The cheap imported rape seed oil blamed for the Spanish epidemic was probably a cover-up, it was actually pesticides being used in the cultivation of tomatoes. ( Posted earlier today here on HN: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/aug/25/research.h...)
A lot of conspirative theories arose of course, but the oficial version was that some oil destined to industrial uses was imported from French to Spain and sold door-to-door as edible oil by some unscrupulous sellers.
The case was not repeated since that, so tomato pesticides aren't really a strong candidate. A lot of the tomatoes eaten in Germany, Holland and other European countries are from Spain (and pass strict quality tests in those countries) and nobody developped the same symptoms ever. Tomato production created a new type of spanish landscape in fact, that we call "the sea of plastic".
In my family we use exclusively olive oil for all. In any case, I will love to taste the sazanqua oil, that is the equivalent to an olive tree for japanese and is reputed also as excelent. Have somebody tried it?
