Tea Tree Oil: EU Science Committee Challenged

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23 Jun 2005 09:10:45 -0000

Health Supreme Update: Tea Tree Oil: EU Science Committee

Challenged

sepp

 

(

 

 

Health Supreme Update: Tea Tree Oil: EU Science Committee Challenged

)

 

June 23, 2005

 

 

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Tea Tree Oil has been used in Europe for decades, both pure and

as an ingredient in cosmetic products. The extract prepared

from the leaves of the melaleuca alternifolia tree native to

Australia is an antiseptic remedy, used by aboriginees for

centuries. The British explorer Captain Cook " discovered " the

extract in 1770. He apparently had run out of tea and ended up

brewing melaleuca leaves into a refreshing drink, during a

voyage of discovery into the vast Australian continent. The

essential oil obtained by steam distillation was subsequently

introduced into western culture as a remedy with antiseptic and

antifungal properties. Its use as a folk remedy for cold, flu,

and systemic fungal infections spread by word of mouth.

 

These properties put Tea Tree Oil in perhaps involuntary competition

with pharmaceutical medicine but also into direct jeopardy from

pharmaceutically inspired regulation. In fact, the European Union's

Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) announced in its

opinion adopted in December 2004, that " the use of undiluted Tea Tree

Oil as a commercial product is not safe " .

 

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There are some who don't agree: " The SCCP Opinion on Tea Tree Oil –

perhaps the most extensively researched essential oil - is riddled

with political overtones, which potentially pander to the interests of

big pharmaceutical business " charges Tony Burfield of Cropwatch, a

group described on their site as an Independent Watchdog for

Endangered & Vulnerable Natural Aromatic Products used in the Aroma

(Perfumes, Flavours, Aromatherapy, Cosmetics), Herbal, Traditional

Medicine & Phytochemical Industries.

 

Burfield says that a full scientific critique of the SCCP opinion is

in preparation. However he opens a wider question, whether the system

of evaluation by " advisory `expert' committees of academics " should be

ended, because findings are often divorced from reality.

 

In a related case, the Eurpean rules on biocidal products - those are

disinfectants, wood preservatives, and pest control substances -

prohibit the use of a number of traditionally used natural extracts.

Affected are Basil oil, Cajuput oil, Cedarwood oil, Celery oil,

Chamomile oil, Citronella oil, Clove leaf oil, Coriander oil, Cornmint

oil, Cumin oil, Cypress oil, Eucalyptus oil, Juniperberry oil, Neem

oil, Pinus oils, Lavender oil, Lemongrass oil, Geranium oil, Litsea

cubeba oil, Melaleuca oil, Pine oil, Black pepper oil, Palmarosa oil,

Patchouli oil, Pennyroyal oil, Peppermint oil, Rosewood oil, Rue oil,

Spearmint oil, Thyme oil, Valeriana officinalis oil, and a host of others.

 

The conclusion that the community legislator may be more or less

openly protecting friends in the pharmaceutical industry isn't easy to

avoid.

 

A similar thing has been happening in the area of food supplements,

where a European directive restricts the vitamin and mineral

ingredients to those few that have been traditionally used by the

pharmaceutical industry to formulate its products, excluding the

natural forms of vitamin E, for example, and many bioavailable forms

of minerals, as well as a great number of trace elements.

 

What seems to be missing in the rather heavy-handed European approach

to legislation on health related risks is a correct application of the

science of risk analysis. Rather than searching the scientific

literature for all kinds of theoretical risks that might be associated

with a substance and then summarily executing the culprit, perhaps it

would be better to start by exactly characterizing the risk. How big

is it? How many people have died or suffered other severe

consequences? How many people are using the substance and are there

reported positive effects? What is the balance between positive and

negative. Do we have to intervene at all? Those are some of the

initial questions that should be asked, and the answers to these

should be documented, before there is any action, much less a

generalized prohibition, of any natural substance that is is use.

 

See also:

 

The Risk Assessment Paradigm

Risk assessment is really one component of a larger paradigm called

Risk Analysis. Risk analysis encompasses risk assessment, risk

management, and risk communication.

 

 

 

posted by sepp on Wednesday June 22 2005

 

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/06/22/tea_tree_oil_eu_science_committe\

e_challenged.htm

 

 

 

Kind regards

Sepp