Market update re internal use

[Guest guest]

Sorry if my messages are coming out line scrambled again. Not sure the

cause but if you paste the text into notepad it fixes it.

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For the benefit of new people on this list, I am updating a report I

have made before about the quality of oils and suppliers. See the

group archives for that.

 

In the UK and overseas there has been a massive shift over the last

ten years from a handful of larger aromatherapy suppliers who got into

the trade at an early stage, to all and sundry selling oils often with

no idea of what they are selling. This has resulted in the market of

the older suppliers declining at an alarming rate with some under

threat of closing down. I believe the same situation is now occurring

in the USA.

 

The International prices of essential oils continue to press upwards

with some at an alarming rate of inflation. The end result of these

pressures is that the larger oil trade distributors, and the oil

producers, are increasingly under pressure to supply aromatherapy

suppliers with cheaper oils. Some AT suppliers know they are buying

inferior qualities and do not care " its up to my customers to decide

how to use the oil " is the oft quoted comment from US suppliers.

Others care a lot and do their best to only get genuine oils (some of

the older businesses on this list fall into that category), other

cottage industry suppliers (of which their are now thousands) can't

afford good analysis and they just gamble that what their supplier

tells them is the truth. Others are so stupid they really believe

what their suppliers tell them, particularly the charming con artists

in certain European countries.

 

An example came to me only yesterday of a claimed lavender oil in

Japan which a therapist there paid to be analysed. The lab clearly

had no idea of how to analyse an oil and the result was a breakdown

with 75 percent of the components missing as well as chemicals that

should not even be in lavender. Therefore, you can't even rely on

some analysts who do not know the oil trade. The fact an AT supplier

claims their oils are analysed is only as good as the person doing the

analysis and such people are rare.

 

With external use all this it is not quiet so critical, but with

internal use it is vital to know that what is being used is oil from an

essential oil bearing plant and not a chemical plant! People on this

list must always resist those who advocate the internal use of essential

oils because by and large YOU do not have a clue as to what you are

using. That particularly applies to the idiots in Young Living who

advocate internal use and simply trust that the company are only

supplying genuine oils. I would not trust anyone involved with that

mob.

 

Sure there are genuine oils around, but there are colossal amounts of

fake and adulterated oils on the market. That will inevitably get worse

over time as cheaper sources of oils such as China and India become more

industrialised and the farmers loose their cheap labour. So if you

think aromatherapists, natural perfumers and home soap makers only use

natural products - think again and be cautious in how you use them.

 

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com

[Guest guest]

An example came to me only yesterday of a claimed lavender oil in

> Japan which a therapist there paid to be analysed. The lab clearly

> had no idea of how to analyse an oil and the result was a breakdown

> with 75 percent of the components missing as well as chemicals that

> should not even be in lavender. Therefore, you can't even rely on

> some analysts who do not know the oil trade. The fact an AT supplier

> claims their oils are analysed is only as good as the person doing the

> analysis and such people are rare.

>

>

>

>

>

Thank you Martin to spread that information, I try to inform my audience

over and over again about

such problems in the EO sector.

I found a distiller/specialist HCRG analyze in France ( Pyrénessences-

Daniel Dantin email: pyrenessences) who is

analyzing my EO's since years now, for a reasonable price and with a

sense of perfection: he finds almost always 100% of the

components.

 

I had a look at the website of some very agressive sellers of oils some

time ago (here in France): they talk about " certified " oils,

Eco quality and analyses.

I had a closer look at some of those analyses and discovered that for

instance Tanacetum anuum had only 1,94% of chamazulène,

while the usual norm is around 5-6 %.

I found some other abnormal things and understood that they just bought

whatever they could find at the cheapest price.

 

HCRG analyses can indicate if the EO has been distilled long enough

(some of the heavy molecules appear only at the end of the distillation

(for instance the cedrol level in the cupressus sempervirens).

We (my friends distillers or local associates and myself) use to distill

the cupressus sempervirens during 3 hours, a shorter distillation time

can be detected by the cedrol levels in the essential oil (and your nose

smells the difference).

In 2006 I had to refuse a organic lavandin oil, as the analyze showed a

very low level of linalol and linalyl acetate... Dantin told me it was

probably a

distillation problem: the lavandin probably fermented before

distillation... which the distiller later confirmed... but that lavandin

is probably sold elsewhere...

 

It is quit difficult to find a way to inform your clients/audience, as

most of the arguments are pirated by this kind of people.

Remember years ago, as I tried on the idma list to talk about some EO

norms (AFNOR), at least we had some guidelines here, even if we

could challenge some of those French norms.

The quality argument was pirated rapidly by YL, at once all of their

oils were " AFNOR " quality!

 

The same thing seems to happen with " analyzed oils " actually.

Same story of the so called HEBBD quality norm: you can find that

" quality norm " everywhere in France, Belgium and elsewhere...

(health shops and also in most pharmacy's selling EO's)

However, this is not a " independent quality control " as they suggest: it

simply states that the oils are chemically and botanically defined

(what every seller of EO's should do anyway: telling their clients the

botanical name of the oil, eventually a chemotype...)

 

Some of my clients ask me to be " certified organic " , if not I will lose

them as clients.

I'm actually trying to see how it works (I have actually 73 EO's that

are " certifiable " ) and am disgusted by the commerce that this

certification did become.

At once, here in Europe, all major companies of perfumes and cosmetices

turned " green " , and have all kind of " organic certification " , blue and

green labels

(if you have ingredients of natural origine, some percentages of organic

than you can receive a label, even if only a tiny amount of the EO's are

really organic).

The certification label Ecocert has most parts of the market here in

France in its hand and became unreachable and arrogant, you even have to

pay 80 euro just to be able to read their conditions! I found a more

human certificator: Quality France but fear that they only know

vegetables and food problems well, not the EO's. (I had a health shop

during 15 years in Belgium and have no problem with food certification)

 

A woman here in France that is of Comores origin, which we helped with a

lot of information during a private workshop, starting a business of

some EO's and other products and just mentioned another certification

organism to me:

 

Swisseo certified (www.swisseo.org ). She went to the Comores, helped

with the harvest of ylang ylang, supervised the picking and

distillation, made HCRG analyses of the oil (with Dantin, who once

helped a ylang analyze project in the Comores) and finally deceided to

be certified by this swiss company.

 

This swiss organization has a very serious " cahier des charges " ,

specifying all kinds of details:

-botanical name

-geographic origin

-culture method (organic/non arganic/wild harvested

-part of the plant used

-distillation, hydro distillation or expression (no mention of solvent

extraction of course)

-specification of biochemical components (chemotype)

-lot number

-analyze (HCRG, mass spectrum...)

-pesticide analyze

-bottles used (problem of plastics " eaten " by the EO's)

 

As you can see, exactly what a EO client needs to know today.

I'm curious how they will reply to my questions.

 

Just some thoughts,

 

Michel Vanhove