By ROBIN McDOWELL and MARGIE MASON
They are two young girls from two very different worlds, linked by a
global industry that exploits an army of children.
Olivia Chaffin, a Girl Scout in rural Tennessee, was a top cookie seller in her troop when she first heard rainforests were being destroyed to make way for ever-expanding palm oil plantations.
Olivia, who earned a badge for selling more than
600 boxes of cookies, had spotted palm oil as an ingredient on the back of one of her packages but was relieved to see a green tree logo next to the words “certified sustainable.” She assumed that meant her
January 14, 2021 at 7:03 AM
JERSEY CITY, NJ - Lending their voices to a fight against the use of child labor, Jersey City Girl Scout Troop 12026 won’t be selling those famous cookies this year.
The troop has joined a boycott started by a girl scout in Tennessee after an investigative report by the Associated Press uncovered the exploitative use of adult and child labor in obtaining palm oil, one of the ingredients used in the making of the admittedly delicious treats.
“My troop and I will not be selling cookies this year. This is because of palm oil. Sustainable palm oil is fine, but the baker uses a mix of sustainable and unsustainable palm oil,” said Cadette, one of the many outraged Jersey City scouts. “Unsustainable palm oil is made in Indonesia and Malaysia. In those two countries they not only cause deforestation but force kids by the age of 10 to quit school and work in fields barefoot making less than a dollar a month. People buying stuff made from that unsustaina
Jersey City Girl Scouts troop takes stand against child abuse by boycotting annual cookie sale
Updated Jan 12, 2021;
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Jersey City Girl Scouts Troop 12026 leader Gina Verdibello, right, with the troop during a previous cookie sale. The troop is boycotting the sale this year. (Troop 12026 photo)EJA
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Gina Verdibello is worried about how she’ll pay for the patches for her Girl Scouts Troop 12026. And how the troop’s annual Halloween party and the girls’ annual membership fees will be funded.
But it’s a small price to pay, the co-trooper leader says, for the stand her troop members are taking by boycotting the annual sale of the iconic Girl Scout cookies. When the roughly two dozen members of the troop learned the cookies are made with non-sustainable palm oil much of it produced with child labor they decided to join a boycott started by a girl scout from Tennessee.
Binsar Bakkara/AP Images
The palm oil industry in Southeast Asia is dependent on child labor, according to a study conducted by AP.
Popular Western snacks are made with the oil, like cookies and ice cream.
Products from household brands like Kellogg s and Nestle use the oil, as well as Ferrero, which produces Girl Scout Cookies.
The children have to move wheelbarrows that outweigh them, and prune and weed trees without wearing shoes while being exposed to fertilizers and pesticides as they work.
A study conducted by AP uncovered child labor in Indonesia and Malaysia is being used to make popular Western snacks, including Girl Scout Cookies.