I urge you to go to the site above and read this article as I can't reproduce it here for copyright reasons.

The link above was posted by Anya on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oils_herbs_etc

I sent a reply over this dreadful web article but the moderators have blocked it and not responded to requests as to why. I have now left that group as I cannot tolerate unjustified censorship, particularly when it is simply to save a moderator from embarrassment for purely commercial reasons.

What is particularly distasteful is when such appallingly misleading articles are put on the Internet under the guise of consumer information, but in reality are to sell products. Then even worse, when newsgroups block criticism of the article.

My blocked post: Shame on you Anya posting this link to a site making the most alarming scare mongering claims simply to sell their products. This article is just the kind of fodder the media seize on to damn natural products. This at a time when we are under concerted attack by toxicologists around the world.

He says the dangers are on an EPA website, but does not point out that the dangers are from over exposure to these chemicals. That is no difference between taking two aspirin for a headache or downing a bottle to kill yourself. The posting of such unqualified information, even on Government web sites, is misleading in the extreme. It is far worse when it is posted by supposed "green" authors who should be promoting natural products based on the truth and not misleading chemistry.

The specific errors are:

>What's In Those Dryer Sheets?*

>* Benzyl Acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer.
This occurs naturally in many flower extracts including jasmin and is a
permitted food flavouring.

>* Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant.
Can be up to 40% in Jasmin

> Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Hazardous
>waste list and capable of causing central nervous system disorders.
Well of course if you drink a bottle of gin, ethyl alcohol is in all
alcoholic drinks!!!!!

>* A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema,
>and central nervous system damage'.
Found in at least 150 plant extracts including many essential oils.

>* Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA's Hazardous Waste list.
Not in many natural extracts but an approved food flavouring.

>* Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders.
Found in varying amounts in numerous essential oils most of which are
also permitted food flavourings.

>* Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders.
Need I say anything? We better all stop using lavender and neroli then!!

If you make soaps, perfumers, cosmetics etc. using essential oils or herbs containing these chemicals, I suggest you contact this author and ask him to remove or modify his inept article. The posting site have not responded to my concerns.

Martin Watt

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