...Members of the European Parliament have called for the ban on the grounds that vegetable oil farming has destroyed vital ecological areas, violated human rights and hiked food prices. Altogether 97 per cent of members backed a resolution demanding a phase-out by 2020. The measure now requires the European Commission's approval. The EU favoured vegetable oil-based biofuel as a petroleum alternative a decade ago. Its stance shifted after reports that vegetable oil farming had caused rampant deforestation... Worker exploitation and child labour have been linked to the clearing work and the farming, and some destroyed forests were the habitat of endangered animal species... In the US some opponents have made the case that using land for fuel crops has raised the price of food and animal feed...