The Essential Facts About Essential Oils - From Martin

[Guest guest]

The Essential Facts About Essential Oils

 

http://health./message/29600

 

This magazine report is hogwash, the writer did not consult with REAL

experts in the essential oil trade. Instead they made the big

mistake of consulting with aromatherapy oil traders who are NOT

experts.

 

Most of what Butch said I would back up. There are a few notes that

I would like to add though. I do not sell oils and so no one can

accuse me of bias as I have nothing to gain or lose.

 

1. I have warned many times before, never assume a certificate of

organic production means anything. I know that here in the UK many

small aromatherapy suppliers are joining the Soil Association simply

so they can fool their customers into thinking all of their oils are

organic. The membership of an association does NOT mean that the

companies oils have all been certified as OG. I know for a fact that

some of these companies buy the cheapest commercial oils they can,

but resell them as OG certified. How do I know, because I worked in

the bulk oil supply trade and got to hear about who was buying what

and I still have contacts with the real experts.

 

2. Several aromatherapy oil suppliers have built their companies on

nothing but spin and lies. The more flowery their language the less

you should trust them. I know one UK trader who sold his oils saying

they were 'Aromark' certified, yet they were not even current members

of the organisation that does the certifying! That same trader put

Ecocert approved labels on their oils when they were not. That

resulted in a complaint to Ecocert who insisted this trader stopped

this fraudulent activity. Other traders claim their oils

are 'aromark' certified, yet a close look at the certificate shows

that it is at least 5 years old!

 

3. Test certificates: GLC traces can and are abused like crazy in

aromatherapy. There are many suppliers who do not have their oils

analysed but instead give out analysis results based on academic

research data, or maybe pay for the cheapest analysis they can get

once, but forever give out the same certificate. Very few

aromatherapy suppliers are big enough to have routine batch analysis

done. So unless a supplier is prepared to tell you who did their

analysis and when and give a contact you can check, then beware.

 

4. " We grow our own or have it grown under contract " : Yes a few AT

suppliers do this for a few of the oils they buy, but it is

impossible to do that for the other hundred oils they supply that

come from around the world. Therefore, beware of those who make such

sweeping claims, as it is a good sign of people who are liars.

 

So what do you do?

 

Never ever trust an aromatherapy supplier who uses flowery marketing

hype. Try and find out where oils are produced and who sells small

lots. For example, on my web site I only list suppliers who have

provable connections with producers or who produce oils themselves.

That lets out the vast majority of AT suppliers who may deal in some

genuine oils, but with others I have reason to doubt them. Get the

oils you want from those who can prove they produce them, that will

often mean having several suppliers. At some stage you have to get

other oils from one of these suppliers who buys them from elsewhere.

At that stage you are then getting into areas where you have to give

the supplier some trust. The way to judge the honesty of that

supplier is on how open they are to questions and supplying you with

provable information. For example, never take on trust someone who

tells you their hydrosols are " tested " or " we never had a problem "

or " no one has ever complained " - how do you know? If they are happy

to give you the name of the laboratory that does the testing, that is

a sign of honesty as you can check out their claims yourself.

 

Just a snippet of guidance on an industry that is packed to bursting

and overflowing with con artists.

 

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com

 

 

, Butch Owen <butchbsi@s...>

wrote:

> Hey Chris .. other good folks,

>

> > From a natural foods trade magazine .... this is the stuff

the " big

> > name " folks the retail industry are putting out there as selling

points

> > and training info to the buyers in the stores to pass along to