31/10/2011 (The Star) - The industry rivals of palm oil never quit.

First they claimed that palm oil was bad for sustaining human health, and now they say it is bad for sustaining the environment.

We have gone down this road before.

Some decades ago, the US soybean oil sector scarred the reputation of palm oil in the edible oils market.

A string of ills was attached to palm oil consumption, creating panic and worse.

But eventually, commendable professionalism and good science won out. The negative campaign against palm oil came to be seen for the sham that it was.

Reputable US agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and health professionals condemned the campaigning.

Let us be clear about this: healthy market competition between competing products is good for the industry and good for the consumer.

But shoddy marketing in the form of slanderous campaigns is bad for everyone.

When it pretends to be health warnings while substituting for industry competition, it gives business a bad name.

Lately, pressures have been building up in the Australian legislative process to label palm oil as a naughty, environmentally unsustainable “tropical oil”.

The Liberal-National Party coalition had championed the anti-trade Bill, but the governing Labor Party shot it down.

The charade recalls the episodes of so-called “eco-labelling” in the 1980s, when industry competition was again the motive for European producers to discriminate against Malaysian timber.

Following the negative campaigns against palm oil on health grounds, the US edible oils industry relented and admitted that palm oil was indeed good for health in many ways.

Palm oil is now recognised as containing a complete form of Vitamin E, and rich in carotenes (precursor of Vitamin A), anti-oxidants and phytosterols that block cholesterol absorption and cancer.

Indeed, a whole host of health benefits makes palm oil a better cooking oil than its rivals, including olive oil, according to US sources today.

Beyond its many dietary virtues, palm oil also provides valuable gainful employment for families and whole villages in rural areas.

In time, Malaysia's palm oil industry may see another capitulation when foreign anti-palm oil lobbyists are stilled by facts and realities.

But until then, we need to build stronger industry defences and learn to battle it out, because opponents are again less than open about their motives.