Canola Oil — Having got some fans of Canola, I thought I’d throw this interesting page into the discussion. A good read.
It is an industrial oil. It is not a food. Rape oil, it seems, causes emphysema, respiratory distress, anemia, constipation, irritability, and blindness in animals and humans. Rape oil was widely used in animal feeds in England and Europe between 1986 and 1991, when it was thrown out. Remember the”Mad Cow disease” scare, when millions of cattle in the UK were slaughtered in case of infecting humans? Cattle were being fed on a mixture containing material from dead sheep, and sheep suffer from a disease called “scrapie”.
It was thought this was how “Mad Cow” began and started to infiltrate the human chain. What is interesting is that when rape oil was removed from animal feed, ‘scrapie’ disappeared. We also haven’t seen any further reports of “Mad Cow” since rape oil was removed from the feed. Perhaps not scientifically proven, but interesting all the same. US and Canadian farmers grow genetically engineered rapeseed and manufacturers use its oil (canola) in thousands of processed foods, with the blessings of Canadian and US government watchdog agencies. The canola supporting websites say that canola is safe to use. They admit it was developed from the rapeseed, but insist that through genetic engineering it is no longer rapeseed, but “canola” instead.
Your genrally excellent blog has stumbled into the margins of an urban legend. See:
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/canola.htm#add
– The Precision Blogger
ARRGGHHHH.
1. Canola is not the rapeseed plant. The potato and tomato plants are part of the nightshade family. Should we stop eating them? By the way, in the 1700’s people thought eating a raw potato will kill you in seconds – they boiled them for hours the get rid of the “poison”.
2. It is “genetically altered” in the same sense that wheat was “genetically altered” thousands of years ago. It was developed the old-fashioned way, through selective breeding, NOT through gene-splicing. Is GM canola available? Yep – but so is GM corn. I don’t see web-sites screaming that non-GM corn is bad for you because GM-corn exists.
3. The reason you see canola popping up more and more is because studies have shown it is healthier for you than many other oils.
4. Trying to link mad-cow with canola is so stupid I won’t even bother to try and refute it. Do your own research. By the way, anecdotal stories posted on a discussion web-site is not “research”.
I have a 24 oz. bottle of Pure Wesson 100% natural oil here in front of me. Ingredient: Soybean oil. I don’t know much about conola oil. It’s not like we have a vegetable oil shortage, so I can’t see why canola oil is even needed. It is funny how every nitwit here gets on a soapbox, defending canola oil and trying to prove John is blowing smoke and is somehow misguided or crackpotting here. Go have a fried conola. I’m sure it won’t bother anybody. I’m sticking with Wesson soybean oil. You can cook in Mobil 10W30 if you want to. It’s a free country.
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/canola.htmv
Oops!
Thanks for the household hint. I am switching to olive oil for frying chicken in a pan. No more Canola oil for me.
Here’s the other side of the story:
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/canola.htm
“What we have here is a bit of truth about a product’s family history worked into a hysterical screed against the product itself. There is no earthly reason to give any credence to this rumor — Canola oil is not the horrifying product this widely-disseminated e-mail makes it out to be, nor has the FDA turned loose on the American public a health scourge worthy of being named one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”
The snopes post is straight from the PR machine for the Canola association…the Soybean oil folks are worse. From them you get word-for-word parroting. But use whatever oil you want.
AND for the “other” side of the story I balanced this with a link to the association. Seems fair.
John, where’s the science? If ceasing use of canola meant the end of scrapie I’d sure love to hear it from a scientist. I personally avoid vegetable oils including margarine but anecdotes aren’t science. Are there any countries that have banned canola oil, excepting those that have a full range of non-tariff agricultural barriers? We know that tomatoes are related to some poisonous plants, some mushrooms are toxic and many aren’t. I personally distinguish between plants bred for certain traits and those that are genetically modified in the lab; I think it’s a logical and scientific distinction. There are vested interests on the side of genetically modified food and only a dispersed opposition so I’m sceptical of the positive claims. In the case of canola oil there are so many competitors that we would be likely to hear of problems.
I just saw that there is going to be a big sugar shortage in the United States. Taiwan indicated that the government plans to sell the Taiwan Sugar Corp.. Maybe the Chinese will buy it and we can send them our money and get cheap sugar. Maybe there will be a modified state sugar subsidy program next. It’s funny how there is never a cocaine shortage in the U.S., but there could be a sugar shortage. I’m concerned about the soybean oil crunch. Everybody wants to save the planet. They are making biodegradable dashboards in Michigan at an old bean cannery. Something academic I guess. Maybe Ford will build a canola burning car. The Alaskans are burning fish oils. Natural gas is headed for new highs. There isn’t a natural gas shortage, but the shortage of business smarts knows no bounds.
The new thing is a masters degree in computer gaming. You can get an MBA for Grand Theft Auto programming and make a living selling games to morons with money. The academic folks are breathing their own exhaust fumes. Canola oil is the future in the Land O’Lakes.
If you kill the whales, they are full of oil and it is natural. I think whale oil is going to make a big splash.
Users might want to use Texas snake oil. See the Texas Snake Oil Association for details.
Really John, you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the net. I know one guy who claims to get no spam.
“AND for the “other” side of the story I balanced this with a link to the association. Seems fair.”
Sorry john, first I didn’t see (and still don’t see) the link to the association.
Regardless, I didn’t mean to imply that the information you posted was wrong or that you weren’t fair. I have NO idea who’s right on this issue. I didn’t write, “Here is the correct side” to the story. I merely said, “Here’s the other side.” Leaving the possibility for both sides to be either right or wrong.
Above also, we must preserve our precious bodily fluids. From now on, I’m cooking everything in pure grain alcohol.
The oil of the canola is used by environmentalist and stoned Greenpeace members concerned about the raping of veggies and the violation of eggs over easy.
If you really want to impress your green friends, what better way than by driving a car that’s made partially of grass? The car looks and feels like any other until it’s composted in a landfill. Then, over time, microbes snack on remnants of the aging hulk and decompose them to carbon dioxide and water.
SOURCE:
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109-9/forum.html#drive
It’s like the Al Gore, post Current TV car company. I could see the headlines about to be in print. Current TV Venture Fails, Gore to Build New Automobile from Grass. Maybe they build the auto plants out of dead leaves raked up last fall. Come over and bring a rake. The car can run on the high levels of combustible carbon from the air. Maybe it can be called a Gorevair and have a rear mounted engine that runs on air, is lubed with canola oil and comes with a factory ipod loaded with Greatful Dead music.
Be it Canola or Soy people think it’s good and people think it’s bad.
Case in point.
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/soya.asp
The Canola Council of Canada’s 39th annual convention is set for March 15-17, 2006 in New York City!
I think the soy pseudo-estrogen, no matter how small the amounts are in a “single serving”….soy proteins are in almost EVERYTHING packaged on the store shelves from instant soup packages, to flavorings, to cereals, to hot dogs…because it’s a cheap filler. Why give them real food, if we can fill their gullets with SOY extract, hydrolized proteins, and soymeal.
The over indulgence of this pseudo-estrogen can, be can be pretty well noted if you look around…..Gynecomastia, aka BITCH TITS. Suddenly it’s everywhere. Guys are having surgery to reduce it. There are web forums on it. I see boy boobies everywhere! There is no way that middle aged men are using that many steroids, or smoking that much pot. It must be a dietary thing….and soy consumption coincides with the upswing in bitch tits. Huh. Go figure. The Soy Council just says it’s healthy.
The other health issues that track wonderfuly on soy consumption is testicular cancer and breast cancer. Funny, the places where soy is eaten in abundance….(take Marin County, California, for instance) …where the shelves are lined with faux-meats, soy yoghert, soy milk, so hotdogs, soy suppliments, soy everything..have astronomical breast cancer rates, and a spike in testicular cancer rates.
…Soy Council says it’s bullshit, must be something else, perhaps in the air.
Why can’t we all put our heads together and figure out a way to promote a healthy food supply, based on whole (original, Creator-made) foods and fresh veggies/fruits without the need for all these questionable money-making faux food products? People who want to eat well can’t even do so since it is so difficult to find any unadulterated food….meanwhile our health costs are getting so that we cannot afford the future when everyone is compromised and sick. Who will be healthy enough to work to pay for all the ill? Our taxes are too high now, just looking at the money issue alone. Why do we let the FDA make money, and the special interests, off of creating the very illnesses we then pay to try to cure? It’s time for a revolution if our laws no longer protect us. Leaders, anyone?
Canola Follow-up. Interesting work.
“In this work, CAE, Beatriz da Costa, and Claire Pentecost attempt to reverse-engineer genetically modified canola, corn, and soy plants through the use of nontoxic chemical disrupters.”
http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/invasion.html
with all the issues going on today this should b the leat of our worries….just a thought
Well this on the comment of meesty on gynecomastia. Gynecomestia is one of the most common body disorders in men. Gynecomestia is the medical condition and about 40-60 percent of males are affected by Gynecomastia. Gynecomastia is the development of abnormally large breasts on men. Gynecomestiahas beenn responsible for low morale and low confidence in men since ages. But now with modern medicines and techniques gynecomastia is fully treatable.