Testing - Organic Status

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Hi Paris,

 

I'm gonna make a few comments on your post .. then move down and add a

couple to what Marge stated.

 

First .. the subject line above writes of Organic .. not the same as the

" Guaranteed to Not Rust Bust or Collect Dust but With Smoke and Mirrors "

classification of Certified Organic.

 

> Hi Marge, When I have received or looked at GC/MS tests, it sometimes has a

> statement at the bottom that says something like: " This oil was determined

> to have good odor quality and no pesticides were detected " I suppose that I

> have assumed (big mistake I know!) that the testing would reveal weather or

> not if any pesticides were present.

 

Gas Chromatography (GC) and/or Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

(GC/MS) does the following .. and this list is short .. not intended to

cover all possibilities.

 

1. It tells a good analyst .. IF .. the analyst has a good archive and

understands what the norms should be .. that an EO is what it is claimed

to be .. if it has chemical constituents that are not common to the oil

being tested they know it is something else. If there is a major sway

in the expected profile of the chemical percentages then they know that

the possibility of manipulation exists and they can test further.

 

2. Shows if the oil has been blatantly adulterated.

 

3. Shows the quality of the oil .. that is, if the chemical profile of

the chemical constituents are or are not within a range or " footprint "

that is considered to be normal for a particular oil from a particular

Origin. There are many pure oils that are mediocre oils. An Oregano

with a carvacrol percentage of 50% or a Lavandula angustifolia with a

Linalool/Linalool acetate percentage of 25/28 or so .. are examples of a

pure but LOUSY essential oil. This condition can occur if aromatics are

harvested at the wrong time or if the distiller has screwed up .. and

there are a few other more technical reasons.

 

What it does not do is tell us anything about Therapeutic Properties and

that is but one of the many reasons that it makes me tired to see folks

advertising Therapeutic Quality EO. It is pure hawgwash .. marketing

hype .. and it is a result of ignorance or a desire to BS the troops! I

will NOT back off that statement.

 

Nobody knows what therapeutic properties are in the first place. We can

detect from observation that the results of using this or that oil is

this or that .. but nobody has ever studied (in depth) the difference in

therapeutic gain from an oil with this or that percentage of a chemical.

And I am speaking of those that are in the normal .. but wide .. range

of acceptance.

 

We can isolate chemicals and extrapolate the therapeutic qualifications

based on tests of the isolated chemical .. but nobody uses EOs that are

arranged in such a manner .. they are in a relatively natural synergy

and addition or deletion of this or that might or might not have this or

that impact on therapeutic value.

 

As for testing .. there are at least a dozen levels of analysis that are

higher and more sophisticated than GC/MS. They are far more technical,

far more difficult to conduct and FAR more costly .. getting up into the

tens of thousands of bucks.

 

And .. though they don't talk a lot about it .. chemists and scientists

of this and that sort accept that it is VERY DIFFICULT for heavy metals

to make it through the distillation process .. thus, even many of the

more sophisticated tests would not detect them anyway. Some tests have

been conducted on oils from plants that are known to have been sprayed

with pesticides .. using the more sophisticated equipment .. and nothing

was detected. Cold-Pressed oils are a horse of a different color

because there is no distillation involved in their production.

 

Heavy metals are not water soluble .. if they were, they would not be

there in the first place unless the farmer was an idiot and sprayed the

crop around the time of harvest. Heavy metals stay in the soil for the

same reason that they don't make it through the distillation process.

 

> I have seen a site like the one Christine was talking about, it is EOU,

> maybe that is where I got the idea that you can tell weather or not the

> oil has pesticides or not depending on the GC/MS.

 

Statements to that effect are sometimes made .. and they are not false

statements because they can't detect it with GC/MS .. even if its there;

which is really unlikely. Why are statements like that made? Probably

because buyers like to see them .. or they demand it. Its not unlike a

police check to see if a potential employee has a record of arrest.

That would never suffice for a Top Secret Clearance where a complete

background check is made.

 

To shoot as straight as I can on this .. lemme tell y'all that I don't

test or purchase tested EO for your sake .. not at all. I do it for me!

You buy a bottle of oil for this or that price and spend a few hundred

bucks on an order .. but I sink tens of thousands of dollars EACH MONTH

in essential oils .. I have in fact sold my retirement home, door and

window at a time, to build a stock of EO and be able to sell them for a

fair price and still make a profit. I am not interested in purchasing

adulterated oils .. so I want them tested for ME .. not YOU! ;-)

 

Still .. I provide a copy of the analysis to those who ask for it. And

I am not in a position to teach a class on what it can and can't do when

I provide it .. that's up to the buyer to learn on their own. I and

many other folks have written all about this on Oils & Herbs since I got

on the lists .. Idma back in 1995 and this one in 2000.

 

> I suppopse that if the pesticide/fungicide content were high enough

> it would show up, but I hadn't thought of that before.

 

Nobody has ever seen such a percentage .. I doubt the possibility of

there being any pesticides present. But it would make a lot of folks

uncomfortable to know how many pesticides and fungicides and rat hairs

and turds and insects they eat on the average day. We modern folks are,

in some respects .. what my Grandma used to call Nasty-Nice. ;-)

 

> I really thought that GC/MS testing determined that you had an unadulterated

> pesticide free oil.

 

Adulteration it can find .. usually. I don't have the time to get too

technical here but keep in mind that chemists are the experts when it

comes to adulteration .. and at concealing adulteration. Big companies

do not hire flavor and fragrance chemists to conduct analysis .. any

technician can be trained to do that. They are hired because they know

how to do all kinds of things that even challenge the other chemists to

detect. And adulteration doesn't have to be with a synthetic substance.

If someone added natural Linalool or Linalool acetate to the bad oil I

described above this would be classic adulteration but odds are very,

very slim of it being detected. And .. there are some chemicals that

have the same molecular structure be they synthetic or natural.

 

> If GC/MS testing doesn't find pesticides, is there one that does?

 

Probably .. but I know of none. I think the pesticides are not there ..

and I think such a test would require you mortgage your home.

 

> I suppose that if atheletes can outwit drug testers, big oil producers

> (and even little ones) could, and probably do, outwit GC/MS tests.

 

You are correct. I have written maybe 50 times on this since 1995 ..

and its not my intent to tell y'all all I know about this due to the

time required. But you used the word " producers " and that is not the

correct word in this case. It is NOT the producers we must worry about

adulterating EO. They are professionals who have hundreds of thousands

and in some cases millions of dollars tied up in their stills and

operations .. they are professionals and depend on their stills and

their reputation for their livelihood. In most cases they don't have

the time or the knowledge .. or even the desire to adulterate. It is

not even the small wholesalers or the retailers we must be concerned

about, its the middle men .. the big brokers we have to worry about!!

 

> Does it apply then, that unless you plant, grow, harvest, distill, and

> bottle the oil yourself you can never REALLY know if it is actually organic

> or not? Thanks again Marge! Love, Paris

 

That it true .. then again .. that is not true. ;-) It is true in that

the grower, harvester, distiller can say that the oil was Organic when

it left his hands .. but that's where the guarantee stops.

 

AND .. I know of NO Certified Organic EO for sale .. NONE! Why?

Because Essential Oils are not Certified!!!!!!!!

 

It is the soil and the plants that are Certified .. that's all. Think

on that one a bit and we can realize the possibilities.

 

Marge's comments .......

 

>>> Do I need to test all oils when I get them before I can label

>>>them properly? I hope I am not sounding ridiculous here! Thanks for your

>>>help in this! Love, Paris

>>

>>testing doesn't have anything to do with the horticultural status...

 

Exactly .. one could not tell if a plant was Wild Grown unless they know

that the Origin of the oil does not cultivate it.

 

>>gc/ms testing (I'm assuming that is what you are discussing) will

>>(generally!) tell you that an eo falls within the 'accepted limits' of

>>it's species.... and normally speaking, whether it has been adulterated.

>>

>>it won't tell you whether the oil you have tested is organic, wildcrafted,

>>etc...

 

Correct.

 

>>and it won't tell you if it's aromatically a wonderful specimen or a blah

>>flat boring one...

 

If it is pure it won't always tell you if the oil will twitch your magic

twanger from a standpoint of olfactory appreciation .. but if analysis

shows that the profile is way off and there is a lack of balance in the

chemical equation .. the analyst can pretty much bet the farm that it is

manipulated .. and if it has been manipulated .. we can bet our farm

that the manipulator did nothing to make it smell worse .. quite to the

contrary, he would do all he can to make it smell better. The two main

reasons for adulteration are to stretch the oil .. increasing profits ..

and to make the oil more marketable .. by making it smell nicer.

 

>>it WILL tell you if the vendor is attempting to substitute a lavandin

>>super for the true lavender you thought you were buying...

>>

>>or (as once happened to me, years ago, when buying from a 'well known

>>supplier " ... if the so called rose geranium has had some phenyl ethyl

>>alcohol added to boost the 'rosy' aroma)

 

Which happens often .. but moreso, we find a good many Rose Ottos with

PEA levels that are so high the oil can't be considered as Rose Otto.

Many folks in this industry will recall back when John Kercher (RIP) had

some Rose Otto from a Balkan country (not Bulgaria) and was sending out

free samples to folks. I got mine and it would have gagged a maggot off

a gut wagon .. smelled like acetone. When Martin came to visit I took

him up to meet Professor Baser at the Aromatic and Medicinal Plant and

Drug Research Center .. and I took that sample with me. Prof. Baser's

assistant had earned her Ph.D. by specializing in a few aromatics .. the

primary one being Rosa damascena. Of course everyone could detect the

odor and it was easy for a half trained nose to see it was adulterated.

A test showed almost 70% PET. John didn't know this .. had not sold the

oil. I told him and he made the producer take it back.

 

>>or if the " steam distilled Italian Neroli " had hexane in it... a sure

>>sign that some absolute had been added to improve the aroma. (which, in

>>both of these cases, was terrific...

 

Right .. that is point two of adulteration .. to make it smell nicer.

 

>>except the vendors weren't selling what they said they were selling.

>>I don't buy from either of them any more...

 

And here is a case where we know that the vendor was either ignorant or

trying to deceive you. In most cases .. its ignorance. But it matters

not if what the reason is .. bottom line is we want a good product for a

fair price.

 

>>In fairness to the second vendor, she now lists said neroli as 'solvent

>>extracted'

 

Good show.

 

>>but neroli is steam distilled...so it's still....inaccurate.

 

Correct .. and we still see lots of Hydrosols sold by various sellers ..

we have discussed them on this list many times .. hydrosols that do not

exist because the plants are not distilled.

 

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Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com