the aromaconnection blog

Cropwatch Five Years on

Part 1. Threatened Natural Aromatic Species

Cropwatch came into being around 2003-2004 in order to directly address concerns about the over-exploitation of natural aromatic ingredients, and their over-regulation by officials prone to the excessive influences of lobbyists from the pharmaceutical & chemical industries, from toxicologists & dermatologists, and, as we have learned to our considerable dismay, from various environmental groups. At present Cropwatch remains independent & non-financed, but with a level of popular support which we believe is (conservatively) over twenty times that of any industry-financed organisation. In order to summarise progress over the past 5 years or so of Cropwatch’s activities, we have divided the reporting into two parts: this part reporting on threatened natural aromatic species, and the second (in preparation) looking at the non-transparent world surrounding the over-regulation of our natural aromatic materials.

Threatened species

Since the essential oils industry/aroma trade has generally been either too shy to come clean about its use of commodities from threatened species, or is actually in denial about it, Cropwatch decided to write an article on the subject for the Endangered Species Update magazine in 2003 (see http://www.cropwatch.org/unethical.htm). This was well-received at the time, and article reviews were featured in leading trade magazines such as Soap, Perfumery & Cosmetics. Further work challenging individual companies who sell or use commodities from rare or threatened species has been on-going since 2003, with some limited measure of success, but when challenged these companies invariably fake surprise, become hostile or defensive, or plead ignorance.

Our major work in this area is the “Update on threatened aromatic plants used in the aroma & cosmetic industries” now in its corrected, expanded and updated 5th revision (93pp), and Cropwatch has the IUCN’s express permission to quote the Red List Status of the individual aromatic species identified. This 5^th version includes an extended section on natural product status, & a revision of the alphabetical data-base of threatened species, including rosewood oil (see below for URL). Most of the points we need to make at this juncture are contained within this document. In the introductory lead-in, we quote Bobbi Low (2004) from the periodical Threatened Species: “Many problems in managing and protecting endangered species arise not from our ignorance of the species’ ecology, but from human conflicts of interest”.

Nevertheless, to counter any claims of ignorance, and also attempting to cover “human conflicts of interest”, Cropwatch decided to make collected information about threatened species available on its website in the wider public interest. To this end we have constructed an on-going series of periodically updated articles and data-bases, which either provide information on the subject, or point to where it can be found. Topics cover so far can be listed out as follows:

Extensive bibliography on agarwood (1st revision 2008: 35pp): http://www.cropwatch.org/agarbib2008.pdf

Agarwood files – chemistry, botany, microbiology etc. (2004) at: http://www.cropwatch.org/agarwood.htm

Extensive sandalwood bibliography (4^th revision 2008: 67pp): http://www.cropwatch.org/santalum.pdf

Ambergris article (2005) at: http://www.cropwatch.org/ambergris.htm and (2006): http://www.cropwatch.org/ambergrisupdate.htm

A short note on the ecological status of Cedarwood Atlas (2004): http://www.cropwatch.org/cedarwood.htm

Update on threatened aromatic plants used in the aroma & cosmetic industries (5^th revision 2008: 93pp): http://www.cropwatch.org/v105.pdf

Exploited trees: some brief sketches (2006): http://www.cropwatch.org/cropwatch13.htm

Chinese medicine consumes threatened species (2005): http://www.cropwatch.org/tigers.htm

Rosewood sustainability (2004): http://www.cropwatch.org/cropwatch6.htm

Australian sandalwood oil: a tale of spin & hype? (2004): http://www.cropwatch.org/cropwatch2.htm

Documents in preparation include ‘Rosewood oil – the real story’ and ‘Misguided attacks on alternative medicine’ which is intended to include the still unfolding gynecomastia - lavender oil - tea tree oil situation. We are also in the process of preparing a ‘Threatened species in the natural drug trade’ data-base, although this will be a long task. We are always grateful for contributions, corrections or suggestions for any of these items, most of which are-, or intended as-, continuously upgraded living documents.

Sections on sandalwood & agarwood in the “Update on threatened aromatic plants….” particularly, go hand-in-hand with the extensive sandalwood & agarwood bibliographies listed above. You should be able to make your own minds up from some of this data about the claimed sustainability of commodities from certain species, and to learn the identities of some of the companies who are using these commodities.

Adulteration

Another topic that the aroma industry really doesn’t want to talk about is the widespread practice of the adulteration of essential oils and aromatic materials. Cropwatch presented (a subsequently much-plagiarised) account of this practice slightly updated at http://www.cropwatch.org/adulterationupdate08.pdf. Whenever natural aromatic commodities go short – as lemon oil is at present, due to widespread global crop failures – the natural ingredient buyer can particularly expect an increased risk of buying substandard, adulterated or blended material. The failure of the IFRA-RIFM-REXPAN hierarchy to have ever investigated the health & safety aspects of adulterated fragrance ingredients is shameful, and clearly illustrates the limitations & no-go areas for trade-funded, non-independent safety organisations. Unfortunately, the hapless regulators of the profession are almost totally dependent on organisations such as these for direction & technical information. But you would all know that already…….

Tony Burfield

Co-founder Cropwatch

Technorati Tags: threatened aromatic species,Essential Oil Adulteration

Struggles of Honest Aromatic Crops Businessmen in Afghanistan

Yesterday's 'Morning Edition' on NPR featured an heroic effort in the hills of Afghanistan by Shafiq Azizi and his business partners to grow and extract roses and other aromatics as an alternative for the poppy growers who trade in the world-wide heroin industry.  Hoping to set an example, they have expended frustrated efforts and a considerable sum of invested money.  Sounds idyllic, however, Shafiq  and Barnett Rubin (an Afghanistan expert and owner of the company that supports Azizi's efforts) are finding the prospect of legal business in Afghanistan is not so attractive to those already engaged in growing poppies.  Also, the corrupt Afghanistan government is hindering any progress or growth of the rose production for perfumery by soliciting bribes and unduly hindering their operations.  An initial $29,000 investment funded the first rose fields and the building of a commercial still, but major setbacks have the investors backing out.  Hopefully, local entrepreneur Abdullah Arsallah's determination to break the cycle of the drug business, and the willingness of a farmer in a nearby village, Haji Ibrahim, will revive the effort. You can read this complete report by Ivan Watson and view video.  We will attempt to keep an eye on this situation and report further progress.       

Book Review: Medicinal and Aromatic Crops

Medicinal and Aromatic Crops: Harvesting, Drying and Processing Edited by Serdar Oztekin and Milan Martinov. Haworth Press: New York. 2007. ISBN 978-1-56022-975-9.

This book was published in 2007, but we recently obtained a copy for our library and realized that it should be in the library, or on the work desk, of anyone who is involved in the production or processing of medicinal or aromatic plants (acronymized in the book as MAP), or even those who have a curiosity about where essential oils come from or how they are or can be produced.

The book starts out with an excellent introduction to the issues involved in aromatic plant production and sustainability as the agricultural system changes from the previous norm of wildcrafted MAP to the more complicated processes of cultivation and the problems of assuring quality, purity, and safety with the transition from Good Wildcrafting Practices (GWP) to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) which are often unknown to the farmers. There is a good discussion of related environmental issues. One shortfall is that there is no discussion of organic production.

The focus of the book is on mechanization, which the editors claim is generally neglected in the literature and in practice for a variety of reasons, but which should be considered not only to improve production quality  but to improve working conditions for workers. Manual and semi-mechanized methods are not neglected, and renewable energy sources are discussed.

The chapter on Extraction gives a good overview of all the processes commonly used for aromatic plants. The discussion of distillation is illustrated by a thorough description of the production of Turkish rose oil.

A chapter on Industrial Utilization of MAP unfortunately relegates Cosmetics, Perfumery, and Aromatherapy to four paragraphs, with Aromatherapy in a single (short) paragraph, hardly doing justice to the usage.

The book closes with a chapter covering the management of MAP agricultural enterprises and an Appendix discussing a software program that has been developed to assist farmers in the decision making process.

The book is well illustrated with photos and drawings, unfortunately in black and white, and is extensively referenced and well indexed.

Technorati Tags: Medicinal Crops,Aromatic Crops,Medicinal and Aromatic Crops

Earth Day 2008

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy and sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people. We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. the rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family. The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The waters murmur is the voice of my fathers' father. The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give any brother. If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So, if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers. Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, his is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself. One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone? Where will the Eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. When the last red man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left? We love this earth as a newborn loves its mothers heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all. As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know: there is only one God. No man, be he red man or white man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."

      -Chief Seattle

The nature Conservancy Earth Day Ideas
Take action for climate crisis solutions at we
Recycle old computers, cell phones and other electronics
Earth Day official events and activities
Professional advice for business sustainability initiative
Earth Day Facts from Rochester, NY plus more links
Make every day Earth Day from Madison, Wisconsin
Adverse effects of palm oil by Dove from Greenpeace
We can do it! from Sierra Club
The Rainforest Initiative
Whitefeather Forest Initiative
The African Conservation Foundaton
Long list of intragovernmental, governmental and private (NGO) environmental orgs

That ought to keep us busy.

Happy Earth Day! from all of us at the aromaconnection group blog.  

Notes and News

• P&F has gleaned statistics from Datamonitor on the growth of  the Fair Trade market, stating that "ethical consumerism will increasingly come to the fore as people shop for products they feel akin to politically, ethically and aesthetically."  Aromatic extracts such as essential oils, CO2's and absolutes are not even on the radar screen with the  regulators such as Transfair  and flo-cert.  My report on Cote d'Ivoire cacao production revealed that determining abuses will not be an easy job. The P&F article predicts a 15.7% growth through 2012 for the countries covered, concluding that "transparency and trust will become increasingly important currency in the emerging  'green'  marketplace." 
• Insect repellent products made with  Nepeta cataria should carry a warning to caution people not to use when hiking in areas where Cougars, Lynx, Bobcats or other large cats are present.  All cats (even those big guys) are attracted to catnip, and forest rangers have begun using it to attract Cougars for tagging and research.  All cats will have a physiological reaction to the chemical compound nepetalactone in catnip which has been found to induce a psychosexual response in both male and female cats. One might say that catnip has an aphrodisiac effect, however some cats can be very possessive of their catnip, and some cats have been aggressive after use.  We highly recommend that product manufacturers alert their customers of this potential danger. 
• As reported by Jennifer Minigh, PhD, in ABC's (American Botanical Society) Herbclip, a recent double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial published in BJOG (British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2008) shows that saffron Crocus sativus L. looks promising for treating PMS (premenstrual syndrome).   Using the dried stigma encapsulated, saffron was effective in treating mild to moderate depression via serotonergic mechanisms.  This is likely the first study of saffron's effects on PMS, with 50 women participating ages 24-50 and comparisons to other studies are therefore probably not possible. 
• An upcoming Sandalwood Conference to be held in Kununurra, WA  promises to  "Revolutionize the Global Indian Sandalwood Supply."  Rob blogged about this briefly when news of the crop development and establishment of a production plant in Kununurra came out in December.  This news is creating new excitement, as expressed by Georges Ferrando, from Albert Vieille, who says with a processing plant due to be built in Kununurra next year, the region will become a world leader within five years.  "India is number one in supplying sandalwood oil, but I think very, very quickly, Kununurra will become the supplier number one in the world".  The growers are expecting the first harvest in 2014.  The conference will  present comparisons of plantation-grown Santalum album to that grown in the wild, an overview of the international fragrance market, the uses of naturals in fragrance, setting standards for a reliable supply, as well as cover issues of indigenous participation and environmental responsibilities.  In addition to featured presentations, there will be round table discussions and plantation tours.

Botany Photo of the Day: Laurus nobilis

Laurus nobilis is the featured species at Botany Photo of the Day with information provided by Connor Fitzpatrick from the Global Facilitation Unit for underutilized species.   They are doing a series on underutilized plants.  Another species featured in this series is Sea buckthorn berry.

Sustainable Development of Aromatic Plants in Laos

Environmental Impacts of Trade Liberalization in the Medicinal Plants & Spices Sector of the Lao PDR

While searching for something else, I happened across the above-titled paper (.pdf) posted on the website of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). A summary of the publication is available here.

The paper discusses medicinal plants and a number of essential oil species, including Agarwood, Vetiver, May Chang, and Cinnamon. An Annex at the end of the paper includes pictures of the manufacturing process (including the still) for Agarwood. One of the key findings is:

key issues facing this sector at present, include a lack of systematic and scientific approaches to harvesting, specific plans for cultivation and strict enforcement of laws and regulations, weak collaboration amongst concerned authorities (between central and local authorities and between public and private sectors), and limited awareness among rural people on the preservation of biodiversity.

Essentially, they are working on ways to increase medicinal plant and essential oil exports in a sustainable way.

Technorati Tags: essential oils,Laos,Agarwood,Vetiver,May chang,Cinnamon,sustainable development

Enviroblog: New York Times seduced by fragrance industry

Enviroblog takes on the New York Times for an article on the fragrance industry and the practice of developing patented fragrance ingredients.  Chandler Burr in The Times compares the fragrance industry to the pharmaceutical industry development of proprietary  drugs such as Lipitor. Enviroblog points out that there are differences, since the FDA regulates the drugs for safety, but the fragrance ingredients are not regulated and the safety/health effects are often unknown. Burr argues in favor of the synthetic fragrances,pointing out that they may cost less and may be used in place of natural ingredients such as rosy ketones that set off allergic reactions at high doses.

Enviroblog argues that the claims of ecological soundness in the Times article are invalid because the perfume and body care ingredients end up polluting the overall ecosystem, citing research that phthalates from fragrance products can affect the reproductive hormone levels of fish. The Times has [mostly] ignored any environmental or safety issues entirely in their article.

For those of us in the natural products industry, the entire argument almost seems outside our purview. Our argument is that natural products are better and safer, and the public seems to be increasingly agreeing with us, or at least the mainstream large corporate cosmetics and fragrance industry perceives that is the way it is, as they are starting to offer more organic and natural products, even as they continue to develop more synthetics. The reality is that we increasingly are living in a world where money and property ownership are taking over. The impact of this in the fragrance industry isn't as great as in, for example, the case of GM Crops or patenting of strains or seeds, because unless we want to get really rich, we have the option of ignoring them and doing our own thing. Even the environmental impact of the bad things in fragrance ingredients is (probably) miniscule compared to the problems of plastic pollution, feedlot pollution, or the causes of global warming. But it all adds up.

The key here is full disclosure of the ingredients and effects, sensible regulation of hazardous or toxic ingredients, and education of consumers, manufacturers, and suppliers about the issues involved. The mainstream media, such as the NY Times, will probably side with the corporate owners of intellectual property, and the blogs, the small indie manufacturers and the natural products users will probably side with the Earth.

I guess I've turned this into a populist issue.  Any comments?

Givaudan & Those Natural Product Sourcing Media Write-ups

Cropwatch tries hard to cut through the aromatic marketing hype presented by parts of the aroma trade, and to maintain an independent position, on the basis that somebody has to. For example the megacorp Givaudan, which you will remember recently acquired the aroma giant Quest (hence the floods of Quest employees who have been looking for jobs of late), disclosed a bolstered global turnover of € 888 million for 2007. Shortly before we learned of this figure, we also read about a partnership, (dressed up as it was in sustainable & natural product media hype terms, between Givaudan & Mount Romance in Australia, for Australian sandalwood oil supply futures (in spite of the high carbon footprint associated with sandalwood oil production). The negative effects of  sandalwood plantations on the Australian environment have been previously discussed by Cropwatch at http://www.cropwatch.org/cropwatch2.htm which drew for information, amongst other sources, on the fairly forthright & critical report on the W. Australian sandalwood industry by Tonts & Selwood (2002). Considering that land clearance for sheep & wheat farming devastated existing natural Australian sandalwood tree numbers, and caused huge salinity problems for the water table, it makes the trade rag reporting of 'sustainable production' even more laughable. Further, you may recall that Bleimann (2007) spoke for many of us in the aroma trade, when he commented that Sandalwood oil Australian is not a practical replacement for Sandalwood oil EI in perfumery formulae. Mount Romance  are still emphasising the use of aboriginal labour, this time publicising aboriginal sandalwood sourcing. As we mention in the v 1.04 update mentioned above, the MD of Mount Romance was previously associated with crocodile & turtle farming, and even now Mount Romance has a strong connection with emu oil promotion (previously, in 1981, Birkbeck reportedly took charge of a "forgotten peoples" emu company in Wiluna, W. Australia). Opposition to emu farming in Australia by the Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, can be viewed at http://www.rspca.org.au/pdf/B_policystatements.pdf

So, at a time when the cosmetics industry is getting out of animal products (for example, see the shark liver oil saga in v 1.04), just what do the decision-makers at Givaudan think they will achieve with this controversial buying arrangement? Cropwatch predicts (in our humble opinion of course) that the agreement is not exactly going to be ecstatically received by animal lovers, vegetarians, vegans, eco-supporters and perhaps not even by the green movement in general. Unfortunately, Givaudan are not the first to want to get into bed with Mount Romance over Australian sandalwood oil - Aveda have reportedly entered a similar arrangement (see v 1.04 update).  But now we also learn that Lush are reportedly joining the goldrush too, by signing up with the Australian sandalwood producer TFS Corporation, in anticipation of their commercial sandalwood oil production starting in 2011. All this activity is pretty strange, because up to now, the major market for Australian sandalwood oil has been, err, Australia! Further, direct buying by end-users from the producers may well cut out the middle man, but it further reduces the already fragile position of essential oil traders, who serve to buffer the market in times of shortage, provide forward cost-stability under contract, and provide superior ingredient location services to many buyers. It is another sign that the fragrance industry used to be more a professionally run, mutually co-operative endeavour, but now some puffed-up corporate big-shots are pursuing their own individual company agendas to the detriment of all others, which can only fragment & weaken the industry overall. 

Givaudan do seem to have entered a vote of confidence in coumarin's future, however, with the recent announcement of a 3-cornered arrangement for the 'sustainable' sourcing of tonka beans (for the production of tonka bean absolute, a rich source of natural coumarin) between the Criollo people of the Caura basin in Venezuela, the charity Conservation International & Givaudan themselves.

Meanwhile the debate about coumarin toxicity continues, Oko-test (the German consumer organisation's organ) has also run the story on the BfR opinion. We understand (if we have translated correctly) that in another section of the current magazine there is news that highest coumarin content found in a retailed cosmetic products by Oko-test was in a self-tanning lotions (37mg coumarin/Kg) which approximated to a 0.18 mg application of coumarin from one single eight gram application of tanning lotion for the body (per day). This is so far under the TDI that Oko-test recommend the BfR drop the regulation of coumarin in cosmetics altogether (thanks to Kendra for the translation).
Tony Burfield.

Refs:

Bleimann K .(2007) - see http://www.cropwatch.org/Kim Bleimann's lecture.pdf

Tonts M & Selwood J (2002) “Niche Markets, Regional Diversification and the Reinvention of Western Australia’s Sandalwood Industry” Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 94(5), 564-575.

Technorati Tags: Givaudan,Quest,Mount Romance,sandalwood,emu oil,coumarin,coumarin toxicity

Cropwatch Threatened Species Update Feb 2008

Cropwatch Threatened Aromatic Plants Used in the Aroma & Cosmetic Industries v 1.04 Feb 2008

The fourth update of Cropwatch's Threatened Species used in the Aroma Industry is out & can be found at http://www.cropwatch.org/v 1.04.pdf Its scope is now broadened to cover both the Aroma & Cosmetic Industries. For those of you who have not browsed the 81-page feature, it is divided into two parts. The first is a brief summary of topics relevant to aromatic plant conservation, and the second larger part is an alphabetical listing of the threatened aromatic species, covering geographic distribution,  IUCN status and any listings by other conservation organisations, with notes about the materials themselves. This new version also contains an updated section on unethical animal products used in cosmetics - such as oils derived from shark-livers, green turtles and emus. We have also slightly extended the biopiracy section to cover the activities of a US company which has copyrighted a Peruvian natural product used as a foodstuff and in indigenous medicine, as previously first reported in Herbalgram. 

Technorati Tags: Cropwatch,Threatened Aromatic Plants,biopiracy

Let's Talk About Free Trade in the Aromatic Industry:

Theobroma cacao

I've been mulling over the somewhat obscure issues of fair trade in our industry, however, Valentines Day presented the perfect opportunity to end my procrastination and begin a conversation here.  Rob and I start our weekday mornings with a cup of coffee and Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.  If you are not familiar with this acclaimed journalist and Harvard University graduate, she's a champion of  peace and human rights, with battle scars from her work in East Timor in 1991 where she and fellow journalist Allan Nairn were badly beaten while witnessing a mass killing of Timorese demonstrators, now known as the Dili Massacre.  Usually, on Thursdays and Fridays Democracy Now is co-hosted by another award-winning journalist, Juan Gonzales, whose work includes Ground Zero illnesses and EPA coverups after 9/11.  Amy and Juan got right to the underbelly of the chocolate industry.  While mostly concerned with the chocolate you might get for a Valentine gift, our industry cannot ignore the fact that the very same cacao is harvested for cacao oleoresin and absolute, much sought after in the perfume and cosmetic industries.  Their guests were Christian Parenti, a correspondent for The Nation magazine and author of "Chocolate's Bittersweet Economy" in the February 4th edition of Fortune and William Guyton, President of the World Cocoa Foundation,  whose members comprise some of the big corporations who basically control the ports and set the prices.  I refreshed my coffee and settled in for what promised to be an interesting and juxtaposed debate.

Parenti began with his trip to the Ivory Coast (70% of the world's cacao comes from West Africa with 40% originating in the Ivory Coast).  He cited the Harkin-Engel protocol developed after real legislation failed, with the hope of volunteer participation from chocolate and cocoa industries.   The protocol was signed by industry leaders in 2001 and laid out a series of date-specific actions to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the growing and processing of cacao beans and their derivative products, with a deadline of July 1, 2005 for reporting labor practices in cacao farming in West Africa.  The deadline was extended to July 2008 after the industry failed to reach substantial goals.   Parenti went to the Ivory Coast last October to fact check the claims of changes by the WCF and found them wanting.  He observed no substantive changes . . . "there were still many children working, using pesticides, machetes, carrying heavy loads. . . unable to attend school and being injured due to their labor."   He also cites the First Annual Report: Oversight of Public and Private Initiatives to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child labor in the Cocoa Sector in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, prepared by Payson Center for Intentional Development and Technology Transfer/Tulane University.  This 271 page document is worth a complete read for those of you who like to follow the threads of bureaucratic intrigue.  The conclusion on page 50 summarizes the lack of attention or activity given (in spite of reams of reports from the companies, their trade organizations, NGO's and West African government officials) to the primary problem of child labor . . . "There is evidence that child labor is a problem in the cocoa supply chain and that the work of children is being used in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana in a large number of agricultural tasks and at all times of the year."

The WCF claims to have spent tens of millions of dollars to eliminate child labor.  An NGO (International Cocoa Initiative) , identified by William Guyton as providing successful benchmarks, was established and Parenti found it in Ivory Coast to consist of one employee who shared an office in a basement of a law firm.  Parenti says the many claims of successful development projects did not pan out and he could find only one orphanage where most of the kids were not from the cacao sector and cited the head of the orphanage as saying perhaps 8 children over the last several months had been from the cacao sector.  William Guyton agreed with most of the findings in the Fortune  article, however, he spent a lot of time avoiding the key issue of child labor and attempting to focus on other issues - farming techniques for productivity, environmental conditions and social/health issues like HIV-AIDS.

When asked directly if raising the prices to the farmers themselves wouldn't address the need to employ child labor, Guyton cited that these are family farms with children working with their parents, not hired from other places.  He seemed to miss the point that if the farmers could afford to hire workers, it would benefit the children and free them to attend school.  The only successful program that he might be able to tout is the Sustainable Tree Crops Program, claiming that the farmers are receiving income improvements between 25-50%.  I would ask, if this is true, then why have the conditions for children (as well as the farmers themselves) not changed and improved?

What I've come away with (from the Democracy Now presentation, Christian Parenti's investigation, The Tulane Report and my own research) is:

1.)  Although farmers have attempted to establish co-operatives in attempts to circumvent the large companies who control ports/prices and establish collective bargaining for price structure as their own middle men, they are thwarted by international companies who loan them money and then claim that their crops are inferior, paying them less than needed to pay back their loans, many falling into debt.

2.)  The Cote d'Ivoire government is corrupt and not standing up to the international cocoa firms to establish better conditions for their own citizens, farmers and children.  In some instances the co-op members are arrested, after bribes are paid by the international companies to the police. 

3.)  The world market price determined globally on commodity exchanges and cocoa prices are favorable to the big companies, at about $2500 per metric ton.  International cocoa companies joined in a successful lobby in 1999 to eliminate minimum prices for farmers.  The farmers have no say in what they receive in payment, leaving them in a slave condition. 

We will address more of these issues in the future and hope that you will join the conversation as well as pass information on.

Michael Pollan - the convergence of sustainability issues

In an article in the New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan (author of The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's Delight ) raises the question of how sustainability can be defined and what the signs will be of the failure of our current non-sustainable agricultural system. He discusses in detail two issues that have arisen in the past year (and have been discussed in this blog here and here, for example) that may be the signs that we need to be able to recognize it: MRSA and CCD (that's Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus and Colony Collapse Disorder for the acronymically impaired).

It seems that a new strain of MRSA has now crossed from a major concentration in pigs in the Netherlands into the human food chain, and is now responsible for more than 20% of the MRSA cases in Europe. Pollan speculates that it's probably present in the US also; we just haven't looked yet. Looking would be a threat because fixing the problem will probably require major changes to our current system of agriculture.

The other issue Pollan discusses is CCD. In particular he talks about the almond pollination frenzy in California, where over half the hives in the US (as well as hives from Australia and probably other parts of the world) are transported to the California almond growing area to pollinate the trees which produce most of the world's Almond crop. Research published a few months ago suggested that the cause of CCD may be a virus from Australia, but the USDA has denied that to be the case on the grounds that the virus has been known in the US since 2002, but CCD has only shown up in 2006. Pollan understates the case, merely pointing out that all those bees are flying around together during that week.  I guess that leaves it to people like me to wonder out loud if this doesn't provide an ideal situation for transmission of the virus throughout the country and present the opportunity for disaster.

Pollan closes:

. . . the story of Colony Collapse Disorder and the story of drug-resistant staph are the same story. Both are parables about the precariousness of monocultures. Whenever we try to rearrange natural systems along the lines of a machine or a factory, whether by raising too many pigs in one place or too many almond trees, whatever we may gain in industrial efficiency, we sacrifice in biological resilience. The question is not whether systems this brittle will break down, but when and how, and whether when they do, we’ll be prepared to treat the whole idea of sustainability as something more than a nice word.

Technorati Tags: MRSA,Colony Collapse Disorder

WA sandalwood set to dominate world trade

. . . according to this article, when a new processing plant will be built in Kununurra, Western Australia next year. (And another recent article says the same thing.) The articles refer to "Indian Sandalwood" so presumably this Santalum album and not the S. spicata that is currently being grown in WA. An earlier article states that the first harvest will be in 2012, so perhaps they are being a bit optimistic about taking over the world immediately. Hopefully, if the oil is any good, it will help drive the price down some. 

WA sandalwood set to dominate world trade

. . . according to this article, when a new processing plant will be built in Kununurra, Western Australia next year. (And another recent article says the same thing.) The articles refer to "Indian Sandalwood" so presumably this Santalum album and not the S. spicata that is currently being grown in WA. An earlier article states that the first harvest will be in 2012, so perhaps they are being a bit optimistic about taking over the world immediately. Hopefully, if the oil is any good, it will help drive the price down some. 

Solarkat's Eco blog: Aromatherapy Information

Solarkat blogs about aromatherapy information including Rose geranium, rose, petitgrain sur fleur, bay, ylang ylang, using essential oils neat, and absorbency, expanded from forum posts she's made over the last several months.

Solarkat's Eco blog is a real weblog, as opposed to the ones that are designed to collect money from Google ads that are taking over the Internet. She has lots of good links to aromatherapy sites, she imparts a variety of information about aromatherapy, and when she recommends products she links to several sources that she knows about. She is an eco oriented student, currently taking Jeanne Rose's Home aromatherapy course, and she hopes to have her own business someday.

There are a number of aromatherapy related posts on this blog; you may need to go to the home page and then scroll down the page a ways to find the archive links. Well recommended for the non-professional aromatherapy user.

November Cropwatch Newsletter is released and posted

Tony Burfield has been busy and prolific; just not here.  The November Cropwatch Newsletter is now out and posted on the Cropwatch Web Site. Tony has been so prolific that most of the newsletter is actually linked to long PDF documents discussing several issues:

• Update of the list of Threatened aromatic plants used in the aroma industry (PDF 62 pp).
• a presentation by Professor Jurgen Reichling of the University of Heidelberg given at the 38^th ISEO Symposium in Graz in Sept 2007, entitled “External application of essential oils in animals.” (both PDF and Power Point)
• a presentation by Dr. Hassan Khalid et. al. of CIMAP on “Trade of Sudanese natural medicinals and their role in human & wildlife healthcare” (PDF and Power Point)

Tony also includes some news and hints about materials coming up in the next issue.

We didn't link directly to the PDF links because you should go to the source site to get them and read them. These are definitely important and interesting papers, and the Power points have some great pictures, particularly from the Sudan.

News from Cropwatch November 2007

Co-founder of Cropwatch, Tony Burfield, has been invited to give an address to the UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) Cosmetics Forum in Brussels on 9th November 2007, describing Cropwatch's activities in the aromatic sector, & focusing on the difficulties that SME's (micro-, Small & Medium sized Enterprises) have with the existing European Cosmetics Directive, its seven amendments and its forty or so technical adaptations to progress, with a view to its ultimate simplification. A simplification of the Cosmetics Directive was originally proposed to improve the competitiveness of industry within the EU, the world’s largest cosmetic market. However there are some signs that the EU Commissioners have been looking back over their shoulders and have seen how the Chinese cosmetics market is growing 10% year on year, a rate of expansion unmatched by the European market.   

Meanwhile Cropwatch has completed an extensive update of threatened species in the aroma raw materials trade, to be released shortly, and to be followed later by similar comprehensive review for non-aromatic cosmetic raw materials. The aroma materials review features several new areas of ecological concern, including balsams such as gurjun balsam, widely used as a fixative & cheap filler in perfume compounds. In addition we also highlight the pressure on linalol-containing essential oils by including new entries for ho wood oil, now that the market understands that the Chinese authorities are currently preventing linalol chemotypes of Cinnamomum camphora trees from being destructively harvested. This will lead to severe shortages of ho oils (as has happened several times over the last several years) or may terminate their supply completely. As your readership may guess, we can now trace a progression of ecological pressure on linalol-bearing trees, from linaloe oil produced from chipped wood of the now severely threatened Mexican Bursera glabrifolia tree (which was introduced into India). The deterioration in quality of linaloe oil around 1920 or thereabouts led to the market looking to rosewood from French Guiana as a second best choice as a linalol-containing essential oil (in spite of what you may read elsewhere!). The over-exploitation of rosewood trees in French Guiana and eventually from Brazil, lead to scarcity & together with rising oil costs, has since favoured the use of ho oils. Although ho wood oil is neither an odour  match/substitute for rosewood oil, the rectified forms of ho oil with negligible camphor content have provided a highly exploitable source of 98-99% natural laevo-linalol, often at a bulk price cheaper than synthetic racemic linalol. Where will the market go now to find natural linalol? The answer perhaps lies with more extensive production coriander seed oil from which attractively-odoured dextro-linalol is easily isolated. Unfortunately coriander seed is currently quite scarce, and therefore the essential oil is relatively expensive.

Cropwatch updates contentious areas such as animal products used in fragrances, and examines the differing interpretations of CITES meeting outcomes over animal by-products such as ambergris, as shown by national governments (e.g. Australia). We also feature a definition of natural products which includes no animal-derived materials and the key phrase "must benefit the poor". As an example of matters working in the opposite situation, we look at the Buchu oil situation in South Africa. In spite of industry trade hype and grandiose statements from SA government agencies talking up the future of SA buchu oil production, the situation on the ground has not been properly explained. Whilst the manner in which wild-gathering of buchu (which included uprooting the plant from the ground, including the roots) undoubtedly further endangered its ultimate survival, it also gave desperately needed income to S. African peoples, some 20% of whom live in total abject poverty. Now legal moves on buchu gathering (permits are required for growing & gathering) give powerful sole rights to rich farmers and prevent “buchu poaching”, ultimately endorsing an industry which has been described as “plagued by Mafia-like hierarchy and overt corruption” (Ashoton 2003). Its' hard to see how these moves can "benefit the poor", rather, as with many other valuable aroma products, the rich seem to get richer, at the direct expense of the poor.

In the update we look more intently at the sandalwood industry and Australian officials’ apparent ambitions to corner the market, & we suggest by inference that government scientists who talk-up the sandalwood oil prospects in the world markets should learn to speak in the widely understood terms which the market uses. We further update Aquilaria (agarwood) entries to CITES Appendix II listings and speculate that a new generation of young aromatic material users will only have the opportunity to experience adulterated or low grade plantation products (for both gaharu & sandalwood qualities), and that  the 'old hands' in the trade are rapidly forgetting what the 'real stuff' used to smell like. We substantiate this theory by quoting the amounts of both West African sandalwood oil and logs, and the amount of Australian sandalwood logs delivered to East Indian Sandalwood distilleries. Smell a rat anybody?

In the next Cropwatch Newsletter we also feature a presentation by Professor Jurgen Reichling of the University of Heidelberg given at the 38th ISEO Symposium in Graz in Sept 2007 entitled “External application of essential oils in animals. In addition we feature a presentation by Dr. Hassan Khalid et. al. on “Trade of Sudanese natural medicinals and their role in human & wildlife healthcare.”

Cheers,

Tony.       

News from Cropwatch November 2007

Co-founder of Cropwatch, Tony Burfield, has been invited to give an address to the UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) Cosmetics Forum in Brussels on 9th November 2007, describing Cropwatch's activities in the aromatic sector, & focusing on the difficulties that SME's (micro-, Small & Medium sized Enterprises) have with the existing European Cosmetics Directive, its seven amendments and its forty or so technical adaptations to progress, with a view to its ultimate simplification. A simplification of the Cosmetics Directive was originally proposed to improve the competitiveness of industry within the EU, the world’s largest cosmetic market. However there are some signs that the EU Commissioners have been looking back over their shoulders and have seen how the Chinese cosmetics market is growing 10% year on year, a rate of expansion unmatched by the European market.   

Meanwhile Cropwatch has completed an extensive update of threatened species in the aroma raw materials trade, to be released shortly, and to be followed later by similar comprehensive review for non-aromatic cosmetic raw materials. The aroma materials review features several new areas of ecological concern, including balsams such as gurjun balsam, widely used as a fixative & cheap filler in perfume compounds. In addition we also highlight the pressure on linalol-containing essential oils by including new entries for ho wood oil, now that the market understands that the Chinese authorities are currently preventing linalol chemotypes of Cinnamomum camphora trees from being destructively harvested. This will lead to severe shortages of ho oils (as has happened several times over the last several years) or may terminate their supply completely. As your readership may guess, we can now trace a progression of ecological pressure on linalol-bearing trees, from linaloe oil produced from chipped wood of the now severely threatened Mexican Bursera glabrifolia tree (which was introduced into India). The deterioration in quality of linaloe oil around 1920 or thereabouts led to the market looking to rosewood from French Guiana as a second best choice as a linalol-containing essential oil (in spite of what you may read elsewhere!). The over-exploitation of rosewood trees in French Guiana and eventually from Brazil, lead to scarcity & together with rising oil costs, has since favoured the use of ho oils. Although ho wood oil is neither an odour  match/substitute for rosewood oil, the rectified forms of ho oil with negligible camphor content have provided a highly exploitable source of 98-99% natural laevo-linalol, often at a bulk price cheaper than synthetic racemic linalol. Where will the market go now to find natural linalol? The answer perhaps lies with more extensive production coriander seed oil from which attractively-odoured dextro-linalol is easily isolated. Unfortunately coriander seed is currently quite scarce, and therefore the essential oil is relatively expensive.

Cropwatch updates contentious areas such as animal products used in fragrances, and examines the differing interpretations of CITES meeting outcomes over animal by-products such as ambergris, as shown by national governments (e.g. Australia). We also feature a definition of natural products which includes no animal-derived materials and the key phrase "must benefit the poor". As an example of matters working in the opposite situation, we look at the Buchu oil situation in South Africa. In spite of industry trade hype and grandiose statements from SA government agencies talking up the future of SA buchu oil production, the situation on the ground has not been properly explained. Whilst the manner in which wild-gathering of buchu (which included uprooting the plant from the ground, including the roots) undoubtedly further endangered its ultimate survival, it also gave desperately needed income to S. African peoples, some 20% of whom live in total abject poverty. Now legal moves on buchu gathering (permits are required for growing & gathering) give powerful sole rights to rich farmers and prevent “buchu poaching”, ultimately endorsing an industry which has been described as “plagued by Mafia-like hierarchy and overt corruption” (Ashoton 2003). Its' hard to see how these moves can "benefit the poor", rather, as with many other valuable aroma products, the rich seem to get richer, at the direct expense of the poor.

In the update we look more intently at the sandalwood industry and Australian officials’ apparent ambitions to corner the market, & we suggest by inference that government scientists who talk-up the sandalwood oil prospects in the world markets should learn to speak in the widely understood terms which the market uses. We further update Aquilaria (agarwood) entries to CITES Appendix II listings and speculate that a new generation of young aromatic material users will only have the opportunity to experience adulterated or low grade plantation products (for both gaharu & sandalwood qualities), and that  the 'old hands' in the trade are rapidly forgetting what the 'real stuff' used to smell like. We substantiate this theory by quoting the amounts of both West African sandalwood oil and logs, and the amount of Australian sandalwood logs delivered to East Indian Sandalwood distilleries. Smell a rat anybody?

In the next Cropwatch Newsletter we also feature a presentation by Professor Jurgen Reichling of the University of Heidelberg given at the 38th ISEO Symposium in Graz in Sept 2007 entitled “External application of essential oils in animals. In addition we feature a presentation by Dr. Hassan Khalid et. al. on “Trade of Sudanese natural medicinals and their role in human & wildlife healthcare.”

Cheers,

Tony.       

WaterWitch on Fantasy or Function

The WaterWitch has a long post regarding the problems of synthetic raw ingredients being used by the small business handmade product makers, and how Croda, an ingredient manufacture, is pulling back from selling their products to the small manufacturers:

Small home based, uninsured, unqualified manufacturers selling products that are untested, preserved via guesswork rather than proper testing channels, and sold to unsuspecting customers who think they are buying something "better" than the commercial, mass-produced products...and who instead, in far too many cases, are just getting cheap imitations, present an increasing risk to companies like Croda.  But not because small home based businesses are actually becoming competition...but because of the volume of small home based businesses.

She goes on to discuss the problem in more detail

One brief visit to any online discussion list for making soap or other cosmetics, is a give away that few of the people who sell, have insurance to protect their customers in case if injury.  Few, know anything about the actual ingredients they formulate with, other than generalities.

Far too many find a recipe [or for the more advanced...a formula!]; buy the ingredients, whip up a batch in the kitchen, and hit the craft fair to sell their "handmade lotion".

Is that legal? Absolutely! There is NO SAFETY TESTING REQUIRED for cosmetics or cosmetic ingredients in the USA.  The list of ingredients actually banned, is very short if you are in the USA. 

Now, the corporations selling these ingredients do conduct research, and their corporate customers, on the other hand, DO carry insurance.  Do test their products for safe preservation.

That's what I find so sad about the direction the whole handmade, handcrafted, natural, botanical cosmetics industry has taken.

When I was first involved, the corporations had spys going to craft fairs, Trade Shows like ExTracts, and farm markets.  They were there to pick up on the trends, the hot items, the new ingredients among naturals/botanicals.

The corporations tried to look more handcrafted, more handmade, with both their formulas and their packaging and labeling. They saw the trends, then became part of the trends. Not so any more.

The commercial lines are now the trend setters, and the handmade/handcrafted businesses are copying them!

The post closes giving examples of several small makers who have successfully made the transition to a successful natural/organic manufacturer and can serve as role models.

The current crop of "learn it online" handcrafters are no competition for these role models, much less the corporate lines.

As someone who has been the aromatics industry for almost fifteen years, I can't help but agree with her.

EcoPort: A Biodiversity Data Base Tool

When I first discovered EcoPort:the consilience engine I was quite excited. I had discovered a tool for classifying and tracking the biological diversity of the Earth, in particular, from my interest point, the aromatic diversity. After I had explored it a bit, I began to realize that this tool has the potential for doing what I wanted, but because the database is not populated to any great degree for aromatic plants, it probably isn't as useful as I had hoped.

The database has a powerful and fast search engine that allows searching its own and several other databases. I tested it with lavender and vetiver. Searching for all entities with lavender brings a long list of animals and plants with lavender in their name; you need to limit the search to Plants.  Once you get the list of plants, you can click on a link to pictures, or to a main entry. You can then get a lot of information about the plant, its biology, its uses, etc. There are some links to other databases with additional information.

Ecoport is like Wikipedia in that it is designed for the users to enter additional information.  You need to be an editor and I get the impression that there aren't that many. To make it truly usable for aromatic plants, our community needs to organize the effort to update the database. We have our own databases that have been developed by individuals and who usually hope to be compensated for their hard work, so it may be difficult to find volunteers or public domain information to update the Ecoport database with.

If you want to find out more about this tool, you can link to their information page for a good description of the goals and purposes. But the best way to find out about it is to jump in with both mouse fingers to the entry page and then the search engine.  Browse around and try it out. Or check out the sponsors page that lists 208 organizations throughout the world that have supported or participated in Ecoport.

Events of Interest

ALLIANCE OF INTERNATIONAL AROMATHERAPISTS:  After 5 years of developing educational newsletters and teleconferences as well as a staging a successful conference in 2005, the group formed as Aromatics in Action has officially launched under their new name, Alliance of International Aromatherapy. Now a fully-formed 501(c)3 nonprofit, they are holding their second major conference in Denver CO October 18-21, entitled Celebrating the Past - Creating the Future of Clinical Aromatherapy.  Presentation topics are diverse and contemporary and are sure to challenge and excite those who attend, covering safety issues, sustainability, clinical research, product quality and purity, global and planetary healing and a wide range of issues confronting aromatherapy. . . including, very smartly, a session on Growing a Successful Organization presented by Sonja Simpson who will help inform strategies as a potential plan of action for the continued success of AIA.  The efforts of this emerging organization are to be commended and the event appears a welcome turn towards a more progressive organized effort for aromatherapy in the U.S.  The only downside is that the event conflicts with other important gatherings in the broad range of interest to some who might otherwise attend.

WILD PLANT HARVEST: OPPORTUNITIES AND THREAT:  Aromatic plants, along with their medicinal, food and ornamental counterparts, are more and more frequently harvested from the wild, including public lands.  If harvested in a sustainable way, these nontimber forest products (NTFP's) can provide economic benefits to forests and the people who harvest them, largely in rural communities.  The 2007 Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium scheduled for Friday, October 19, will feature a variety of topics to address ecological implications, sustainable harvesting, policy issues and international trade, and other management issues.  Keynote luminary, Dr. James A. Duke will present a slide lecture covering Medicinal Plants of the bible featuring slides by Peggy Ann K. Duke and a highlight will be the presentation of an international, multidisciplinary collaborative effort to value the pharmaceutical potential of plant diversity of Cuc Phuong National Park in N. Vietnam, presented by Dr. Djaja Doel Soejarto, professor of pharmacognosy and biology, University of Illinois at Chicago.  Other featured speakers include Colin Donohue, executive director of the National Network of Forest Practitioners (NNFP), Dr. Tamara Ticktin, associate professor of botany U. of Hawaii at Manoa with others.  Online registration deadline October 12.

If you have a major symposium or conference you wish us to announce in this periodic column, please send information and internet link to info@aromaconnection.org.

Over-regulation Could Destroy Natural Aromatics

Cropwatch (Tony Burfield et al) presented a keynote paper on Regulation of Natural Aromatics at the  38th International Symposium on Essential Oils in Graz, Austria on 12th Sept. 2007. A copy of the full paper is posted on the Cropwatch website here. We'll be blogging about this in more detail, but if you have time, you should read the entire paper, which goes into many details about how natural aromatics are being over-regulated.

The paper presentation starts out with this historic photo:

  [Note to American Readers: this may seem less relevant to us because Cropwatch is trying to deal with the European Union regulations, but they are coming after us, too. Between the Codex attempts to "harmonize" food regulation, global trade laws, and side effects from confusion over the proper role of the FDA which under-regulates some things and over-regulates others, we may at some point find outselves fighting the same battles.]

Vietnam promotes crassna plantation for essential oil

Vietnam is expanding the land dedicated to the production of  what they call "do tram" which is actually Aquilaria crassna, the tree that is commonly known as Aloeswood, eaglewood, or agarwood, according to a press release on mathaba.net. They currently have more than 10,000 ha (hectares, or 25,000 acres) of do tram trees, and plan to add 30,000 additional ha (75,000 acres). It has been estimated that growers can earn a profit of 100-300 million VND ($6,200 - $18,600 in US$) per ha of do tram trees a year. According to a paper on the Conservation and use of Aquilaria crassna in Vietnam: A Case Study from 2001, the production of do tram in plantations should reduce the pressure on the wild populations, and it can be grown in plantations and is also suitable for under-canopy planting in agroforestry systems. The species has been identified as threatened in Vietnam due to exploitation of wild stocks, and it is on the 2007 IUCN Red List.

This appears to be another example of expecting the income to come soon, while in fact it may be many years before the trees grow to maturity, and in the case of this species, become infected with a fungus that actually produces a resin from the heartwood that is the valuable material that is used in incense and can be distilled into the essential oil called oud or oudh. The Vietnamese plan to transfer the technology for oil production to the farmers by 2010, which seems a bit premature. The wood must be damaged in order to stimulate the growth of the fungus. One seller of the wood claims that the best product comes from trees that are hundreds of years old, but that may just be hype. There has been research done in Thailand to see if mechanical methods can be used to stimulate aloes wood formation, but the results of one study suggest it isn't too successful.

Trygve Harris points out in this post from 2004 that the trees have been planted all over southeast Asia for the last 20 years, with the anticipation that there would be a great income from it--but that in fact the oil produced from the non-infected trees is very poor quality and has little economic value. As she points out in this post about the wild production, the process of wood collection (the best product comes from dead infected trees that have been on the forest floor) and distillation is very complex and time consuming.

So, given the probable increasing rarity of the wild trees, and the difficulties of producing fine quality oil from the plantation grown plants, we can probably continue to expect fine quality agarwood and oud oil will remain rare and expensive. And there will be those who promote the low quality oil as better than it is.

Technorati Tags: aquilaria crassna , aloeswood , agarwood , oud , oudh , vietnam , essential oils , threatened species , do tram , perfumery

CCD Diagnosis and solution may actually be at hand

Technorati Tags: CCD , Colony Collapse Disorder

An article published in Science on September 6 (and discussed in Technology Review) may actually be the solution to Colony Collapse Disorder, the malady that has been killing bees and which unchecked could be a major disaster for the pollination of plants, including aromatic plants. By running a genetic analysis on samples from 100 hives, they were able to identify a virus that is potentially the cause of the problem, Israeli acute paralysis virus of bees (IAPV). While the authors stressed that further research will be necessary to confirm this, they have made a good start, and the technique used shows potential as a method of identifying other toxic organisms in the future.

UPDATE: Sep.15. A post by the editor of BeeCulture on the Daily Green points out that these results have thrown the beekeeping world into a tizzy; Congress is considering banning bee importation from Australia where the virus originated but WTO rules may restrict them; the problem seems to appear here when the virus  encounters Varroa mites . . . there are lots of questions, but where are the answers?

CCD Diagnosis and solution may actually be at hand

Technorati Tags: CCD , Colony Collapse Disorder

An article published in Science on September 6 (and discussed in Technology Review) may actually be the solution to Colony Collapse Disorder, the malady that has been killing bees and which unchecked could be a major disaster for the pollination of plants, including aromatic plants. By running a genetic analysis on samples from 100 hives, they were able to identify a virus that is potentially the cause of the problem, Israeli acute paralysis virus of bees (IAPV). While the authors stressed that further research will be necessary to confirm this, they have made a good start, and the technique used shows potential as a method of identifying other toxic organisms in the future.

UPDATE: Sep.15. A post by the editor of BeeCulture on the Daily Green points out that these results have thrown the beekeeping world into a tizzy; Congress is considering banning bee importation from Australia where the virus originated but WTO rules may restrict them; the problem seems to appear here when the virus  encounters Varroa mites . . . there are lots of questions, but where are the answers?

The (pen)Ultimate Bee Blog

There is a blog dedicated to the problems of bees and Colony Collapse Disorder. It's Beepocalypse, and I have to admit they are a bit flip about the issue, but they are dedicated to the topic and let's face it--if we can't have a sense of humor about this stuff then we are in bigggger trouble than if the bees all disappear.

Speaking of bees and CCD, it is reported multiple places on the web that a paper that may have an explanation has been accepted for publication in Science. We'll see.

Notes and News

• The Montreal Gazette reports on lavender growing in Quebec.  Blue Lavende is a major tourist attraction in the Stanstead region, about 100 miles se of Montreal.
• A long and detailed article from Alternet speculates that the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder may be that "the bees [are] simply being worked to death." Based on numerous interviews with beekeepers, it is suggested, among other reasons, that too many hives, particularly from the commercial pollination industry, may be one of the causes.  I remember that when I was keeping bees over 40 years ago that the spacing of apiaries was strictly regulated, and there were also limits on the number of hives in an apiary. The commercial apiarists that have hundreds of hives that they transport around the country may exceed the "carrying capacity" of the natural environment. The article goes into a number of other suggestions for the causes.
• Another article in the July 2007 Discover Magazine looks at research being done by scientists who are trying to find out the causes of Colony Collapse Disorder. A number of theories are being investigated; some were not on the original lists discussed earlier in the blogs and on this blog.
• A note on thedailygreen reports that some members of the CCD Working Group have submitted a research paper to a major peer-reviewed journal suggesting that a virus has been identified that may contribute to CCD. Because of the peer review process, little information will be available until the article is published.

Notes and News

• The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released an action plan for dealing with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), according to an article in the da