PRINCE Harry believes palm oil should come with a health warning
because of the environmental damage caused by deforestation.
The 32-year-old royal said the product, which is used as a cheap ingredient in food products, should be labelled "like cigarettes".
He said: "The demand for palm oil- it's such a sad story. They should put a warning on palm oil like cigarette packets - you can use it but this is the damage it's causing."
GETTY
Prince Harry has called for palm oil to be labelled 'like cigarettes'
Keen conservationist Harry expressed his views during a visit to Iwokrama International Centre in the heart of the Guyana rainforest.
He was following in the footsteps of his father Prince Charles who was made patron of the reserve when he last visited in 2000.
Told that "selective" and "discrete" and logging went on there, a concerned Harry asked: "How much forest are we talking about?"
Dane Gobin, CEO of the centre, told him 18,000 hectares were cut down which accounted for less than 0.5 of the forest.
When told logging in this way was actually very expensive, the prince said: "Bizarrely anything that's good for the environment these days costs a lot. If you want to do it properly you've got to spend a lot of money."
Mr Gobin reassured him: "We don't sell to the guy who wants to rape and pillage."
GETTY
Prince Harry is on a royal visit to Guyana
Told the favoured wood was greenheart, which was sought after because it lasted for 100 years, Harry asked: "Who's desperately keen to get in here to log it, the Chinese?" to which Mr Gobin replied: "The Chinese are here already".
Minister of Indigenous Affairs Sydney Allicock, 61, said seeds from the trees were used locally as a contraceptive and to prevent malaria.
The elder, whose father Frederick Allicock founded the nearby Surama village in 1976, said: "You grate the seed and it produces a starchy substance that you drink in water. Women drink it as a contraceptive. It doesn't cure malaria but it keeps you from being bitten".
Told it is illegal to export the seeds from Guyana. Harry added: "That's good. You certainly wouldn't want people coming in here and farming this stuff because they'd get it all wrong. If you give the seeds away then you lose ownership of them and before you know it, it booms so fast and you've got another palm oil situation on your hands".
Deforestation accounts for 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and worldwide efforts are being made by conservationists to have palm oil banned as a food ingredient.
The 32-year-old royal said the product, which is used as a cheap ingredient in food products, should be labelled "like cigarettes".
He said: "The demand for palm oil- it's such a sad story. They should put a warning on palm oil like cigarette packets - you can use it but this is the damage it's causing."
GETTY
Keen conservationist Harry expressed his views during a visit to Iwokrama International Centre in the heart of the Guyana rainforest.
He was following in the footsteps of his father Prince Charles who was made patron of the reserve when he last visited in 2000.
Told that "selective" and "discrete" and logging went on there, a concerned Harry asked: "How much forest are we talking about?"
Dane Gobin, CEO of the centre, told him 18,000 hectares were cut down which accounted for less than 0.5 of the forest.
When told logging in this way was actually very expensive, the prince said: "Bizarrely anything that's good for the environment these days costs a lot. If you want to do it properly you've got to spend a lot of money."
Mr Gobin reassured him: "We don't sell to the guy who wants to rape and pillage."
GETTY
Told the favoured wood was greenheart, which was sought after because it lasted for 100 years, Harry asked: "Who's desperately keen to get in here to log it, the Chinese?" to which Mr Gobin replied: "The Chinese are here already".
Minister of Indigenous Affairs Sydney Allicock, 61, said seeds from the trees were used locally as a contraceptive and to prevent malaria.
The elder, whose father Frederick Allicock founded the nearby Surama village in 1976, said: "You grate the seed and it produces a starchy substance that you drink in water. Women drink it as a contraceptive. It doesn't cure malaria but it keeps you from being bitten".
Told it is illegal to export the seeds from Guyana. Harry added: "That's good. You certainly wouldn't want people coming in here and farming this stuff because they'd get it all wrong. If you give the seeds away then you lose ownership of them and before you know it, it booms so fast and you've got another palm oil situation on your hands".
Deforestation accounts for 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and worldwide efforts are being made by conservationists to have palm oil banned as a food ingredient.
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