essential oil safety

[Guest guest]

Hi Ron and everyone

I have been following this thread with interest. I would agree with you Ron

that

Tisserand/Balacs' book is a great help. Much of the safety data (where there is

any) in all the many other books does err on the safe side, and many oils are

only

dangerous when taken internally in large doses. And, I might add, there is much

confusion regarding some oils especially Juniper (juniperus communis) which is

probably OK to use during pregnancy - whereas other 'junipers' might not be.

(This

very topic was covered in an IJA some time ago, I seem to remember.) Perhaps the

problem is that often the Latin names are left off the bottle, or even if they

are

there, can you really trust the supplier that what you are getting is what's on

the

label? What I call juniper might well not be what Americans call juniper. As

it is

at the moment, I rely on the T/B book as my 'bible' and only buy from suppliers

I

really trust. The other day I had some people round requesting information and

a

short training course because they want to sell essential oils. They had

Camphor on

their list. I questioned their ethics. They were horrified. I said I wouldn't

advise them to put Camphor on their list of oils to sell and refused to include

it

in a course, explaining why and quoting the T/B book. Goodness knows where they

were going to get the Camphor from, but I don't think it should be generally

available to the public. I think I convinced them ... they didn't really know

anything about the whole question and were just interested in selling and

getting

lots of money. Unfortunately that's often the case. Having said all this

though, I

still avoid Juniper for pregnant women and only use half the normal dose of

essential oils for them. My insurance ...

Helen in Cape Town