I wonder how many of your readers are aware that when they pick up a bar of soap or eat a packet of crisps, a biscuit or chocolate and all kinds of processed foods they are contributing to the destruction of rainforests of Indonesia?

I wish that I could tell you that there is no link between UK soap companies and rainforest destruction but I can't. Palm oil is a very big business, and is used in about one in ten of the products you buy, from soap to biscuits and toothpaste.

UK companies are fully aware of the destruction being caused to the greatest storehouses of life, the rainforests, and they know that few consumers are aware of the facts about palm oil.

Many of the people employed in the rainforests have to suffer harassment, intimidation and violence, and some have had their land stolen to create vast palm oil plantations.

We need to put a stop to this, and tighten the reins of British companies involved in the palm oil trade, also buyers, refiners, retailers and investors, to make them produce and use palm oil more responsibly.

People who have been forced to give up their land for plantations receive pay well below the minimum wage. Cutting wages is a known as punishment, also sexual harassment.

When people have tried to reclaim their land their crops have been destroyed, graves have been desecrated, and there have been arrests, beatings and shootings.

We should all join together to protect people's rights and save our planet from further destruction.

David J. Walker

Friends Of The Earth

The Knapp

Great Bedwyn