The reply from Clarins was dismal – it took nearly 4 months and a lot of pestering to get any reply at all, and when I did it was insufficient. I had already promised to use body shop products and use up the Clarins that I was using, and I am pleased to say that I have nearly used it all up now and definitely will not be buying anymore. Clarins are not members of the RSPO, which is not the be all and end all, but at least it is a token gesture, and they will not confirm if they use unsustainable or sustainable palm oil, so we have to assume that it is an unsustainable product being used in six of their products.

Still, unlike Clinique, I am pleased to say that they do not test on animals.

They said that…….. Since 1988 the only tests that Clarins conduct during the development and manufacture of our products are on human volunteers and tissue cultures which replicate the structure of the human skin and eye. Clarins has also not used ingredients of animal origin in its products since this date.

The ingredients we use are purchased from specialist suppliers who produce a safety file, conforming to European regulations, for each raw ingredient they sell. We will always request a copy of this documentation to ensure that an ingredient is safe to use for cosmetic purposes, but at no time do we demand or commission animal tests.

I had asked specific questions to which I expected, as standard, to receive a reply to my queries. Being sent to a website 4 months after my enquiry to find out for myself is a disgrace for customer service. I was just sent the links below……

About palm oil in their products

http://uk.clarins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HerbarumView?storeId=10201&catalogId=11751&langId=-11&index=P&ignoreClarinsAndMe=true&section=2&subSection=5

Their environmental policy

http://uk.clarins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentType_about@@clarins.committed@@beauty.protection@@environnement_-11_10201_11751_true___

Their commitments

http://uk.clarins.com/wcsstore/clarins2/documents/en_UK/Clarins-Responsible-Commitments.pdf

Original letter sent to Clarins……..

Hello,

Please pass to the relevant department.

I have been researching the unsustainable palm oil situation with regard to the UK’s involvement, it has brought about some alarming news with regard to the wildlife, indigenous peoples, our health, global warming due to the slash and burn of the rainforests, and our knowledge about the oil and what it is in. I am, as a consumer, very upset about this situation, and I have some questions for you, as to the use of palm oil in your products, as I wish to only buy products with RSPO certified oil in them ….

1. Do you make any products that contain palm oil? If so, which ones? And are there any without palm oil that I can use? (my favourites are skin and anti cellulite products)

2. Are you using sustainable or unsustainable oil in your products?

3. If unsustainable, do you need to use it?

4. If you use palm oil in your products, is it shown in the ingredients listing? If not, could you do that so that we, as consumers, can choose whether we consume palm oil or not when deciding to buy your product

5. Are you a member of the RSPO?

6. Are your products tested on animals?

I understand that a lot has been done over the last 5 years, to raise awareness, and moves have been made by the Consumer Industry and Government in the UK, but if action is not taken more quickly, then it will all be in vain as far as the population of Orangutans are concerned. I think that a target of 2015 (which is predicted for many Companies) for using only sustainable oil is too far away – it must be realised that the Orangutans have only 10 years left at the rate of the increase of palm oil deforestation and plantations and something needs to be done far faster than it has been in the last 5 years.

I would very much appreciate it if you could answer the above, so that I can fully understand the situation as it stands at the moment, as there are many mixed views in the media at present. I would prefer to get the facts right about your policies and palm oil use, if any, first hand.

Kind Regards,

Sandra Dean

palm oil kernel

My UK campaign to stop Cadbury using Palm oil – lets follow Australia/New Zealand!

Australian and New Zealand people power has overcome Cadbury, who have decided to stop using palm oil in many products, due to the petitioning and campaigning of the Australians. This is wonderful news, but just a start in making a hole in the World’s unsustainable palm oil use.

I have had much communication with the people of Australia and New Zealand about Cadbury as I have info on my website too about Cadbury, and it shows that people power CAN work.

I, as you will know from my website, am currently petitioning to the EU Government for palm oil to be labelled in our UK products and also petitioning to ask supermarkets/manufacturers to stop using unsustainable palm oil and it is going well, but I have always said that we should target one alone and get a good response and I have chosen Cadbury too, as they are in the limelight and their chocolate is so rubbish and cheap now that the consumer is looking for a better quality of chocolate (particularly the people who have bought Cadbury chocolate for years). We don’t want this saturated unsustainable palm oil fat in our chocolate either!.

So, I am now in the process of setting up a petition to Cadbury, joining support networks and I ask you for your support now, and in the future, to help me to make a success of this campaign. If we can make a Company like Cadbury stop using unsustainable palm oil, then this will be an example to all other Manufacturers currently also using unsustainable palm oil.

Keep coming back to these pages to see how I am getting on – and please support the cause – this is important!

See my pages on Cadbury by CLICKING HERE

Also, see my reply from Cadbury regarding their use of palm oil by CLICKING HERE

See the Cadbury Australia/New Zealand campaign information by CLICKING HERE

palm oil in Cadbury

Cadbury Australia/New Zealand take palm oil out of chocolate

How did they do it ? Read about how Australia and New Zealand did it below….

New Zealand information…..

The Cadbury’s NZ move was a collective effort with Auckland Zoo being a main player along with Judith Collins in Dunedin who is the producer for Orangutan Island on Animal Planet, instigated by Cadbury’s sudden decision to start putting palm oil in NZ chocolate (this very much annoyed non-environmentalist consumers too as it made it taste different).

Media exposure played a big part, and lowered sales so we expect that this also played a big part in their final decision.

A major catalyst however was the face book groups (separate from zoo activities). The biggest one started by Carly Day which got over 3,000 people.

And Australia….  Proof from Cadbury Australia that they are converting!

This is an email sent to a lady in Australia from Cadbury……….

Thank you for taking time to contact us in response to our recent

announcement in New Zealand regarding the removal of vegetable fat,

including palm oil, from Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate and our return to a

cocoa butter only recipe.

In answer to your question, we are pleased to confirm that Cadbury

Australia is also removing vegetable fat, including palm oil, and returning

to a cocoa butter only recipe for Cadbury’s entire moulded block chocolate

range, including our flagship Cadbury Dairy Milk brand and product lines

such as Old Gold and Dream.

Some of our other product lines where vegetable fat, including palm oil,

has been added to replace a small amount of cocoa are more complex and will

take longer to change. However it is our intention to progressively work

through them so that all of the cocoa within the chocolate we make in

Australia and New Zealand is palm oil free as soon as it can possibly can

be.

The decision to remove vegetable fat, including palm oil and return to a

cocoa butter only recipe was based on your feedback and that of hundreds of

other Australians and New Zealanders.

Once again thank you for your support. We hope the change back to a cocoa

butter only recipe will help restore your faith in Cadbury and our

products.

Kind regards

CADBURY PTY LTD

Tracey

Consumer Services

Ref:1167905

Notes from the Australian campaigner on this subject:

People/consumer power works again. Remember, it is the ONLY thing that ever works.

Governments and companies left to their own ways, would never make any good environmental decisions.

According to the below email response, Cadbury Australia is also removing vegetable fat (incl. palm oil) from their products.

Now, we ALL need to pressure New Zealand farmers into stopping their importation of palm kernel from Indonesia to feed dairy cattle in New Zealand.

It’s not as if NZ cows need palm kernel and it is hardly a natural foodstuff for cows – whose milk, incidentally, may find its way into Cadbury’s chocolate, Anchor butter, etc.

See my CAMPAIGN PLANS FOR THE UK HERE PLUS LINKS TO OTHER CADBURY PALM OIL RESOURCES

forest fires in Borneo

Emergency Appeal – “Forest fires are breaking out in the Sabangau forests in Central Kalimantan jeopardising the lives of the estimated 8,000 wild orangutans living there.  Please dontate now!

The burning season has started with a vengeance and as you read this appeal vast swathes of pristine orangutan habitat are under threat. The land is firmly in the grip of an extreme drought, caused by El Nino. The fires have started as a result of human actions; newcomers to the area attempting to follow traditional Dayak farming methods for land clearance. But the land is dry in the current season and when peat dries out it burns very easily. The newcomers do not possess the experience to control the fires and as soon as one is brought under control, another erupts.

Two key charities are helping to raise funds to save the Orangutans and forests out there…..

To donate to the BOS (Borneo Orangutan Survival and find out more about these fires and devastation please click the link below:

Please give now and help us minimise the number of casualties of this threat to the rainforests of Borneo

The Sebangau Forest is the largest non-fragmented area of lowland rainforest remaining in Borneo and supports the largest population of the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) with an estimated 6,900 individuals living there. This represents 12.5% of the estimated remaining world population of this endangered species.

Dr. Suwido Limin, Director of the Indonesian peatland conservation organisation CIMTROP (Centre for International Cooperation in the Management of Tropical Peatland), has gathered a team who are leading the fire-fighting operations. They have been working 24hours a day to dig wells to channel water to the forefront of the fires. Work involves transporting heavy equipment manually or by motorcycle to wherever it is needed, day and night. The work is not only exhausting but also dangerous, and costly.

The budget available to CIMTROP is very limited and so Orangutan Foundation has already donated £3,000 to allow firefighting operations to continue and to help avert this desperate situation. The situation is predicted to worsen over the coming weeks as conditions become drier and so we really need your help to safeguard this orangutan population in its home.

The Orangutan Foundation only has an appeal when we really need your help. This is one of those instances. We ask you to please donate whatever you can to help avert this desperate situation. CIMTROP are experienced at controlling forest fires but they need the resources to do it.

To donate to the Orangutan Foundation and to find out more please see their homepage by clicking HERE

My comments: I am really quite upset to hear that some of their products will contain unsustainable palm oil derivatives, they are not members of the RSPO (for what that is worth) and they are currently doing nothing to find out about the source of the palm oil derivatives that they use. I am further upset that they currently do still test on animals for certain products. To be honest, law or not, if the Body Shop can produce all types of cosmetics and toiletries without testing on animals, then why can’t Clinique and all the other Cosmetic Companies do the same? I wish I had the answers, and I hope one of them will tell us in further detail…..

I have replied to them – you can see it at the bottom of this page…

Following the first reply from Clinique which can be seen by CLICKING HERE I had to send a second email to clarify the answers that I did not receive the first time.  I sent them this:
Thanks for your reply. Can you advise whether the palm oil derivatives used
in these products are from sustainalble or unsustainable sources? This is
my question. I hope to continue using your products and will look out for
the ingredients, but would like to know the situation.

When you say ‘required by law’  in your animal testing comment, what does
this mean? Do they or you test on animals and if so, in what circumstances?

Kind Regards,
Sandra Dean

And their reply was:

Dear Sandra,

Thank you for your recent email.

We appreciate the opportunity to explain that we purchase the palm oil derivatives mentioned in our last correspondence from suppliers and we realize that we do not know the source of that oil. We also recognize that given the scale of the global palm oil supply chain, it is challenging for suppliers to track the palm oil they use. However we are evaluating how we can work with our suppliers to encourage them to trace the palm oil they use and change to using more palm oil from sustainable sources.

Additionally, we have always been against animal testing. Recently, the global regulatory climate has become more stringent and cosmetic companies are being asked to further validate the human and environmental safety of their ingredients and products. We are equally committed to consumer health and safety. Given these increased requirements for ensuring the safety of cosmetic ingredients, animal testing may be legally necessary under certain circumstances when no non-animal alternative is available or acceptable to governmental/health authorities. Be assured that we will make every effort to avoid having ingredients tested on animals, and will take all practical and available steps to see that existing or non-animal test data is used instead. However, if ultimately this is required in order for the company to sell its products, we will, of course, comply with the law.

Please be assured of our best attention.

Sincerely,

Philippa Wood

Consumer Care Centre

Global Consumer Communications

I have now sent them this email:

Hi,

Thanks for your recent reply.

So, at the moment, Clinique are doing nothing about their palm oil use or any efforts to ensure it is not coming from unsustainable sources, such as Borneo and Sumatra, where Orangutans and wildlife are killed to make this oil and global warming is worsened by the plantations? Does Clinique not care at all about these issues?

I have to say, that as a user of Clinique in the past, I am very upset about this lack of care.

As far as animal testing is concerned, are you saying that Clinique are testing on animals when necessary? Can you clarify what products are tested on animals and explain why this cannot be avoided? I am aware that Body Shop do not need to test on animals, so why should Clinique? Should Clinique not stop selling those items that require a test on an animal, and then no animal testing would be required? Is it really all about money?

Regards,

Sandra

I will keep you all posted when I get the next reply……

smd

I have now, had nearly all the replies in from the Manufacturer’s and Supermarkets of the UK who are known to use palm oil in their products and are in the top 100 for sales. I have to say, the news is not very positive and most of them have omitted to answer the questions I posed, particularly in providing me with a list of their products containing palm oil and whether it is sustainable or unsustainable.  There is a supply of sustainable palm oil out there and it is not being used, so there is no excuse!

List of products containing palm oil

Until they provide me with a list, as a consumer, I will refuse to use ANY of their products, where possible and instead use products from Companies that do not use palm oil at all. At the end of the day, I do not want to be consuming this unhealthy saturated fat anyway and lessen my chance of a heart attack.

Listing Palm oil as ‘Vegetable oil’

The law regarding ingredients listings, is an EU law, and allows manufacturer’s to list palm oil within the general term ‘vegetable oil’. OK, there is not enough pressure on the European Union to change that right now (although I am campaigning to get it changed as us consumers should be allowed to choose what we consume, and avoid palm oil if we wish – see my letter here http://www.notjustanessexgirl.com/2009/05/my-letter-to-department-for-business-enterprise-regulatory-reform ) but they could volunteer to do it. Waitrose and the Co-op now list palm oil specifically in all their own brand products, and Sainsbury’s are following suit, so why cant Tesco’s, Asda, Morrisons and all the others? Answer is, they could if they wanted to, but they simply do not want to – too much cost involved! As a consumer, I do not want to be munching on palm oil (a saturated fat) and I feel cheated that I have been eating it for so long in my breads, chocolate, biscuits, Wrigley’s chewing gum and loads more – I feel sick that we are not allowed to have the choice to see what has palm oil in it, because the law says we do not have to be given that choice. For now, if something says ‘vegetable oil’ in it’s ingredients, I am avoiding it. Admittedly, this is very difficult as so much contains it, but with some effort, I realise that my desire for biscuits is indirectly killing orangutan’s, so with that in mind, it is much easier to avoid!

RSPO – is it just a cover?

The RSPO appears to be doing good work, but I do feel that some of the members are just hiding behind their membership and saying that they are ‘doing their bit’ when they are actually, as a Company, doing very little. This does not mean everyone, but some of them, so do not take their membership as being the be all and end all – it is not. Ask them what exactly ‘they are doing themselves’ Any timescales for a changeover to sustainable palm oil and efforts to help the environmental issues. Do not let them all just say they are a member and leave it at that.

It’s all about time

Time is actually running out for the Orangutan’s and many other animals, such as the Sumatran Tiger. If deforestation for the planting of unsustainable palm oil plantations is not stopped, then the Orangutan will be extinct within around 10 years!

You will see that many Manufacturer’s, Supermarkets, and the RSPO itself do not have strict time scales that they commit to, to make the required changes (change to sustainable palm oil). This is no good – we want some promises and action before the Orangutan is extinct! We need them to tell us WHEN they are going to do something.

So, I shall be writing back to most of the Supermarkets and Manufacturer’s who have now replied, and asking them for the more specific answers laid out above this time. I will keep you posted!

Greed

It is essentially all about greed……..

1. Our consumer greed for tasty and cheap products.  (do we really need to eat biscuits and long life bread anyway?)

2. The Manufacturer’s greed for selling in bulk, their budget products, using palm oil as a cheap bulking agent.

3. The Palm oil Companies greed for selling quickly grown, cheaply produced, lucrative oil to sell.

Although we are in a time of credit crunch, we can all make an effort to some degree – next time you go shopping, keep in mind all the products containing it, and try to avoid them.

See what else I have been doing to save the Orangutan here

Click here to see the letters I sent to the Government, Manufacturer’s and Supermarkets

Click here to see the top 100 products and which contain palm oil

Click here to see the replies from those Supermarkets and Manufacturers about their palm oil useage

Click here to see information about palm oil dangers – scroll through

If any of you saw Jonathan Ross last night, then you would have seen the speech made by Vivienne Westwood about the rainforests. She promoted the website and campaign of Prince Charles – The Princes Rainforest Project.  She urged us to go onto his website and sign the petition.

This is a great campaign, (I have signed it) and although it is not directly to help the Orangutan’s, the work of saving the rainforests will help them indirectly in those Countries as well as all over the World in other Countries.  See it here: http://www.rainforestsos.org

I made a note of his campaign earlier this year, plus some other really great ones on these pages of my website:

Charities and Organisations for Orangutans & rainforests – click here

Palm oil – the dangers – click here

Save the Orangutans – click here

This did remind me to do something else as well though, as I had seen an article about the Prince Charles Duchy Range in the Independent in May. The range has 5 products which contain palm oil – I thought I would write to them to find out if it is sustainable or unsustainable palm oil that they are using.

However, in searching through their website, for pages regarding palm oil I came across this policy on their palm oil use, which is really good news: http://www.duchyoriginals.com/520.php

Also, you can see from this page: http://www.duchyoriginals.com/toffee_chocolate_biscuits.php  that palm oil is actually listed as an ingredient in those biscuits.

However, I will not be eating those products that contain palm oil and I have asked them to tell me which ones have palm oil in them. I still do not want to eat this saturated fat, even if it is from a sustainable source!

Leigh & Westcliff times Orangutan Campaign Sandra Dean July 2009

My local fortnightly newspaper, The Leigh & Westcliff Times, published my story on 30th June 2009. 

Following my last publication locally, I was really pleased, as it highlights the palm oil situation that is harming the rainforests of Borneo & Sumatra and killing the Orangutans.  We must act soon, and force the Supermarkets & manufacturers to swap from unsustainable to sustainable palm oil.  The production of unsustainable palm oil is damaging our environment, and harming the people and wildlife of Borneo & Sumatra – please help….

I decided to speak out about my bankruptcy 4 years ago, the spiral into depression that that situation led to, and how helping the Orangutans has given me a new lease of life and lifted my spirits, as it is a time of depression within this credit crunch, and many people are feeling the pinch. I feel that this story could give people some hope and inspiration. I hope that you enjoy reading it and that it brings a few people to help the Orangutans too!

You can view it by clicking on the picture and then clicking again to enlarge it

See my other publications by CLICKING HERE
See only my other Orangutan publications CLICK HERE

See details of my campaign by CLICKING HERE

See some of what I am doing by CLICKING HERE

I had the comment below posted on my site this week, regarding Cadbury and their palm oil use – is it sustainable or unsustainable that they are using? I think this is useful to see – maybe you can get involved and contact them too or comment to this page or the page shown below! Below the comment, you will see my reply…..

Comment received from my website (from Justine) …..

We are looking into this as we sometimes use Cadbury’s NZ for our school Fundraisers. we had an email back from them. Here it is. Can you give me anymore Info on whether Cadbury NZ is different from Cadburys UK?

Cadbury Australia and New Zealand can confirm that it has ensured that all the palm oil purchased for its Cadbury Dairy Milk range is certified as sustainably sourced. Cadbury is a founding member of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil(RSPO), and has been working since the RSPO’s creation to develop sustainable sources of Palm Oil. The RSPO is a not-for-profit association that includes representatives from both the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF)and Oxfam International on its Board. As a business we only use palm oil purchased from other audited and approved members of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil. We have included the further information below to explain how we have come to the decision to replace a small portion of the cocoa butter with a small amount of vegetable fat. We trust this will reassure you and allow you to enjoy our product with confidence. Kind regards
CADBURY LIMITED

This is my (Sandra Dean) reply:

Hi Justine,
Thanks for your comment and for posting the reply from Cadbury New Zealand – you can see the reply I recieved from them on this page: http://www.notjustanessexgirl.com/2009/05/reply-from-cadbury-re-palm-oil-use
This is what I sent them: http://www.notjustanessexgirl.com/2009/05/my-letter-to-productsmanufacturers-regarding-palm-oil/  
You can also see all the replies so far from the UK Government, Manufacturers and Supermarkets – some good, some bad information. http://www.notjustanessexgirl.com/category/orangutan-appeal/palm-oil-campaign/palm-oil-lettersinfo-recieved/  
I looked up the Cadbury website, and they are the same company and if you look on this page of their global website, at the bottom you will see their commitments for the future: http://www.cadbury.com/ourresponsibilities/ethicaltrading/ethicalsourcing/Pages/supplierengagement.aspx
I have had many visitors from New Zealand lately looking for info on Cadbury’s use of palm oil – has there been some big news about it over there lately? I saw the article from May in the New Zealand Herald.
I would say that they are not conforming to using all sustainable palm oil at the moment, and just because they are using companies that are part of the roundtable of sustainable palm oil, it does not mean that they are supplying sustainable palm oil to Cadburys – in fact most of those members are the biggest users of unsustainable palm oil on the planet, such as Unilever. I cannot be 100% and you may like to get clarification of this from Cadbury NZ, but I would say that they are currently NOT using sustainable palm oil, they are just a member of the RSPO which many seem to use as a cover for pretending to do lots to help. If you look for the targets of the RSPO to use and supply all sustainable palm oil, I do not believe you can find that information. Most Supermarkets and Manufactuers here have targets such as 2015 and beyond, but I am afraid that will be too late, and something needs to be done to stop these large profit Companies from ruining our planet, health, environment and its wildlife – particularly the Orangutan and Sumatran Tiger, which will be extinct before they get their finger out. If you are really interested to help, then campaigns need to be set up to push them to list palm oil in their ingredients so that we can choose to have it or not, and to stop using this unsustainable palm oil. I think the bosses of these big companies need a trip out to Borneo and Sumatra and they might be shocked into helping too! Greed is ruining this planet!
I personally do not want to eat palm oil (a saturated unhealthy fat) when eating chocolate – I want to eat chocolate! No wonder the price of Cadbury is cheap. I am sourcing other organic, non palm oil chocolate.
Thanks,
Sandra (website owner)
I hope you find this info helpful.

If you would like to get involved in this conversation, please reply in the comments on this page…. http://www.notjustanessexgirl.com/2009/05/top-100-products-uk-which-contain-palm-oil

Update on 15th July 2009 – Guess what I have found?  A chocolate that does not use palm oil at all and helps wildlife charities, including Orangutans!  see my article by CLICKING HERE

August 2009 news! Cadbury Australia/New Zealand have stopped using palm oil – See the Cadbury Australia/New Zealand campaign information by CLICKING HERE

See my August 2009 plans for a UK campaign to stop Cadbury using palm oil by CLICKING HERE