Girl Scouts boycott cookies to save apes

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Two middle-school students who started a project to earn a Girl Scout award have ended up rejecting what may be the best known of their organization's symbols: Girl Scout Cookies.

Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, both 12, started doing research last fall on endangered orangutans in Indonesia as part of their Bronze Award project. They discovered the habitat of orangutans is being threatened by conversion of the land to the production of palm oil, an ingredient in Girl Scout Cookies.

Although the two have sold many boxes of cookies over the years, this year they sold magazines instead.

"Just doing the Bronze Award wouldn't be enough," Madison said.

Rhiannon agreed. "We have stopped selling [the cookies]," she said.

The girls also started an education drive, giving presentations at area schools and establishing a Web site.

At a recent conference in Chicago, they met anthropologist Jane Goodall, renowned for her studies of primates and efforts to protect them. Goodall signed their petition against palm oil.

Palm-oil production leads to conflict between orangutans and people, the girls said.