Have a read - EO's

[Relle]

Australian Choice - FYI, the phone numbers for poison information and emergency, given in this article are for Australia Only.

https://www.choice.com.au/health-an...nts/articles/is-it-safe-to-use-essential-oils

 

[Misschief]

A very common sense article. Thank you for posting it.

 

[SaltedFig]

There's two fairly new shops near me.

One is targeting the luxury/tourist market and has lovely displays of very expensive gift items, including all sorts of ornaments, books, cushions and bar soaps and liquid soaps (I've never seen so many different brands of artisan soap in one shop!). Along with their essential oil range came "medical advice" for using each oil (as if this were perfectly normal and legal).

The other shop is newer, and contained none of the (familiar) local essential oils are there ... just a "wall" of this MLM brand

Thanks @Relle - the writer described the increase in calls to the poison centre, which is a worry (that suggests that heavier regulation won't be far behind, which might make access to good quality, local, oils a bit dearer again).

The other side to the mass-marketing of EO's is that this is going the way of honey (the demand is starting to outstrip the supply) - already one of our more popular (formerly local) brands is using Chinese eucalyptus in their "blend".

 

[Relle]

Never knew there was Chinese eucalyptus .

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

The first EO i got, i got from a pharmacy. A big one. They have one wall displaying “all natural” stuff, organic EVERYTHING, massage oils, vitamins, supplements, you name it. I was there because that was the closest place I could get EO for my soap. This girl approches and starts selling me the oils telling me how super wonderful and awesome is lavander oil for EVERYTHING. And I was like “girl, calm down, I want it for soap”. “Ooh is wonderful on soap because *it cured every possible skin condition you can think of* and you can totally ingest it! It is sooooooooooo high quality and soooooooooooo good for everything”. I ended up buying the EO because i really wanted to try on soap. But just imagine that same speach going to someone that really is looking for a cure. I mean, yeah, the box it comes in gives a few instructions (cant tell you what since i got rid of the box long ago), but the print is suuuuper super small and my faith on people actually READING instructions is close to none. Tied to this being sold at a pharmacy.... yeah. I can see how people are poisoning themselves.

 

[SaltedFig]

Me neither, until I saw a fella from a big-name brand being interviewed ... and he talked about how they had to use some imported chinese eucalyptus oil in their blends, due to high demand. I've always been grateful for seeing that, because there's nothing obvious in their labeling that would indicate this (and I was actually a bit surprised that the admission was even made).

Relle, I'll send you a PM.

 

[Elly]

Thanks for this article, it is indeed a concern.

Another issue for soapmakers in Australia in relation to eo's is the purity of them, I just received an order for mentha x pipperita from Essentials of Australia it is awful I don't know what oils are in it, it is a mixture of who knows what with a bit of menthol but definitely not pure peppermint oil, I also got Bergamot which doesn't smell like true Bergamot there are some other oils mixed into it, I hope what ever else they put into these oils is not a synthetic component, the peppermint is a product of china and the Bergamot from Italy. Don't know if it is the supplier adulterating the oils or Essentials of Australia themselves, although these eo's will only be used for soapmaking I still would like to use good quality oils not adulterated stuff.