Health D-G: Papaya leaf consumption not fatal

A file picture of a farmer at a papaya plantation.

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry is refuting a news report claiming that consumption of papaya leaf extract can cause organ failure and lead to death as it contained a toxic substance.

Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah acknowledged that papaya leaves contained the chemical cyanogenic glycoside, but in such minute quantities that in practice, its consumption did not pose a danger.