I just got an e-mail this morning and couldn’t believe it. I thought it was yet another thing the FDA pushes on us as a healthy food that is literally toxic! It pissed me off. Here is a synopsis of the message...

Olive oil comes from olives, peanut oil from peanuts, sunflower oil from  sunflowers; but what is a 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.

Rapeseed oil is poisonous to living things. 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. 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. The new name provides perfect cover for  commercial interests wanting to make millions.

Canola oil is the cheapest oil and the Canadian government subsidizes it to industries involved in food processing.Canada is mainly responsible for canola oil 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 When canola oil was withdrawn from their diets, the deposits dissolved but  scar tissue remained on all vital organs.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. Canola oil is a health hazard to use as a cooking oil or salad oil. It is not the healthy oil we thought it was. It is not fit for human consumption, do not eat canola oil, it can hurt you. Polyunsaturated or not, this is a bad oil.

But before you get all pissed off with me, listen to this. I looked it up on snopes.com just now and found it's a rumor based on half-truths and some outright lies. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp

Also these articles debunk the Canola myth. 
http://www.canola-council.org/canola_oil_the_truth.aspx
http://web.archive.org/web/20010809065733/www.cansa.co.za/facts_myths_diet_ca...

So now I don't know what to believe. Maybe one thing is true: I shouldn't be such an alarmist.