Wednesday, 15 July 2009 at 7:20 AM:

oh dear. finally watched this and was a bit disappointed. It really did seem one sided, Although I now know oil palm is as good as olive oils! I guess one interview hit in on the nail and it's about RAPID expansions being difficult to control. This I guess is where we are with palm oil. It's a good fat - but hard to control, especially in the wrong hands.

Wednesday, 15 July 2009 at 12:29 PM:

I think since it's a food channel programme, it highlighted the significance of palm oil in the food industry (with an added 3 mins cooking segment!) and health implications more which makes sense....but it would be more holistic if they were to address the environmental and social impact of oil palm plantations. They interviewed ONE Malay landowner, saying how palm oil had benefited his family, mentioned the help from 'FELDA' a government body...to an outsider it's all fine and dandy but the issue of the indigenous people and their land wasn't highlighted.

Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 4:39 AM:

After listening to the podcast and reading the two comments on the AFC programme, I'd like to share some thoughts on a few points I had picked up. First one being that palm oil is a good fat health-wise and there is plenty of research to back this up. The US FDA themselves report that the body needs a healthy balanced fat ratio of 1:1:1 for polyunsaturates, monosaturates and monounsaturates, and this augers well for palm oil. Though I doubt we watch everything we eat to the molecule!

Secondly, palm oil as bad fat in view of expanding oil palm plantations into forests or areas of high conservation value (in terms of rare ecosystems, habitats containing endangered or threatened flora/fauna species, as well as natural areas which are highly depended on by communities).

Sustainability is complex, it is an ideal. Pretty much like health itself (Alan AtKisson had written about an internet joke that "Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die"). So, let's acknowl

Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 4:40 AM:

(cont'd)

So, let's acknowledge that sustainability is an ideal - like health. We never completely reach our ideals, but we can strive towards them. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was referred to in the discussion and the world of certification is widening for both palm oil's food and biofuel sectors (it is not perfect, but its a great start compared to other commodity initiatives out there).

Undoubtedly, the devil is in the details - i.e. indicators of sustainability, and the process of creating such indicators is almost more important than the indicators themselves. Within the RSPO, an international working group of experts (and many other shadow sub-working groups) have laboured over more than two years to produce a marvellous piece of work called the Principles & Criteria on Sustainable Palm Oil Production, encompassing the legal, technical, environmental and social aspects. A living document, to be revised every 5 years in the light of current (practical) kno

Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 4:42 AM:

(cont'd)

There is now certified-RSPO in the market, but are they being taken up by those which demanded for it in the first place? If not, this is definitely not the kind of feedback the oil palm producing companies are expecting, especially if they are to be burdened with the complexities of meeting sustainability requirements. Failing fast uptake and quick demotivation as a result - many may resolve to using 'sustainability' to justify the commercial exploitation of knowledge on genetics, which brings me to my next (and final) thought. To pull this back to the topic of FOOD and food security, which Khairun had mentioned.

Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 4:43 AM:

(cont'd)

The oil palm genome (its genetic make-up) has been successfully sequenced this year and promises of super-enhanced yields so that expansion into eco- and socially-sensitive areas can be greatly reduced, as well as resistance to pest and diseases so as to reduce the usage of chemicals and therefore the pollution of our natural resources, and also not forgetting to mention altering lipid composition for higher good fat content, are fast becoming reality. An 'ideal' product in the making?

Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 4:43 AM:

Would consumers consider genetically-modified palm oil to be sustainable (as defined by the experts who have narrowed it down to the hundreds of indicators under the 8 Principles and 39 Criteria of the production of sustainable palm oil). Where do we draw the line? The producers will produce and the retailers will sell what the consumers will eat.

Tuesday, 21 July 2009 at 8:31 PM:

The documentary is indeed pretty lopsided. While one cannot argue that the demand for palm oil as a subsitute for trans fat will increase, palm plantation continue to pose a threat to our rainforest and its dependents. Unfortunately, that has not been convincingly addressed. Has anybody seen the website : palmoiltruthfoundation.com? It's definitely not an international NGO, or is it?

Saturday, 01 August 2009 at 2:51 PM:

At the end of the day lets all accept the fact that promoting the great virtues of palm oil is only going to incease global demand for it. That alone will lead to a very dangerous situation as political greed simply leads to denudation of millions of acres of natural forests leading to a faster rate of Climate Change.
Nobody seems to really care about climate change it seems. Least of all the politicians and governments as the only change they want to see is in the personal bank accounts.

Saturday, 01 August 2009 at 9:56 PM:

Food? My hunch .... all this oils are actually part of a processed food industry and maybe, just maybe, we could do with less of it...which might actually make us healthier. Anyway....just a hunch....

Tuesday, 08 September 2009 at 6:55 AM:

Here's a thought. If people disagree with palm oil production because it is eating into the rain forests, then what would be the alternative oil to use with a better yield density to replace it? What if we take corn oil as a substitute? If we substitute that demand, what would happen to the land usage for corn? and how would that drive up the cost of that product as a food source, and as a biofuel?

Wednesday, 09 September 2009 at 12:00 PM:

good question. and the price of corn tortillas went infamously skyward, if i remember correctly, a few years ago in Mexico.
i think we need to take a step back and consider the larger picture? it's not about the palm or even any other food or oil crop. they all have negative impacts on forests, land and local communities if large scale plantations are bulldozed into vulnerable or high conservation or functional value areas. if we don't stop to take a look at how we can change our consumption patterns, then there will be no end to the expansion of ANY food or oil crops. we've always looked at supply side of things, why not take a good hard look at managing demand, because isn't land finite after all? and we need to leave some functioning natural habitats alone for a functioning planet.
and if we take a look at how oil (from whatever crops, doesn't matter) is being used, do we know how much is being used in essential stuff (e.g. cooking oil?) vs how much goes into junk food that damag