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Minister for Fisheries, Forestries, and ConservationPO Box 6022House of RepresentativesParliament HouseCanberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Townsville Central State SchoolWarburton St, North Ward

481009/05/2011

Dear Minister,I am writing about the use of palm oil in products, and the regulations concerning it. Just recently I

have discovered the shocking truth about the production of it, and how many products use it withoutnaming it as palm oil. Did you know that forests the size of 300 football fields are being cut downevery hour in Borneo? Or that it is predicted that orangutans will be extinct in the wild in 20 years,mainly due to habitat destruction. Orangutans share 97% of our DNA. Do we really want our closestliving relatives to die out because the regulations concerning palm oil are unclear? It is the public'sright to know what they are buying, and what they are causing to happen.

Firstly, the impact is not confined to Borneo. When rainforests are cleared to make palm oil plantations,their swampy peat releases huge amounts of methane, a gas 23 times worse for global warming thanCo2. Also, it has been proven that 80- 100% Borneo's animal population cannot survive in palm oilplantations, which now makes up 44% of Borneo's land mass. Are we going to kill off our planetbecause of palm oil? .

Secondly, what the companies are doing is lying. I for one do not believe that we should be letting bigbusinesses get away with lying about what they have in their products. 50 orangutans die each weekas a consequence of companies using a cheap, easy product. I do not think that companies simply donot know what they are doing. They are using the cheap easy way out to make money for them, butwhat they are actually doing is destroying our world.

And finally, palm oil is actually bad for your health. It has high amounts of fat, and causes higher risk ofdiabetes and obesity, especially since humans consume an average of 10kg per year. It is extremelyhigh in saturated fat, and bio-medical research proves that it increases the risk of heart disease.We're destroying our planets biodiversity so we can become unhealthy? It doesn't make sense to me.

As the captain of my school, I speak not only for me, but for the school kids of Australia. This is theworld we are going to spend our life in. For the sake of our world, our animals, and our future,please help make it a better place.

Yours Faithfully,

Alison McCookSchool Captain

On Behalf of Townsville Central State School

Dear Arrnotts,

I love your products! However I've felt guilty buying them since I discovered theycontain palm oil!I want to know why you use palm oil in your products, and if you are aware of how itis effecting and destroying our planets rainforests? About 300 football fields worth ofrainforest are getting cleared per hour to grow palm oil. Hello

Deforestation - Orangutans habitats Global WarmingThese rainforests are precious orangutan's habitats. ! If things keep going the way thatthey are now, in approximately 10 shorts years all the orangutans could becomeextinct!We share 97% of their DNA yet we have destroyed 80% of their home!

Cutting down trees for palm oil contributes to global warming.Please substitute palm oil! I want to buy your products again!There are alternatives that don't include using palm oil in your products. I've noticedthat many children around my school have stopped putting your products in theirlunch boxes since they found out that they contain palm oil. For your company's owngood I suggest that you stop using palm oil immediately!

Yours Sincerely,

Townsville Central State School.

Dear Maggi,

I love your products! Although I feel guilty buying them since I found out that theycontained palm oil. I want to know if you are aware of what you are using in yourproducts and that palm oil is also know as vegetable oil. It would be really nice if youused different ingredient that may do the same thing as the palm oil.

Deforest Action

As part of the deforest action group at Townsville Central State School we havebeen asked to take part in a world wide action to save the orangutans in Borneo andIndonesia. These places are typical palm oilproduces. They clear 300football fieldsof rainforest an hour. These rainforest is where the orangutans live.

I have realised that student at our school have stopped putting your products in theirlunch boxes. So for the rainforest and off course your company's own good I wouldchange what you are doing immediately.

Yours Faithfully Townsville Central.

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Presented by: Isabelle, Jann-Yssabel,Lucas, Tom, Cameron, Ethan, Tommy,Kajsa, Hannah, Gabbie, Allison, Max,Keeden, Amy & Kodi

Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil that is very high insaturated fat.

It is derived from the palm fruit, grown on the African oilpalm tree. African oil palms originated in West Africa,but can flourish wherever heat and rainfall are abundant.Palm oil is the world's second largest oil crop.

It is used extensively in food, body care, and industrialproducts. Palm oil is made from the fruit of oil palm trees,which are usually planted in large plantations.

Malaysia and Indonesia are the world's largest palm oilproducers.

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IT'S EVERYWHERE!!!!Palm oil is found in one out of every ten supermarketproducts including shampoos, cooking oil, chocolate,cosmetics, chips, biscuits, margarine and soaps.

The UN estimates that palm oil plantations are 'now theprimary cause of permanent rainforest loss'. Thisthreatens the survival of the Orangutans, the Sumatrantigers and the Asian rhinoceros.

Additionally, burning after deforestation accounts forsignificant greenhouse gas emissions -1,400 milliontonnes of C02 every year in Indonesia alone.

www.ethical.org.au

An expansion in oil palmplantations is causingmassive deforestation andHow Palm OllHarms Health,this is the greatest threat Rainforest &Wildlifeto orangutans. They andother endangered speciessuch as the Sumatranrhino and tiger need therainforest to survive. It isestimated that 80% -100ok> of the forests' birds,mammals and reptiles cannot survive in oil palmplantations. We mustprotect the remainingrainforest habitat.

Center~for Science in the ,Public IntcTcst

Orangutans Killed and Orphaned

There are only 7000 Sumatran Orangutans and 50,000 BorneoOrangutans left in the wild. An Orangutan in Indonesia may bekilled while we give this presentation. Their habitat is burn andadults shot. Many orphan Orangutans are rescued, but we canalso help!

ORANGU~ NS ARE LIKE US!

rang ~ s v ap ox·mate Y 97% of 0 rA y t w h e S oyed 80% 0 their

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We r try·n t r ·se as much money 0 uya fo 99 l ar t p v t

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PALM OIL IS A MAJORCONTRIBUTOR TO GLOBAL WARMING

Rainforest destruction is still out of control.(Indonesia is included in the GuinnessBook of Records as the country whichpursues the highest annual rate ofdeforestation. Currently an area of forestequal to 300 soccer fields is beingdestroyed every hour in the country)

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Deforestation Contributes toGlobal Warming

WHAT IS ·GLOBAL WARMING?

Global warming is when the Earth getshotter and hotter and hotter. This happenswhen greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide,water vapour nitrous oxide and methane)trap heat and light from the sun, in the ourEarths atmosphere. The burning andclearing of forests causes this. As a resultthe earth is warming.

Wet, swampy rainforests are drained and cleared tomake way for oil palm plantations. As they dry, their peatfilled soils release large amounts of methane, agreenhouse gas that has a global warming impact 23times greater than C02.

The cleared land is highly susceptible to long burning

fires that emit large quantities of carbon. Illegally litpeatland fires in Borneo have for years been one of thelargest global sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

It has recently been calculated that 15% of all carbondioxide emissions from fossil fuels come from thisrainforest destruction.

cutting down trees make me sad

We cut down 300 footballfield's worth of trees everyhour. We are just destroyingthe Orangutan's naturalhabitat.

Why use Palm Oil???

Palm Oil is a popular oil formanufacturers because it hasa longer shelf life than otheroils.

It is also thought to have abetter taste and enhance foodproducts!

MANY OF THE BELOW PRODUCTS AREBELIEVED TO CONTAIN PALM OIL!

• Heinz - (diet foods)• Nestle Australia - (frozen food & chocolate goods)

• Maggi - (noodles)

• Michelina - (ravioli)

• Birds Eye - (frozen fish products)

• LCM's - (cereal & milk bars)

• Sara lee - (desert products)

• Arnott's - (shapes & baked products)

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.......~TPalm oil is a product that is

currently affecting the Orangutans'population!& YOUR HEALTH!!!

Palm oil is also known as 'vegetableoil', to conceal it is actually palmoil. Palm oil also contains 49.9 %saturated fat!

This can make you overweight, andis not healthy for your body. Sadly,palm oil is in most of the deliciousand awesom e foods we buy, suchas;

Tim Tams, Shapes, Pringles,Cereals, and most of allchocolates ! ®

LABELSIT'S NOT ALWAYS EASY TO KNOW

WHAT IS IN A PRODUCT!Under Food Standards Australia New Zealand requirements, it issufficient to have vegetable oil in the list of ingredients on thepacket, even though the product contains palm oil.

As a rule of thumb, if the saturated fat content is about 50°A" there isa good chance that the vegetable oil will in fact be palm oil.

Another thing to watch out for on Ifthe product contains margarine, it is highly likely that the margarinewill have been derived from palm oil.

Additives and agents such as emulsifiers ( ),while a small component of the overall product, can also be derivedfrom palm oil.

Other names to keep an eye out for that could be or be derived frompalm oil are cocoa butter equivalent ( ), cocoa butter substitute( )

OTHER NAMES FOR PALM OIL IN FOOD!

• Steareth-2

• Steareth -20

• Sodium Lauryl Sulphate

• Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (coconut and/or palm)

• Hydrated palm glycerides

• Sodium isostearoyllactylaye (derived fromvegetable stearic acid)

• Cetyl palmitate and octyl palmitate (and anythingwith palmitate at the end)

Products with· aim oil!

IT IS BELIEVED 10% OF PRODUCTS IAUSTRALIAN SUPER MARKETS CONTAIPALM OIL!!!It is hard to believe that the closest livingcreature to us will be extinct in just un'dar 20years if we keep purchasing these productscontaining Palm Oil!Please sign our letters of petition to thegovernment and these companies to changepalm oil regulations.

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Products Proud to ContNO Palm O·

Chokolit is only available in the UK at this stagebut this is a truly inspirational story.

A twelve year old, Louis, founded the companyand is trying to make a change in the UK too.

Chokolit directly supports various animal, conservation groups including the Sumatran

Orangutan Society. To read more' about thecompany, visit www.chokolit.co.uk

THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS ARE PROUDL YLISTED ON www.orangutans.com.au

Manufacturer Brand Product

Cadbury's Cadbury Dairy MilkChocolate blocks - DairyMilk, Old Gold, Dream

Chocolate blocks (exceptCadbury's Green & Black's Butterscotch; Raisin &

Hazelnut)

Chokolit Chokolit Chocolate blocks*

Chocolate blocks (Note

Lindt & SprungliLindt Excellence; Lindt that filled products suchCreation as Lindor do contain palm

oil)

Nestle Club Chocolate blocks

Whittaker's Whittaker's Chocolate blocks

Manufacturer

Campbell Soup Company

Coreco Fine Foods

Crispbic Australia

Delba

Fantastic Snacks

George Weston Foods

Ricegrowers Ltd

Waterwheel Industries

Woolworths Ltd

cuitsBrand

Arnotts

Biofood Organic

Crispbic

Cocktail Rounds

Fantastic

Ryvita

SunRice

Waterthins

Select

Product

Cruskits; Salada Original (notlite); Vita-weat; Vita-weatgrain snacks; Vita-weatcrackers; Vita-Weat ricecrackers

Melba Toast

Flatbics

Pumpernickel bread

Rice crackers (seaweedflavour only)

Crispbread

Rice cakes; Corn cakes

Bagelettes; Cheese twists;Fine wafers; Flatbreadcrackers; Savoury straws

Multigrain wheat crispbread;Sea salt crackers

Manufacturer Brand

Smiths Snackfood Co Red Rock Deli

Snacks Brands Australia Kettle

Vege Chip Company Ajitas

Woolworths Ltd Select

Product

Potato chips with sea salt

Original saltedkettle chips (othervariants have smallquantities of palm oilderivatives in flavouring)

Vege chips

Light potato chips; Ovenbaked pretzel twists; Deli­style sea salt chips

McCain Foods does not use palm oil in itsfrozen dinners.

• Nestle (Lean Cuisine, Maggi) has indicated thatpalm oil is not an ingredient in the majority of itsfrozen meals but has not been able to be morespecific.

• Here is a list of products that don't havevegetable oil listed as an ingredient - not aguarantee but the best we can do with theinformation we have.

........,......·n Meals - NOManufacturer Brand Product

Thai chicken yellow curry; Beef burgundy;

Beef cannelloni; Vegetable lasagne;

HJ Heinz Australia WeightwatchersChicken fettucine; Chicken pesto

spaghettini; Satay chicken; Seafood

risotto; Thai fish fillets; Chicken penne;Sweet & sour chicken

McCain Foods (Aust) Pty Ltd McCain Healthy Choice; frozen dinners

Satay beef with rice; Creamy dill & salmon

pasta; Vegetable cannelloni; Pumpkin,

spinach & ricotta lasagne; Lean beef

lasagne; Satay chicken noodles; Beef withNestle Australia Lean Cuisine vegetables in cracked pepper sauce; Indian

style butter chicken; Beef in red wine

sauce with garlic mash; Chicken &

vegetable risotto; Honey mustard chickenwith rice; Thai prawn curry with rice

Mediterranean Goodness Beef lasagne;

MaggiMacaroni cheese

World Flavours Caribbean mango prawnswith rice and corn

Select Brands Pty Ltd Michelina's Beef ravioli

Simplot Australia Birds Eye All frozen fish products

Frozen snacks I pies I pizzas I pastry

• Nearly all frozen pastry contains palm oil as it is madeusing margarine or vegetable oil. However we havefound a chilled filo pastry and a limited number of otherpuff and shortcrust pastry products that contain no palmoil and are listed below.

• Most pizza products contained vegetable oil and in manycases E471 as an emulsifier. McCain has noted thatpalm oil is not used in the preparation of its pizzas so weassume that the vegetable oil listed as an ingredient inits products is not palm oil.

• Steggles uses cottonseed and canola as its frying andgeneral food oil. While not specified in its formulations,Steggles advises that its suppliers may use emulsifiersincluding E471 at very low levels which don't requirelabelling.

Margarines & Peanut Butter

• Goodman Fielder and Unilever, the two major producers of spreads inAustralia, have confirmed that all their spreads contain a percentageof palm oil. Fonterra has also confirmed that its Western Star spreadrange may contain palm oil.

• Most peanut butters appear to contain palm oil. Apparently the peanut oil isextracted to sell separately and replaced in the peanut butter by cheaperpalm oil.

However we have found one of the Sanitarium range of products which is100% peanuts along with Ceres Organic, Dicksmith Peanut Butter andMelrose Health spreads which are also palm oil free.

So, it's back to butter or the following products which we believe are palm oilfree:

Manufacturer Brand Product

Arla Foods Harmonie Organic spreadable

Organic Peanut butterCeres Enterprises Ltd Ceres Organic (Crunchy & Smooth), Almond

Butter

Devondale DevondaleDairy soft & Dairy soft saltreduced

Dick Smith Foods Dick Smith Peanut butter

Fonterra Mainland Butter Soft

100% Cashew; 100% Almond;Melrose Health Melrose Naturals Hazelnut; Almond, Brazil &

CashewII Melrose Nut spreadsII Melrose Omega Care Table spreads

Sanitarium Naturals 100% Peanuts (Crunchy &Smooth)

Manufacturer Brand Product

Be Natural Cereals Be Natural Five whole grain flakes range

Carman's Fine Foods Carman'sAll muesli products androlled oats

Organic bircher muesli;Health Brands Australia Abundant Earth puffed rice, corn, millet,

kamut

All Bran; Coco pops; Crispix;Crunchy Nut (except

Kelloggs KelloggsClusters); Frosties;

Guardian; Nutri-Grain; RiceBubbles; Special K; SultanaBran (except Crunch); Sustain

Nestle Uncle Tobys All Uncle Tobys' cereals

Popina Food Services Arnold's Farm Toasted Muesli

Table of Plenty Table of PlentyMuesli (velvety vanilla, honeyspiced)

Bab Formula

Heinz has reformulated its range of infantformulas (Heinz Nuture Gold Starter,Starter, Gold Follow-on, Follow-on),removing palm oil from these products.

INSTANT NOODLES

Manufacturer

Clahym

Wesfarmers

Brand Product

Just Egg Noodles Instant noodles

Coles 2 minute .. dl Instant noodles1nstant noo es

Laundry &Cleaning Products

Manufacturer

Austech Products .

Pental

Brand

Orange Power

Sunlight soaps

Product

Cleaners and laundryproducts available in mostmajor and independentretailers. Visitwww.orangepower.com .au for more information.

Laundry soap atwww.pental.com.au

UPERMARKE·~~~~f~~~.,c...:c... "",~

driving ch 9• Woolworths leading the wa'l...

Woolworths Ltd released a Sustainable Palm Oil ActionPlan in March 2010 whereby the company commits tomoving to certified sustainable palm oil from RSPOmembers by 2015 for all Woolworths private labelproducts (Select and Homebrand). It has also committedto on-pack labelling of palm oil and derivatives for allthese products (where oil is a listed ingredient ieexcludes trace oils potentially present i'n emulsifiers etc).It is also applying to become a member of the RSPO.

****KFC the last of the big take-away chains to moveaway from Palm oil- YA YISource - www.orangutan.com.au

We must not forget the people ofIndonesia

• The Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil wasestablished in 2007 to address concerns aboutpalm oil and support already present farms.

• It encourages environmentally friendly practises.Look for products that have been certified by theRTPO.

• On the other hand ... there are reports thatIndigenous communities do not approve furtherclearing of forests. This is their land!!! Manyjobs also go to foreigners!

HOME MADE - Then you really know what is inwhat you are eating or cleaning with.

Cleaning - Vinegar etc. Old remedies (Askyour parents and never use any type of'cleaner' without adult supervisi·on).

L.ip Balm - Watch as we make our own!!!!

Slice - Make your own!

Its fun, cheap and Palm Oil Free!

Tasty and easy to make foodWith NO PALM OIL!

COCONUT ICE

Ingredients:4 cups icing sugar3 cups coconut1 tin sweetened condensed milk1 tsp vanilla essencePink (or any desired colour) food colouring

Directions:1. Mix all the ingredients (except the food colouring) together in a bowl (Ifind the best way is to use my hands.)2. Separate half the mixture into another bowl and add pink food colouring.Mix again (again easiest with hands)3. Press into a square tin/dish (making it in two layers of colour) andrefrigerate!!

RECIPE 1 - Cranberry Lip Gloss

1 tbs Macadamia Oil

10 Cranberries or any berries available

1 tsp Honey

• 1)Microwave one tablespoon Macadamia Oil, 10 fresh cranberries and

1 teaspoon honey until mixture starts to boil.

• 2)Gently crush berries and stir well. Strain liquid through a fine sieve toremove any solids

• 3) Pour into containers and let set in the fridge.

• MORE EASY RECIPES AVAILABLE AT - www.allfreecrafts.com

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• www.ora gu an.co . u,

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•. wW.defores· action.com.au. -

.responsibleconsumer.com.alJ.l __~---i

:; Vww.palmoiladion.com.a

• www. OC.COtll.~U

• w w.bor eo.com.au

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