Toxicity ** Ingestion of EOs

[Guest guest]

Howdy y'all,

 

I risk coming across as being argumentative today .. its not my intent ..

but I must comment on this one because I don't want the new folks to have an

unreasonable fear of EO.

 

 

 

> Never ingest any EO unless under the direction of a professional. With

> some EO's as little as a drop or 2 can be fatal especially in children.

>

 

I agree that we must approach ingestion of EO like we would approach any

potential danger .. but I know of no EO that can be fatal to children in

such a low dosage.

 

The definitions of toxic are many .. but ALL include the word " poison " in

them. If we check out the information on toxicity from any reliable source

... and the best is (in my opinion) Martin Watt's " Plant Aromatics: ..

http://www.aromamedical.com/paper.html we will find a list of LD 50

percentages for toxicity. LD 50 was the class of test used many years ago

to determine Oral & Dermal toxicity levels .. using animals.

 

These tests on animals must be extrapolated when applying them to humans.

The point is .. one of the most toxic essential oils (if ingested) is

Pennyroyal .. 0.4 grams per 1 kilogram of body weight is fatal. How do we

translate that to a more easily understood percentage? Like this .. 3 ml

would be considered a lethal dose for a three year old child. But .. 3 ml

is a heckuva lotta oil. I think it would be easier to drown oneself in a

toilet bowl than it would be to ingest 3 ml of Pennyroyal. Most of the

other oils run from 15 to 70 ml for acute toxicity.

 

Bottom line .. *toxicity* is dose dependent and when we are talking about

accidental poisoning we are talking about Acute Toxicity .. such as drinking

Pennyroyal or Eucalyptus .. or Rat Poison.

 

With *dermal application of EO .. *like Wintergreen and Sweet Birch .. we're

talking about Chronic Toxicity which occurs over a period of time. Even a

less than lethal dose of any toxic substance can cause liver and kidney

damage. With most essential oils apart from the above, chronic toxicity

requires regular use of essential oils at high volumes over protracted

periods of time. And .. of course .. frequent INGESTION of alcohol over an

extended period of time can also cause Chronic Toxicity.

 

With *inhalation of EO*, chronic toxicity could occur if is someone were

foolish enough to sit in an unventilated room every day using diffusers

constantly. There have been folks on this News Group who learned the hard

way that their EO pouring rooms needed to be properly ventilated.

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch ... http://www.AV-AT.com <http://www.av-at.com/>

 

PS: Folks will believe what they want to believe .. I've been around this

industry since 1995 and I have at least 14 years experience .. not one year

14 times .. but I have found that comments on this and all other news

groups sometimes fall on deaf ears .. just as we can logically understand

that the promises made by a politician don't add up when we do the

numbers. Long ago psychologists determined that when the facts get in the

way of our beliefs our brains have the ability to dispense with the facts.

 

Research has been conducted (using brain scans) on hard core Democrats and

Republicans and it has been concluded that in many cases, when some folks

face obvious contradictions in the rhetoric of the opposition party’s

candidate, the rational centers of the brain are active, but when faced with

contradictions from their own party’s candidate the emotional centers light

up and levels of feel-good dopamine surge like mad.

 

I think this is also applicable to the practice of Aromatherapy. Some of

us tend to believe the teachers we like and the novels we read and rather

than change our minds when faced with facts .. its more comfortable to shoot

the messenger. ;-)