Hyped oils.

Oils hyped by aromatherapy suppliers to increase their sales.

Below is my first stab at a massive list of oils that are used simply because therapists and the public have fallen into the trap of believing what oil suppliers and aromatherapy myth promoters tell them. I will add many other oils at a later date.

The main problems are caused because:

1. 95% of aromatherapy courses and authors have never educated people on the significant differences between herbal medicines used internally, and the same plants essential oil used externally. Many in aromatherapy are badly misled into believing these oils work for the same conditions as the herbs; in most cases that is completely wrong.

2. Essential oil suppliers are constantly trying to keep their profile high by offering new magic bullets without knowing if the oil is safe, more effective than existing oils, or if there is any data to support the urban rumours they love promoting. They will find a few pieces of academic scientific investigations on a particular oil and start plugging the oil hard to make sales. They will tell you about all kind of "I have never heard of ill effects" or "many of my customers use it" or "such and such author says it is wonderful" to get themselves off the hook of promoting a new product without really having a clue about its use or safety.

3. Many of these oils have no history of use in traditional or main stream medicine. Most were written about by aromatherapy authors simply because the perfume or food trade uses or used them in minute volumes. That is misleading and fraught with dangers (see 6.)

4. Another problem lies in the definition of 'traditional use'. In my eyes that means in the traditional medicine systems dating back thousands of years. However, many AT educators and oil sellers call 20 years "traditional use". That is just hype designed to sell product, beware!

5. It is crazy to base effectiveness or safety of an essential oil based on the aromatherapy urban rumour machine. That is the basis on which most of the uses of these novel oils are promoted. "Well my customers have used it for years and say it works". That you will hear frequently and it is just a technique used to sell novel oils. You can use exactly the same argument for giving people sugar pills to cure them of illness and it is called "placebo effect". Indeed people may be safer taking sugar pills than using some of these oils.

6. Many oils have been produced for use in the food flavouring and fragrance trades. You should always remember that these trades usually only add minute volumes of oils to products, often as low as a few parts per million. Therefore, an oil that has got GRAS status for use in food, may not be at all safe when used at the far higher volumes used in aromatherapy massage, or in some home produced cosmetics.

The following comments apply only to skin application or internal use. Many of these oils may be acceptable as room fragrances or for perfumes not coming into contact with the skin.

Do not interpret "safety unknown" as meaning anything other than what it says. It simply means that the oil has not undergone adequate safety assessment and therefore no one knows if it is safe or not.

Aloe Wood: A perfume and incense product - oil not used in traditional medicine - trees all endangered species.

Amyris: No traditional medicine use of this oil - trees all endangered.

Angelica Root: The oil was always produced for the fragrance trade - when introduced into aromatherapy, most attributes were based on traditional herbal use.

Balsamita Carvone: No idea on the oil and I doubt anyone really has!

Basil Grand
Basil Bush
Basil Camphor
Basil Eugenol
Basil Thymol: All these have no skin safety testing - massive differences in chemical composition compared to the known tested Basil oils - therapeutic differences are just guesswork based on the major chemicals, a very faulty concept.

Boronia: Not tested - don't know about traditional use.
Buplevre: Not tested - don't know about traditional use.

Cassie: A Perfume absolute - never used in traditional medicine.

Calamus: Primary use as a chemical conversion starter material - the only use of the oil is modern; 100% based on extrapolations from the herb use - a dangerous oil.

Calamint Lessor: Extensive traditional use of the herb; the oil may have uses but we do not know the safety factors.
Calamint Common: (ditto)

Calendula (Marigold): No such essential oil is recognised by the big essential oil traders or data resources - it is a fragrance trade absolute which has no traditional use as a medicine - all claimed therapeutics are based on use as herbal medicine.

Calophyllum: Safety unknown - no traditional use of the essential oil.

Cedarwood Himalayan: Safety unknown, probably OK, but trees are being over exploited and as a result causing flooding down stream from the mountains.

Celery Plant: This oil was produced for food trade use only. Only traditional use is the seed or its water or alcohol extracts in herbal medicine.

Chamomile Moroccan: Not tested so safety unknown - only introduced to AT as a cheap substitute for german chamomile - chemistry is complex and contains unknown chemicals with unknown action - Moroccan traditional medicine does not list the oil.

Chervil: This oil was produced for food trade use only.

Cistus: Only the absolute has been tested - not used in traditional medicine.
Cistus CT: (Ditto).

Coco absolute: No safety testing for use on human skin.

Coffee absolute: No safety testing for use on human skin.

Combava: Another citrus oil.
Combava Petitgrain Another type of Petitgrain.

Cyperus Round: Oil not safety tested - no traditional use of the essential oil.
Cyperus Nagar Matha: (ditto)

Cypress Arizona: Oil not safety tested - no traditional use of the essential oil.
Cypress Wood: (ditto)

Davana: Extensive use of the herb - no traditional use of the essential oil.

Eucalyptus rosrata: Safety unknown.
Eucalyptus campanulata: Safety unknown-very different to globulus which is known.
Eucalyptus dives: Safety unknown-very different to globulus which is known.
Eucalyptus polybractea Cineole: Similar to globulus safety of which is known.
Eucalyptus polybractea Cryptone: Safety unknown - safety of cryptone suspect.
Eucalyptus radiata: Similar to globulus safety of which is known.
Eucalyptus smithii: Safety unknown.
Eucalyptus staigeriana: Safety unknown-very different to globulus which is known.

Fleabane Common: Safety unknown - no traditional use of the essential oil.

Garlic: This oil was produced for food trade use only - crazy to use it in aromatherapy - a known allergen.

Galanga Large: This oil was produced for food trade use only.
Galanga Lessor: (ditto)

Gingergrass: Safety unknown - no traditional use of the essential oil.

Gotu Kola: No idea.

Khelkla - Ammi Seeds: No traditional medicine use of this oil - mainly a herb drink.

Lanyana: Not tested - traditional medicine use, no idea.

Hemp Seed: Only a fixed oil is recognised - any distilled oil is 100% safety unknown.

Sandalwood Australian: Safety on the skin is vague, animal tests done by Scantox on behalf of Mt Romance in Australia indicate low toxicity. Oil is extracted from wild trees which are *not being replaced in the wild*.

Vitex agnus castus - Leaf and Berry oils: No safety data on either essential oil. Great concerns over possible side effects on the female hormone system. No sound clinical studies on its safety or therapeutic uses have been published to date. An oil which has been promoted purely on the basis of urban rumour and on the acknowledged actions as a herbal medicine. Certainly an oil to be treated with the utmost caution, if it were up to me I would ban its use as a human medicine until adequate studies have been conducted.

To be continued:

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