palm free or not?

[Seifenblasen]

Not going to preach or start a debate, just some food for thought. Everyone can draw his/her own conclusion. :cry:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Glob...y-elephants-fall-prey-to-pesticides-in-Borneo

 

[melstan775]

The situation with palm is bad. I am also concerned with the rise of popularity in brazilian products - no one seems to be talking about the destruction of the rainforests due to mass production of all sorts of things. That's a big one. I'm just saying.

 

[Genny]

Poor little elephants That made me really sad.

I decided to go completely palm free (stearic, vegetable glycerin, etc) after reading & reading & reading. I never used palm in my soaps anyway, so it wasn't too much of a hardship for me to get rid of it.

 

[Shannon_m]

I think it's so sad what's going on in Borneo right now, those poor elephants. I do use Palm in my products but with a bit of research I feel I can be relatively guilt-free that my palm products are not imported from Borneo.

 

[Nevada]

I stopped using lard cause of the smell, but EO can fix that.
If I don't want to use lard or Palm, what are the alternatives? Use more Coconut oil?

Castor oil continue to fly under the radar
The castor seed contains ricin, a toxic protein. Heating during the oil extraction process denatures and inactivates the protein. However, harvesting castor beans may be not without risk.[7] Allergenic compounds found on the plant surface can cause permanent nerve damage, making the harvest of castor beans a human health risk. India, Brazil, and China are the major crop producers, and the workers suffer harmful side effects from working with these plants.

 

[Seifenblasen]

I think it is more of a "China" problem than castor. In modern industries workers are constantly at risk of being exposed to hazardous chemicals or equipments. The difference is in most north American and western European countries, there are occupational health and safety regulations to mitigate the risk. In China (and some other developing countries), they either do not have the regulations or do not enforce them.

When I first started out in my career, I did some business in China for an American energy company. I could spend an entire day in an American underground coal mine without a mask, and when I blew my nose, it was cleaner than spending a few hours walking around the streets of Beijing. From what I observed, the average life expectancy of a Chinese coal miner is around 45.

As you mentioned, Chinese oil plant workers are exposed to ricin. Electronics workers are exposed to harsh solvents. Garment workers are at risk of being injured by cutting machines. Farm workers are exposed to pesticides. Even babies are exposed to melamine laced formula. Nothing is safe.

I am fully aware of the fact that every time we use something, there are hidden costs. Even something as simple as turning on the tap and getting a glass of water involves someone at the water treatment plant putting chlorine to disinfect the water. In some factory, somewhere, someone is making chlorine for the water treatment plant, and someone is transporting this chlorine across the country. Accidents happen. People get exposed.

It is not my intention to start a heated debate, but really, to share a piece of news that saddened me. I also understand there are no perfect solutions. It is just that I have a soft spot for those animals.

I stopped using lard cause of the smell, but EO can fix that.
If I don't want to use lard or Palm, what are the alternatives? Use more Coconut oil?

Amanda got a number of palm-free recipes at her teaching site:
http://www.lovinsoap.com/2012/06/palm-free-recipes-day-1/

I have a few that I like and would be happy to share if you are interested.

 

[melstan775]

I have sop from Australia that is only coconut and palm with some glycerin and Shea. It's worked wonders in my skin and I'm trying to figure out how to reformulate it with little luck. I wonder if I could just do coconut and olive, olive oil bars get petty hard don't they?