Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok registered her strong disapproval of the article during a meeting with WHO representative to Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore Dr Lo Ying-Ru.
Also present at the meeting were representatives from the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), Malaysian Oil Scientists and Technologists Association (Mosta) and Malaysian Estate Owners Association (MEOA).
Accompanying Lo was the WHO office’s programme management and technical officer Paul Soo.
In a statement after the meeting, Kok said they viewed the article, titled “The Palm Oil Industry and Non-Communicable Diseases”, as “half-truths, unscholarly, flawed and utterly biased against palm oil, with the suspected intention of demonising the palm oil industry”.
She said Putrajaya took offence to the study’s conclusion which “casts aspersions on the reputation of Malaysian scientists and researchers and ignores findings on the nutritional value of palm oil published in several science journals.”
She demanded the WHO retract the article, whose claims were also picked by international news agency Reuters.
“We question why at all it did merit publication by WHO, a reputable international body on public health,” she said.
Kok said the WHO representatives regretted that the study was reported by Reuters but pointed out the article in the bulletin was published with a disclaimer that “there is no way that this journal article can be correctly described as a WHO study”.
“However, the damage has been done as Reuters’ erroneous interpretation has gained large traction and continues to be published in other sites as well,” she added.
Today’s meeting took place at a time when the European Union (EU) has proposed to ban the use of Malaysian palm oil-based biofuel within the union.
The EU claimed Malaysia cultivated oil palm at the expense of damaging the environment, affecting climate change and impacting on biodiversity.
Last month, the primary industries ministry launched the “Love MY Palm Oil” campaign to dissipate the negativity and fight the anti-palm oil campaigns threatening the people’s livelihood.
Kok and the WHO representatives agreed that a joint regional technical seminar should be held to correct misinformation surrounding oils and fats, especially palm oil.