Olive oil comes from olives, peanut oil from peanuts, sunflower oil from sunflowers; but what is a canola? There was nothing on the label to enlighten me, which I thought odd. Also, I did some investigating on the Internet.
There are plenty of official Canola sites lauding this new "wonder" oil with all its Lowfat health benefits. It takes a little longer to find sites that tell the less palatable details.
Here are just a few facts everyone should know before buying anything containing canola. Canola is not the name of a natural plant but a made-up word, from the words "Canada" and "oil".
Canola is a genetically engineered plant developed in Canada from the Rapeseed Plant, which is part of the mustard family of plants. According to AgriAlternatives, the Online Innovation and Technology Magazine for Farmers,
"By nature, these rapeseed oils, which have long been used to produce oils for industrial purposes, are toxic to humans and other animals." (This, by the way, is one of the websites singing the praises of the new canola industry.)
Note:Rapeseed oil is poisonous to living things and is an excellent insect repellent. I have been using it (in very diluted form, as per instructions) to kill the aphids on my roses for the last two years. It works very well; it suffocates them. Ask for it at your nursery.
Rape is an oil that is used as a lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base and as an illuminate for color pages in magazines. 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" where 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. Except canola means "Canadian oil"; and the plant is still a rape plant, albeit genetically modified. The new name provides perfect cover for commercial interests wanting to make millions.
Look at the ingredients list on labels. Apparently peanut oil is being replaced with rape oil. You'll find it in an alarming number of processed foods. There's more, but to conclude: rape oil was the source of the chemical warfare agent mustard gas, which was banned after blistering the lungs and skins of hundred of thousands of soldiers and civilians during W.W.I. Recent French reports indicate that it was again in use during the Gulf War.
Check products for ingredients. If the label says,"May contain the following" and lists canola oil, you know it contains canola oil because it is the cheapest oil and the Canadian government subsidizes it to industries involved in food processing. Canola oil from the rape seed, referred to as the Canadian oil because Canada is mainly responsible for it being marketed in the USA.
The Canadian government and industry paid our Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)$50 million dollars to have canola oil placed on the (GRAS) List, "Generally Recognized As Safe". Thus a new industry was created. Laws were enacted affecting international trade, commerce, and traditional diets.
Studies with lab. animals were disastrous. Rats developed fatty degeneration of heart, kidney, adrenals, and thyroid gland. When canola oil was withdrawn from their diets, the deposits dissolved but scar tissue remained on all vital organs. No studies on humans were made before money was spent to promote Canola oil in the USA.
Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a rare fatal degenerative disease caused by a build up long-chain fatty acids (c22 to c28) which destroys the myelin (protective sheath) of the nerves. Canola oil is a very long chain fatty acid oil (c22). Those who will defend canola oil say that the Chinese and Indians have used it for centuries with no effect, however it was in an unrefined form (taken from FATS THAT HEAL AND FATS THAT KILL by Udo Erasmus.)
Rape seed oil is a penetrating oil, to be used in light industry, not for human consumption. It contains a toxic substance. Even after the processing to reduce the erucic acid content, it is still a penetrating oil.We have found that it turns rancid very fast. Also it leaves a residual rancid odor on clothing. Rape seed oil used for stir-frying in China found to emit cancer causing chemicals.
Canola oil is not canola oil folks! Here are the facts. Canola is a genetically modified seed from the toxic rapeseed. It supposedly has been genetically fixed to correct the toxicity to humans. However, rapeseed is used as a lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base as well as an illuminant for slick color pages in magazines. It forms latex-like substances that cause red blood corpuscles to clump together. RAPESEED OIL, now named genetically fixed CANOLA OIL, (Canada Oil) for obvious reasons. Rapeseed Oil was widely used in animal feeds in England and Europe between 1986-1991 but no longer is used because the animals that ate it went blind. Experts agree that the effects of ingested Rapeseed Oil take at least 10 years to manifest, not of immediate concern to our government officials.
Rapeseed is a member of the mustard family, one of the most toxic of all plants, and is shunned by insects. Mustard gas, which was banned in war because it blisters lungs and skin, is made from components of rapeseed. The oil is irradiated which in turn supposedly makes the rapeseed oil into acceptable Canola Oil. Also the seeds have supposedly been hybrid to reduce the amount of Erucic acid which I'll explain in the next paragraph. I don't think either of these measures have created a safe oil! Besides, who wants to eat irradiated foods? In studies so far, it is suspected of killing piglets because it robbed them of Vitamin E. This was found in the research animal studies done in Canada. Here is a report about these studies. In addition, over 60,000 bags of these seeds were genetically altered in the wrong way and were shipped with the wrong gene! These seeds were planted, harvested and researchers are scared to death of the potential health threat they pose. Read this report. More additional in-depth information about the deadly effects of canola oil can be found at this site, www.karinya.com/canola.htm
Last but least, Canola oil is registered with the EPA as a pesticide. Yes, I said a pesticide. You can view the report on the EPA site at this url address: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/factsheets/fs011332t.htm
At the bottom of the EPA registration is some very bothersome information. For one, it is registered as a pesticide. In addition, note the date of the material, ( 1983) they are using to claim it is safe. They also state material available, meaning what was only presented to them. Further down, it states that it is classified as a toxicity category IV for acute inhalation and primary eye toxicity, referring to the mixture of 89.5% and .5% Pyrethrins (a pesticide ingredient extracted from chrysanthemum plants - chrysanthemums are feed to chickens without any harm.). Am I missing something here. If a so called food is toxic for humans to inhale or to expose to their eyes, how in the world could it be healthy to eat? Why hasn't any independent long term studies, (3-5 ) years of animal ingestion of this oil been performed to see the effects? The reason, oil companies will not pay to have such studies performed by independent sources for fear of negative reports. And basically, the reports of studies they submit to the FDA can be performed by themselves. What does this tell you? And keep in mind one last thing. Canola is a genetically altered oil. Look at what they found at genetically altered corn. It now is known to not only kill the monarch butterfly, but most importantly, cause severe allergic reactions in humans, some of which could have led to death. Do you want to take the chance on canola?
These are the symptoms of consuming canola oil. Tremors, shaking, "palsy" due to malfunction of nerve impulse transmissions. Un-coordination walking, writing and other automatic physical movements, slurred speech, excessive salivation, deterioration of memory and thinking processes, blurred vision, fuzzy or low audio levels, difficulty urinating/incontinence, environmental sensitivity/allergic to smells, food, clothing, electrical equipment, breathing problems/short of breath, nervousness or nervous breakdown, numbness and tingling in extremities, heart problems/arrhythmia's. Canola Oil contains erucic acid in the oil and glucosinolates in the meal. Both are toxic to humans and animals in large amounts. The human liver can metabolize only safe small amounts of erucic acid without causing ill effects to the body. The amount of canola oil that is contained in the Smart Balance margarine I recommended is not significant enough to create health problems in the body. What complicates the matter is the refining process that the companies use for grocery store bought oils. They contain trans-isomers. All oils used for cooking should be expeller cold pressed unrefined oils. These can only be found at health food stores.
FYI...related articles...
(Rapeseed oil smoke causes lung cancer) Amal Kumar Maj.
The Wall Street Journal June 7, 1995, pB6(W) pB6 (E) col 1(11 col in).
Be Sure to also read this informative report written by leading health Tom Valentine, Canola Oil Report. Go to Ask Jeeves yourself:
http://www.askjeeves.com/
And type in (Where does Canola Oil come from?) and see what you come up with.