US senators demand action after AP exposes palm oil abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

MARGIE MASON and ROBIN McDOWELL
, Associated Press
Sep. 25, 2020
Updated: Sep. 25, 2020 5:59 p.m.



FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020 file photo, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, about a U.S. China trade agreement, accompanied by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, right. On Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, Sens. Wyden and Brown said the government needs to ban the import of products made with child or forced labor after an Associated Press investigation found widespread exploitation in the palm oil industry, from debt bondage to outright slavery.J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Lawmakers said Friday that the U.S. government needs to ban the import of products made with child or forced labor after an Associated Press investigation found widespread exploitation in the palm oil industry, from debt bondage to outright slavery.

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Ron Wyden —who spearheaded efforts to close a loophole in a federal law that had allowed the import of products made with forced labor— also called on companies that buy goods tainted by labor abuses to be held accountable.

“The federal government needs to enforce this law and investigate all instances of forced labor in supply chains and block imports made with forced labor from coming into the U.S.,” said Brown, an Ohio Democrat. “In addition to strong government enforcement, corporations need to hold themselves accountable.”

An Associated Press investigation into the $65 billion palm oil industry found labor abuses among an invisible workforce consisting of millions of men, women and children from some of the poorest corners of Asia, including stateless Rohingya Muslims sold onto plantations after fleeing persecution in their homeland. The fruit they harvest makes its way into the supply chains of the planet’s most iconic food and cosmetics companies like Unilever, L’Oreal, Nestle and Procter & Gamble.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/US-senators-demand-action-after-AP-exposes-palm-15598134.php#photo-20018158

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

1. just ban f'ing palm oil.

there is no reason for it.

[catchnrelease]

2. Thank you!

It's use is devastating to humans and wildlife too.

[Nitram]

4. No, its OVERuse is devastating. It has long been a staple of West African life both as cooking oil

and as I dish. When I worked in Liberia with the Peace Corps, palm butter soup was my favorite dish. Pay farmers to plant something else, prohibit its import, whatever. If they cut down rainforest and used child labor to raise and harvest peanuts, we wouldn't ban peanuts.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Millions of acres of jungle have been burned and cleared for palm tree growth

Damn oil is in everything now..even most ice cream in this country, not to mention HUGE use in creams, lotions.

Heinz/Kraft use it in salad oil, other products. They are now very defense about it, too.