IFRA Banned /Restricted Oils

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Lindy

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IFRA List of Banned/Restricted Oils
Of course all essential oils and other natural aromatic materials present issues of sensitisation if used in too high concentrations however, the IFRA have identified specific oils that are either banned for use in costmetics and perfumes or have restrictive limits. Following is the current list of banned/restricted oils but this is subject to changes.
IFRA banned oils

Cade oil crude (prickly juniper, juniper tar)
Juniperus oxycedrus
Carcinogenic

Calamus oil (sweet flag, myrtle flag, sweet rush, and sweet sedge)
Acorus calamus
Carcinogenic (potentially high levels of b-asarone)

Costus root (kuth)
Saussurea costus
Sensitiser

Elecampane oil (scabwort)
Inula helenium
Sensitiser

Fig leaf absolute
Ficus carica
Sensitiser

Horseradish oil
Armoracia rusticana
Toxic, irritant

Melissa oil
Melissa officinalis
Sensitiser

Mustard oil (black mustard)
Brassica nigra
Toxic, irritant

Peru balsam (balsam of Peru, Balsamo)
Myroxylon var. pereirae
Sensitiser (distilled oil is allowed)
Sade tree oil (no further details??)

Savin oil
Juniperus sabina
Toxic, sensitiser (Juniper phoenicea oil is allowed)

Verbena oil
Lippia citriodora / Aloysia triphylla
Sensitiser

Tea absolute
Thea sinensis / Camellia sinensis
Sensitiser

Sassafras oil
Sassafras albidum
Carcinogenic

Stryax gum (oriental sweet gum, storax)
Liquidambar orientalis
Sensitiser

Wormseed (Epazote or Mexican Tea)
Chenopodium ambroisoides (also known as Chenopodium anthelminticum)
Toxic

Wormwood oil
Artemisia absinthium
Neurotoxin

IFRA restricted oils

While the following oils are not banned possible sensitisation and/or phototoxicity may occur due to the amount of active compounds contained within the oil.

Angelica root oil
Angelica archangelica
Phototoxic 0.78%

Bergamot oil - Expressed (bergamot orange)
Citrus aurantium ssp. bergamia
Phototoxic 0.4%

Bitter orange oil (Seville orange)
Citrus aurantium
Phototoxic 1.4%

Cassia oil (cassia bark, Chinese cinnamon)
Cinnamomum cassia
Sensitiser 0.2%

Cinnamon bark (cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon)
Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Sensitiser 0,2%

Cumin oil (comino, jeera)
Cuminum cyminum
Phototoxic 0.4%

Grapefruit oil - Expressed
Citrus paradisi
Phototoxic 4%

Lemon oil - Cold Pressed
Citrus limon
Phototoxic 2%

Lime oil - Expressed
Citrus aurantiifolia
Phototoxic 0.7%

Mandarin petigrain
Citrus
Phototoxic 0.165%

Opoponax
Sensitiser

Tagete oil and absolute (muster-John-Henry, khaki weed, stinking Rodger)
Tagetes minuta
Phototoxic 0.05%
Oakmoss absolute and resinoid
Evernia prunastri
Sensitiser 0.1%

Pinaceae oils (to have less than 10 millimoles peroxide per litre)
Pinaceae mugo, P. nigra, P. pinaster, P. sylvatica
Sensitiser

Rue oil (herb of grace, herbygrass)
Ruta graveolens
Sensitiser 0.78%

Treemoss absolute
Evernia furfuracea
Sensitiser 0.6%

This is courtesy of a site owned by Fresholi in Europe....
 
Thank you for posting this. I had asked earlier if Anise was still on the "do not use for anything list". It's on mine but I wasn't sure if the list had been updated. Looks like they have taken it off. Good thing because everyone was using it anyway.
 
I really appreciate the info on IRFA banned/restricted oils -- thanks for sharing that, Lindy. I will update my notes.

On a related note, I learned this morning the FDA recently seized a shipment of rose geranium essential oil on the basis that it is "a new drug without an approved new drug application".

Although the South African importer of the EO has never made any such claims, the FDA justified the seizure due to a claim made on an unrelated business website: "...Rose Geranium essential oil can be supportive in cases of infectious diseases, intestinal parasites, mouth and tooth pain..." (FWIW, I found this specific quote on anandaapothecary.com/ )

It seems ridiculous that one business is essentially being held responsible for drug claims made by another business, but there ya go. I don't know if the FDA has seized any product sold by the company making this claim, but it would not surprise me.

More: http://naturesgiftaromatherapy.blogspot.com/2013/09/rose-geranium-new-drug.html
 
That's exactly why it gets me so pissed when I see soap makers making claims about the ingredients used in their soaps. You never know when the government is going to go off and which direction they are going to go off in.
 
I've started thrashing my way through understanding the IFRA documents, and I don't know why Melissa is on the banned list above? If anyone can help me figure out a better process that would be great. My understanding is that the Nerol and GeraniAl (not geraniOl) constituents named on one document (23320_GD_2013) is in fact Citral, which in the other document (23324_GD_2013) for Category 9 (soap) is limited to 5% of the finished product.

But I do know for sure that Clove should be on the restricted list above for its Eugenol and iso-eugenol.
 
Soap Rat they don't give any more information that was has been supplied here, at least from what I can find.

Everyone, I'm glad to be able to help...
 
Lindy, rectified cade is allowed provided certain stipulations are met regarding content of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. I assume (hope?) the maker of the oil must provide paperwork to verify the content. However it looks like crude cade (the forbidden one) is available too.
 
The problem is that they are available even though they are banned for fragrancing. The IFRA is the organization that governs fragrancing and it is what we should be following ourselves for fragrancing our soaps. I know that many (I hope not most) don't really care about restrictions and will do what they want to no matter what, but if we are following best practices then we are following the IFRA. Unfortunately I do have Cade and I'm not sure what to do about it to get rid of it. No I won't sell it because I know about the ban. :problem:
 
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