amount of

carbon than palm trees, given enough time have surpassed plantations in the amount of carbon

stored. Moreover, the oil needs to be processed and refined in a 24 hour period after harvesting,

as transportation to a different factory would take too long palm oil producers attach a refinery to

their plantations. As this refinery is not a ‘carbon sink’ or storing carbon in any means but rather

producing it, the argument is invalid. Even if the plantations have riparian forests, it still would

not be enough to mitigate the carbon loss from the initial deforestation. Riparian forests left
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along the banks of the rivers surrounding palm oil plantations to reduce erosion and increase the

amount of arable land left on the plantation (Horton et al., n.d.,).

Another contributing factor is that farmers also practice crop switching, which is the

practice of switching out crops annually in order to keep the soil from being depleted entirely.

This cycle of planting, tearing up and replanting brings more carbon into the equation, resulting

in more being released. Moreover, the rubber plants that are favored by farmers to plant after

palm oil are the far more profitable in the long ru (Dislich et al., n.d.).

Indonesia is one of the top palm oil producers in the world, with it and Malaysia making

up a total of 80% of palm oil production. An indepth look of carbon emissions from Indonesia

projects that land clearing in Kalimantan, the country’s biggest palm oil production company

could make up 34% of the entire countries land based carbon emissions. This is a sharp rise from

the 9% total land based carbon emissions from the mid-2000s. (Carlson et al., n.d.). As

Indonesia has entered into the Paris Agreement, which binds the nation to help keep the global

temperature from raising by 1.5 ^c , this projection could prove disastrous to upholding this

agreement. The Agreement also binds countries to preserving carbon sinks and enhancing

carbon stocks, the increase of deforestation for palm oil in this region puts a significant hamper

in Indonesia’s pledge to reduce their carbon release. While Indonesia did take steps to attempt to

curb deforestation creating a policy that restricted palm oil plantations to developing on degraded

land, it was not enough. As land can easily be defined as ‘degraded’ even though it is not.

Indonesia did create new environmental guidelines as well, but they are considered to be drafts

of policy and not actual policy. This essentially means that the guidelines have no power to

enforce or to watch the companies that are meant to follow them. Indonesia did create laws such
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as the Conservation Law No. 5 of 1990 and the Environmental Protection Law No. 32 of 2009,

they too come short as their predecessors did. Containing ill-defined terms of what qualifies as

damage to the environment, not holding punishments within the laws, and containing

contradictory language.(Wildlife Conservation Society, n.d.). These ill-defined laws and

regulations all put a hamper on Indonesia’s ability to comply with their pledges to lower their

carbon output.

Effects on Animal Life

When rainforests are cleared for plantations most animals have difficulty surviving there

due to the regimented monoculture of the crops. As most animals cannot eat the fruits a palm oil

tree produces Not only this, but the pesticides and the incicicides present a serious risk to the

animals as they are ingesting the poison. Moreover the workers on the plantations often have

orders to kill whatever animals they encountered due risk of the animals potentially damaging

the crops. Despite the plantations best efforts to make their monocultures more conducive to

animal life they often come short. Palm oil plantations strategies include leaving portions of the

plantations uncultured so there are natural reserves still within the plantations, however this

results in an increase of species isolation. Which presents even more problems, as species

isolation is directly correlated to the decrease of unique genes within the viable breeding colony.

Meaning as the animals within these strips of land reproduce there is a higher chance of

interbreeding within family lineages, which can result in animals with serious birth defects due

to the fact the parents are too closely related. This cannot be afforded in species with a low

count in the wild since these animals have a low chance of survival . Other steps to remedy the

problem can result in similar negative consequences.

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Loss of habitat is not the only factor that causes the decline of species; palm oil plantation

workers have reported that poachers are coming into the plantations at night to hunt the species

that do manage to carve their lives out there. Not only do poachers come in at night, most

workers masquerade as hunters as well with 15% of workers confessing to poaching animals for

food or for the endangered animal trade. As most endangered species are valuable due to their

beautiful coloration or supposed medicinal properties that make them popular on the black

market. Not only that but workers are given instructions to rid the plantation of pest species that

could present a problem with the growing of the crop. Moreover the transportation on the

plantations present a risk of death for the animals as well, with statistically significant evidence

found that there is a significant number of animals dying. Despite laws being in place that

prevent the poaching/killing of these animals the laws are seldom enforced because of the

authorities not being able to prove the killings since the plantations would rather deal with the

animals themselves than report it. (Azhar et al., n.d.). An example would be Borneo, with 50%

of all of its orangutan mortalities being at or around of palm plantations. It is projected that

orangutans will go extinct in the near future due to human-species conflict (GRASP, n.d.).

Studies have projected that around 25% of bird and plant species found in the rainforests

that are being converted run the risk of becoming extinct in the year 2025. Not only that, but the

constant deforestation can make species of trees go extinct, if only one species of tree goes

extinct it can take an upwards of 20 species along with it. This is unacceptable, not only since it

takes animals from this world, but also decreases the amount of genetically useful material for

humans to use. Most cures and remedies for illnesses have been found in the genetic code of
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animals and plants, removing these valuable resources from the environment could potentially

remove a cure for illnesses that plague humanity (ESDRD & DEAR, n.d.).

Even if animals do manage to escape human hunters they are not out of danger yet. The

pesticides used in the plantations are a further danger to. As animal levels increase to a

‘threatening’ level, growers can authorize their workers to spray pesticides on the crops. Or

more accurately, poison. Palm oil plantations have been known to use a pesticide called

DichloroDiphenylTrichloroethane or DDT a chemical pesticide that is illegal in the United

States. DDT was banned in the United States because of its effects on animals, birds eggs were

growing thinner thus causing the eggs to crack when the mother tried to incubate them. While all

pesticides are fatal to those animals who ingest it, DDT is essentially a bomb waiting to happen

in the ecosystem. DDT works by disrupting the nervous systems ability to communicate, not

killing the animal immediately but relatively slowly. The animals affected have tremors,

decreased mobility and incoordination, this makes them easy prey for their predators. When

predators ingest animals that are affected they are increasing the poison in their system

explonetally, this is called biomagnification. Or on the off chance the animal does not die

outright the DDT can cause tumors on the liver, decreased reproduction rates in mammals, and

an increased chance of young dying if they were able to reproduce. (National Pesticide

Information Center, n.d.).

All of this contributes to the fact that plantations have a lower rate of species richness

than their forest counterparts. Species richness is defined as the amount of species found in a

given area. With 87% of the recorded species failing to leave a 1300 meter radius of the forests,

the data also suggests that arboreal, animals that only live in trees, and terrestrial mammals avoid
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the plantations. This presents a risk to arboreal species that are specially adapted to the dense

jungle canopy; as the meticulously groomed forest and poachers prevents the animals from

surriving. Moreover, the species found common in the plantations were relatively small,

meaning larger species such as sloths or panthers do not prefer to live in plantations. Because of

this decreased range the animals are having their habitat/hunting range drastically decreased.

(Mendes-Olivera et al., n.d.,). Even if palm oil plantations keep riparian forests around their

borders to help cleanse the water of excess fertilizer it still is not comparable to the species found

in a forest free of human interference. (Horton et al., n.d.). A study of three separate forest

buffers in palm oil monocultures show that species who are able to live in the isolated patches of

forest are animals that are highly adaptable to any habitat and considered stable in the wild. But

highly specialized species that need more space in order to thrive in the wild are seldom found in

these forest patches, these species are also considered at risk for extinction due to this fact.

(Benard, Baking, Giordano, Wearn, & Hamid Ahamad, n.d) Not only that, but in a study of

non-volant small mammals found that even small animals that typically can survive in the harsh

conditions of a plantation are not as abundant as they are in other forests. (Bernard, Fjeldså, &

Mohamed, n.d Even with the most meticulously planned plantation that aims to be as conducive

to animal life as possible it cannot hold a candle to the native habitats that are being destroyed

for palm oil plantations.

Human Impacts

Palm oil not only presents serious risks for animals, but for humans as well. This section

aims to explore the human health impacts of a diet with the inclusion of palm oil, as well as the

human rights that are being infringed upon within the plantations itself.
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Human Right Infringements

Much like the animals in the plantation,; humans are in danger as well. Workers often

have to spray the pesticides without protective gear as there are little regulations of the spraying

of chemicals. When workers asked for protective gear they were told to dip into their wages to

purchase the life saving equipment. Since the workers are spraying literal poison with no

protection due to their low wages, it presents a serious risk. DDT for example is considered to

be carcinogenic; or cancer causing after prolonged exposure. Even if the workers are not

spraying the chemicals everyday, they still work the fields where the chemicals are. The

carcinogenic presents later in life though, the short term effects though are serious as well. The

short term effects of exposure to pesticides are as followed; burning of the skin, eyes, mouth and

nose, breathing problems, and exacerbation of preexisting conditions such as heart problems or

asthma. It can also damage a developing brain, as child labor is prevalent in the plantations it

could potentially harm any child that comes into contact with the toxic chemicals.

While companies such as Indofood claim that they prohibit child labor there have been

multiple accounts and testimonies of children working on the plantations. A direct violation of

Indonesia’s National Action Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

Moreover, the use of quotas, or basing the amount of money earned off the amount of crop

gathered forces workers to bring in extra hands in the forms of their children in order to make a

livable wage.

Not only that but the palm oil market has been known to use human traffickers to stock

their fields with workers. Due to the increased need for labor on palm oil plantations due to the

boom of it, there has been a surge of the amount of human trafficking in countries such as
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Malaysia. Moreover, the companies sell goods to their own workers setting the prices unfairly

high so the workers have no choice but to go into dept or risk starvation. Companies have also

been known to deduct pay for personal reasons as well, one worker claiming that his boss had

taken away 30% of his pay because he took an hour off of work to pray. Even if the workers

want to complain to an official there is a high chance that they will be punished as they would be

considered ‘illegal workers’ and thrown in jail.

The workers are also given little to no training on to harvest the fruit. Palm oil can weigh

up to 330 pounds per bunch and workers are required to pick up to one ton a day. This is

inhuman as the harvesting of the fruit has lead to deaths from dehydration, being struck by a

falling fruit or malfunction of equipment. As there are little laws that can be enforced to prevent

these disgusting conditions and they are hard to be enforced there is little that can be done to

remedy this situation for workers.

Human Health Effects

Despite being an unsaturated oil, the refining process turns it from an unsaturated oil to a

saturated oil. Producers do this to improve the shelflife of the oil, due to its unbonded carbon

molecules it is easy for other molecules to latch on to these unbonded carbons; this can result in a

oil that has gone rancid (S. Roberts, personal communication, November 9, 2018). In order to

stop this process producers do something called hydroginization, which is adding hydrogen

molecules to the unbonded carbons to take up the bonds and add shelf life to the oil. Turning it

from an unsaturated fat, aka the good kind to a saturated fat. Through this process the good

nutrients are also removed from the oil. Palm oil is one of the most common cooking oils in the

world, the constant consumption of this fat is proving fatal to those who consume it.
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India is on of the top consumers of palm oil in the world with 48% of oil imported

being palm oil. Palm oil ranks as a more fattier oils than other oils boating 49 grams of saturated

fat per 100 grams of oil, for comparison there is 7 grams of saturated fats in canola oil. Even

when taking into account other actions that have a negative effect on health such as smoking, the

major cause of death can be contributed to diseases that are caused by ingesting too many

saturated fats. Moreover scientist have found that in animals eating high in saturated fat diets are

more likely to develop malignant tumors (Fattore & Fanelli, n.d.,). Additionally, there are some

formulas for babies that include palm oil as a major ingredient as it mirrors the makeup of breast

milk. But in a double blind study found that babies that were fed the formula containing palm oil

has a statistically significantly lower bone mineral density and a bone mineral content than

babies who were fed the formula not containing palm oil (Koo et al., n.d.,).

Solutions

There is not one clear solution to the problem of palm oil. Despite that this section sets

out to explore the possible alternatives and pressure points that consumers can exploit to make

the industry a more humane and safe industry. It also sets out to explore environmental action

groups such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and the regulations it has to ensure that

palm oil can become a sustainable crop both on the human and animal sides of the equation.

Boycotting and Sustainable Palm Oil Groups

A flat out boycott of palm oil will not work. Despite big palm oil companies are the ones

dominating the market, there are small farms that would be negatively affected if there was a flat

out boycott. Not to mention that palm oil is in almost everything we buy as it is used as a

preservative to increase the longevity of goods. Another reason why a flat out boycott would not
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work is because of how cost effective palm oil is, it is by far the cheapest oil to grow with the

highest profit margin as well. Palm oil produces around 6% of all vegetable oil in the world but

accounts for almost half of all vegetable oil use.

But consumers do hold more power than perceived. In 2011 the Girl Scouts found out

that their famous cookies were being made with unsustainable palm oil. The Girl Scouts were

able to take a stand again palm oil by demanding that their cookies were to be made with only

sustainable palm oil certified by the RSPO. This action paved the way for a heightened

consumer awareness, this has set a precedent that big palm oil companies and their buyers are

not immune to the intense pressure of consumer demand.

Moreso, groups such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have gained

substantial power in their efforts to make palm oil sustainable. Even going as far as

collaborating with governments to get their extensive guidelines made into policy. Their strict

guidelines make sure that both animals and people are being treated humanely by their

companies.

A flat out boycott of palm oil will do little to curb the industry as it is virtually impossible

to live without all of the things that do contain palm oil sustainable or not. But there are ways to

make voices heard, donate to environmental organizations such as the RSPO and buy only from

companies that hold their seal of approval. The good news is that most companies have reacted

to the increases consumer awareness and have gotten their palm oil distributors to be certified or

have switched to distributors that are certified.

Alternatives to Palm Oil

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In the meantime as producers of palm oil play catch up to the market to make their oil

sustainable there are options out there that are sustainable. Fats and oils such as olive oil and

coconut oil are cost effective replacements for palm oil. Even oils created in a lab are readily

available for consumer use in replacement of palm oil. Since palm oil is needed to cook with its

replacement oil needs a high smoke point, being able to reach high cooking temperatures before

the oil starts to rapidly degrade. There is a replacement that can be found in peanut oil, but for

those who have an allergy to peanuts canola oil can be substituted for the substitute. Soybean oil

is also a strong contender to replace palm oil as its make up closely resembles palm oil.

However there is no perfect replacement for palm oil, but close substitutes can be made if the

consumer is willing to sacrifice a few days off the shelf life of their products (Hinrichsen, n.d.).

Conclusion

Palm oil has a long way to come before it can be considered to be a truly sustainable

product. But it has made leaps and bounds ahead into the sustainable world. As consumers

become aware of their part in the degradation of our world there is an extremely high probability

that there will be some serious changes coming in the coming years. Palm oil has the chance to

be the shining beacon into a world with new clean food, if it can trailblaze its way into

sustainability other industries will follow. But it is now in the hands of the people to make that

change happen.
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