UNILEVER             BOYCOTT

In March 2001, residents of Kodaikanal, a pretty hill retreat in Southern India, caught the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever red-handed when they uncovered a dumpsite with toxic mercury-laced waste from a thermometer factory run by Unilever's Indian subsidiary Hindustan Lever (HUL). The 7.4 tons of crushed mercury-containing glass was found in torn sacks, spilling onto the ground in a busy scrap yard located near a school. Despite the visible evidence, Mr. Subramaniam, HUL's export marketing manager, dismissed charges of indiscriminate dumping. "No hazardous wastes have left the factory site," he said. The expose, which led to a march to the factory gates by more than 400 residents from the area, joined by Greenpeace India, marked the beginning of an ongoing saga of dishonesty and botched cover-up efforts by Unilever. Mercury, the substance that Unilever is accused of handling without taking environmental or worker safety precautions, is a toxic metal that converts to deadlier forms such as methyl mercury when released into the environment. Mercury accumulates in the liver, kidneys, brain and blood and can cause birth defects and serious disorders of the nervous system and kidneys. In 2015, Indian rapper Sofia Ashraf released the music video "Kodaikanal Won't," to criticize Unilever for allegedly dumping mercury into waste ground at Kodaikanal. According to Unilever's statement, the factory had sold mercury-contaminated scrap glass to a local dealer, prompting HUL to immediately close the factory, plan the clean-up of the affected sites and monitor the health of its workers. Unilever is waiting since 2010 for the local government Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to give it permission for the clean-up. HUL signed a settlement on humanitarian grounds with former workers on March 4, 2016.

In the U.S. virtually all products containing derivatives of crops like corn, soy, canola and sugar from sugar beets will need GMO labels, as most of those crops in the United States are grown from genetically modified seeds. The labeling issue has generated heavy and frantic lobbying by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the trade groups representing major commodity producers of crops like soy and corn, who have wanted a federal law that would prevent mandatory labels. One of them is Unilever, who spent 467,100 USD against ballot measure Proposition 37, the referendum to mandate GMO labeling in California that failed in 2012. Unilever says state labeling laws are costly and complex, echoing food-industry lobbyists who call GMO labeling a fad that violates free speech. The ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's supported the GMO labeling law of Vermont against the world's biggest food companies, including its own corporate parent - Unilever. Ben & Jerry's has never shied away from speaking out on social issues, and Unilever, since acquiring the company in 2000, has not interfered. Since 1985, Ben & Jerry's has donated a portion of its profits to community projects across the U.S. That's why Ben & Jerry's is not included in our Unilever boycott product list.

Expansion of palm oil plantations is the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Indonesia. Unilever, as the world’s biggest consumer of palm oil, is driving this expansion and as a result is fuelling rainforest destruction. For every 20 litres of palm oil produced in Indonesia, one litre ends up in Unilever’s hands. The main problem is that Unilever continues to buy palm oil from suppliers (Sinar Mas, ADM-Kuok-Wilmar and IOI) who burn rainforest and drain peatlands that are protected under Indonesian law to clear space for more plantations. Having lost their homes, orang-utans are forced to look elsewhere for food and often palm plantations are the nearest source. It’s estimated that over 1600 orang-utans were killed on palm oil plantations in 2006 alone.