The palm oil debate--health considerations.

In the past few months considerable prominence has been given in the local media over the beneficial qualities of palm oil and in particular some of its health promoting properties. This has been a latent response to the campaign against palm oil by the American soyabean lobby as well as the aborted ASA proposed Tropical Oils Labelling Bill. The. national concern over this issue is understandable in view of the importance of palm oil in the Malaysian economy. Palm oil production in Malaysia is presently over 4.6 million tonnes and accounts for 60% of the global output, generating about 3.5 billion ringgit in foreign exchange. It is the country's outstanding export and a source of income and employment for a relatively large proportion of the rural population.'