I Found the Article My Storage Post Above

[Guest guest]

Okay, of course I found it after posting this. I don't know if this

guy is a lot of hooey because he is selling his own product and

doesn't want the added expense of colored bottles. Just wanted to

know what your experience was with it. I've been using cobalt

bottles for years now, because I just love the color.

 

Michele Robles (see article below)

 

Article

 

Many times we get calls from customers asking us if the oils are OK

to store in colorless bottles because they are afraid that light will

damage the oils. Unfortunately many people have succumbed to the

fear mongering and propaganda put forth by the makers of colored

glass when it comes to storing essential oils. The amber glass

makers will tell you that amber is best, the green glass makers will

tell you that green is best, etc. The truth is that most essential

oils are photochemically inactive in the visible region and reactive

in the ultra-violet (UV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Since UV light of high enough energy to cause photochemical reactions

in most organic molecules is absorbed (not transmitted) by normal

glass, regardless of color, it makes no difference if the oils are in

brown, blue, green, purple or whatever color glass. Of course there

are a few exceptions, like with the chamazulene containing oils (blue

chamomile, blue yarrow, blue tansy, etc.) that you would not want to

store in colorless bottles for long periods under heavy lighting

conditions. This is because chamazulene has strong absorption in the

VISIBLE region of the spectrum (thus the intense dark blue color of

these oils) and so it is the lower energy visible light and not just

UV light that can significantly effect these oils. But even so,

thermal degradation and reaction with oxygen are the biggest enemies

of these blue oils, which is why all of our chamazulene containing

oils are refrigerated and stored under nitrogen, maintaining the nice

dark blue color when you receive your shipment (many times you will

find that other suppliers selling these oils will ship them after

they have turned dark green due to oxidation from improper storage).

I know many people will still believe they have to keep their oils in

drab brown bottles, even after reading this, but I can tell you that

based on the research I have done and my experience as a chemist, it

makes no difference what color the bottle is for most the oils.

When I was doing my Ph.D. research at the University of Tennessee,

part of my work involved doing organic photochemical reactions. To

get these reactions to occur with UV light we could not even use

normal clear glass containers because normal glass absorbed all the

necessary UV light that would allow the reaction to occur. You can

ask any photo-chemist and he or she will tell you that you have to

use a special quartz reaction vessel to do these reactions because

only quartz will give you the necessary transmission window to cause

and photochemical change. But don't take my word for it, do your own

research. I can only give you the benefit of my experience and

experiments as a Ph.D. chemist.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Robert S. Pappas

 

Send mail to Dr.P with questions or comments about

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