the aromaconnection blog

Agro Forestry Tree Database

If you are looking for detailed information about essential oils and related products that are derived from trees, you need to know about the Agro Forestry Tree Database. I’ve added it to our list of databases on the right sidebar.

I’ve linked to the home page, which has search facilities so you can type in the name of a plant and get detailed information about Species identity, Ecology and Distribution, Propagation and management, functional uses, pests and diseases, additional information, a bibliography, and images of the tree.

The information provided is much more detailed than the summarized data that appears in Wikipedia, and probably has much more authority.

The web site also provides a downloadable copy of the data base and and downloadable desktop tool to map the range of the plants.

The Palm Oil Atrocity

Originally posted on La Vida Locadore (cross posted with permission) This is a timely post from outside the aromatic community to introduce Cropwatch’s recently updated List of Endangered and Threatened plants which is now in its 17th upgrade UPDATE: Tony has updated the List of Endangered and Threatened plants to include more information about the Palm Oil Situation. (search for Palm Oil in the pdf file—it’s about the third mention).

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Sun Dec 20, 2009 at 10:41:56 AM PST

I loathe to use a Ballardian catchword in the title but it conveys the sheer insanity and the destructive practices that the palm oil business does to our planet (if you have five minutes to spare please peruse the preceding linked pdf)

Now, thankfully (and quite possibly because of "gentle pressure"), we have the globe's two biggest food firms, Nestlé and Kraft, who have launched internal investigations after a Greenpeace report claimed both purchase palm oil from Indonesian company PT Smart whose parent group Sinar Mas allegedly engages in widespread illegal deforestation and peatland clearance in Indonesia.

One great poster here, rossl, has written extensively on the palm oil debacle and it is worth taking a look at the first of a series of diaries.                                       

In the UK, Marks & Spencer have also made new pledges about their use of sustainable palm oil, ramping up to using only certified oil in products by 2015. But, what is certified oil?

Palm oil is used in a broad range of consumer food and toiletries products, but its production has caused massive deforestation in South Asia, placing livelihoods of humans and habitats of forest animals like orangutans under severe threat.  

The growth of Indonesia's palm oil industry is blamed for turning the country into the world's third-largest emitter of CO2 after China and the United States. Additionally Indonesia also has the fastest rate of deforestation, losing an area the size of Wales every year (every year more than 8.5 million hectares of tropical rainforests are being razed worldwide.)

According to Grist deforestation is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries, amounting to roughly 20 percent of overall emissions. 20%! The issue was also one of the key issues debated at the Copenhagen climate change summit.

Under the draft text of the rules, known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), oil palm plantations created by clearing rainforests would qualify for payments from a new scheme in which rich countries would pay developing countries for storing carbon in trees.

The Jakarta Times reported that Unilever has also decided to suspend the annual contract worth US$32.5 million after it obtained photographic evidence of Sinar Mas clearing protected rainforests, including reserves for Indonesia's endangered orangutan population.

"We have received very serious allegations against Sinar Mas and we had no choice but to suspend future purchases from them," Unilever's vice-president for communications, Gavin Neath, told The Times. Sinar Mas's actions break Indonesian law and highlight how membership of the RSPO alone is not sufficient proof of a company's environmental credentials, alleges Greenpeace. A Unilever spokesperson told FoodNavigator.com: "The Greenpeace claims about (PT SMART) breaking RSPO guidelines are too serious for us to ignore."

What's the benefit of Palm oil? It is a form of vegetable oil derived from the oil palm tree (Elais guineensis) mostly produced on plantations in the tropics, notably in South East Asia. In  every supermarket shelves you will find that at least 10% of all products are made from palm oil: frying oil, biscuits, chips, chocolate, instant noodles, ice cream, cakes, mayonnaise and so much more, the list is very long.

It does not stop there. Broken down to form derivative products, it is  also used in soaps, shampoo, cosmetics and detergents and in the metal and leather industries. Palm kernel meal, which is extracted from the same plant, is used as livestock feed.

Here are a few examples of the questions you might ask yourself: what links breakfast margarine with the repression of indigenous people in Indonesia? Were your leather shoes made at the expense of the rainforests? What do crisps and biscuits have to do with the enforced displacement of rural populations?

"Around three-quarters of the world's oil palm is grown in Indonesia and Malaysia where much of the recent expansion of the industry has been onto peatland and into tropical rainforest," according to Unilever's website. "The clearance and burning of South-East Asia's peat forests release 2bn tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. According to some estimates, deforestation in Indonesia alone accounts for 4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions - making it the third-highest emitter behind the US and China."

However the company believes the link between the cultivation of oil palm and climate change can be broken by creating a market that is sustainable and certified. Read my lips: sustainable palm oil is simply snake oil in a clever disguise.

Many manufacturers and retailers are using palm oil in great quantities to stimulate supply and demand regardless of its huge environmental impact in South Asia, where forests have been cleared to make way for more plantations. The devastation has displaced both humans and animals that live in forest regions, and makes a big contribution to carbon emissions.

The WWF has now graded 25 major users of palm oil in Europe (world's largest consumer), to see how much of the available "sustainable" palm oil they are using.

"The top scoring companies have shown what's possible, with some buying fairly substantial quantities but now it's a question of whether the majority will follow," Adam Harrison, WWF's senior policy officer for food and agriculture. "If they do, it will transform the market, giving producers the confidence to grow more sustainable palm oil. If they don't, there will be grave consequences for the environment."

Low-scoring retailers included Aldi, Waitrose, Boots, Morrisons, Co-op and Tesco. While no company achieved the maximum 29 points, amongst the highest scorers were Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer, Cadbury and Nestle.

The publication of the scorecard follows an announcement from Nestle this week that it will use only sustainable palm oil by 2015. But as I said above: sustainable palm oil may not be sustainable after all. You might like to read what Friends of the Earth have to say on the matter:

After a complain from Friends of the Earth International the UK advertising watchdog has ruled that claiming palm oil is "sustainably produced" is false advertising.

The link is posted above.

Palm Oil names, what to look out for on the labels:

Sodium Laureth Sulphate (Can also be from coconut)
Sodium Lauryl Sulphates (can also be from ricinus oil)
Sodium dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS)
Palmate
Palm Oil Kernel
Palmitate

Cosmetics:

Elaeis Guineensis
Glyceryl Stearate
Stearic Acid (may also come from other sources, but not likely in today’s environment – Rob)

Chemicals which contain palm oil:

Steareth -2
Steareth -20
Sodium Lauryl Sulphate
Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (coconut and/or palm)
Hydrated palm glycerides
Sodium isostearoyl lactylaye (derived from vegetable stearic acid)
Cetyl palmitate and octyl palmitate (and anything with palmitate at the end)

Technorati Tags: Indonesia,Orang Outang Destruction,Illegal Earth Scorching,Deforestation,Environment,Palm oil

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Notes & News

A new lemongrass variety “suwarna” has been developed by the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants to address drought conditions with a limited amount of planting material released in Uttar Pradesh.  This new variety will produce about 200 kg of oil per hectare as compared to normal varieties that produce about 100-124 kg per hectare. This is an attempt to diversify the income of farmers, particularly those in drought-affected areas.

The International Aloe Science Council presents a scientific primer on aloe. IASC has assembled a comprehensive document exploring the different varieties of aloe, their health properties, cultivation techniques and more. Download this e-book to learn about:

• commonly traded aloe species primarily used in the nutrition industry, and key components;
• cultivation considerations;
• aloe vera as a market commodity, including pricing information;
• a detailed appendix on aloe species; and
• details on requirements for organic certification.

The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) has appointed Aurore Boudet scientific and regulatory affairs manager. She will focus on the management and implementation of the IFRA code of practice, IFRA standards, and the compliance program.

The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) has formed an environmental adjunct group to support the expert panel’s efforts in environmental assessment of fragrance materials and development of IFRA Environmental Standard.  The group includes Michael McLachlan, professor of analytical environmental chemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden, and Beate Escher, deputy director of the national research centre for environmental toxicology, University of Queensland, Australia.  These appointments bring expertise in advising RIFM, especially  in the areas of environmental fate and bioaccumulation.

We at aromaconnection want to remind our community to support an outstanding nonprofit effort: United Aromatherapy Effort (UAE), headed up by Sylla Sheppard-Hanger, was founded in 2001 to support emergency and disaster relief workers by providing rejuvenating aromatherapy and massage services during long and arduous rescue efforts after 9-11.  The group continues to solicit aromatherapy supplies and monetary donations to provide support to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.  We urge you to visit the UAE website to learn how you can contribute.

Does Jojoba Oil Contain Myristic Acid?

Jojoba Oil or Wax from Simmondsia chinensis is claimed on several thousand web sites to contain Myristic Acid, but I have found no evidence that it is present in more than a trace amount. I began looking into this while researching Jojoba oil for Samara Botane’s new website (still a work in progress). When I started looking into it (via Wikipedia—not necessarily a good source) and a variety of other sources, I found that things are somewhat confusing. This article reveals the sordid truth.

Note for the chemistry impaired: The naming conventions for fatty acids are somewhat confusing, with many different names often used for the same acid. To reduce the confusion factor, it has become a convention to refer to a fatty acid by a C followed by a two part number with a colon in between denoting the number of carbon atoms and the number of double or triple bonds, e.g. C14:0 is myristic acid which has 14 carbon atoms and no double or triple bonds. Monounsaturated acids have one double bond e.g. C18:1 oleic acid, and polyunsaturated acids have multiple double bonds e.g. C18:2 is linoleic acid and C18:3 is linolenic acid.
An Ester consists of an acid and an alcohol connected into a single compound, but apparently when identified by MSGC, the two components show up as separate peaks.

Jojoba Oil

Jojoba Oil is a liquid wax produced from the seed of Simmondsia chinensis, a shrub native to the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico. According to Wikipedia, it is a mixture of long chain wax esters, 36 to 46 carbon atoms. It is liquid at room temperature, which is why it is called a liquid wax, or an oil—even though it is not an oil. The long chain esters consist of a fatty acid that is attached to an alcohol by an ester bond. What this means, apparently, is that jojoba oil can appear to be constituted of fatty acids and fatty acids as well as the fatty ester that it is actually made up of. Note that this particular chemical makeup appears to be unique to jojoba, although it has some characteristics similar to human sebum and whale oil, which is one of the reasons that it is valued in the cosmetics industry.

Although as we shall see, the claims vary, the principle fatty acids in Jojoba wax according to Wikipedia are Eicosenoic C20:0 (66-71%), Docosanoic C22:0(14-20%) and Oleic C18:1 (10-13%). Price (1999) counts it up differently, with Saturated fatty acids palmitic C16:0 (11%), stearic C18:0 (71%), arachidic C20:0 (14%); monounsaturates oleic C18:1 (6.7%) and curiously not mentioning myristic acid at all in his Principal Constituents table on p. 85.

Myristic Acid

Myristic Acid is also called tetradecanoic acid or C14:0. It is classified as a medium chain fatty acid because it has 14 carbon atoms and it is a Saturated fatty acid because it has no double or triple bonds. It is named after the nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) where it was originally isolated,  It is also found in palm oil, coconut oil, butter fat, and spermacetin, the crystallized fraction of oil from the sperm whale. Note that Wikipedia, the source for the above information, doesn’t mention jojoba.

The Claims

Since Price didn’t mention myristic acid in his table of Principal Constituents, I was curious as to why he stated on p. 86 that jojoba “contains myristic acid which is an antiinflammatory (sic) agent . . .”. To find out I did a Google search on “Jojoba”, “Myristic Acid” and to my amazement got 57,100 hits. Admittedly, just because these two terms occur in the same webpage doesn’t mean they are actually connected, but browsing through the first 20-40 hits revealed they they all were connected, with statements like “It contains myristic acid which also has an anti-inflammatory action”, “Jojoba also contains myristic acid, which has anti-inflammatory properties”, “Organic jojoba contains a natural anti-inflammatory called myristic acid”, all of which were clearly referring to jojoba. I added the term “anti-inflammatory” to my search and now got 2,190 hits.

Of course most of the top level hits were from commercial sites trying to sell jojoba oil and apparently not going beyond reading p. 86 in Price. About 50 hits down, I started getting into some books that I thought might reveal the truth. I’m not going to provide a complete list here, but suffice it to say that several supposedly authoritative books are getting crossed off my list of sources. I eventually jumped ahead to 300 or more, and here I started getting a higher number of hits that listed ingredients or had several oils on one page and were not claiming myristic acid in jojoba—but there were still a number of the same old claims. Finally, after 626 hits, Google stopped delivering new stuff, so I gave up on that search phrase, and started to try to find something more authoritative. I added “MSGC”  or “Composition” to my search.

The Facts

The first thing I found a table that showed the constituents of jojoba by chain length, starting with C16 and going up to C24 (Kleiman 1990).  No C14 here.

Next, I found the original study from 1975 (National Academy of Sciences, 1975). Table 2 shows the Alcohol/Acid Structures of Jojoba Oil Determined by Gas Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry, and Ozonolysis. This should be an authorative source! And it mentions C14:0 as well as C12:0 and C16:0. All three were found in “trace” amounts. Effectively, no C14:0 here.

OK, what about Wisniak’s book about Jojoba? Table 1-26 is the same table as the 1975 NAS study and Spencer et al, but “trace” is defined as 0.01-0.05%. Not much C14:0 here either. Table 1-27 looks at the Jojoba Oil Wax Ester Composition and breaks down the long chain esters by their Alcohol/acid combination. No C14 in the table, as would be expected. Table 1-28 looks at the Composition of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters and Fatty Alcohol Acetates Derived from Jojoba Wax. Again C12, C14, and C15 acids are only in trace quantities.

Here’s another without C14:

Triglyceride compounds isolated from jojoba seed oil by column chromatography were composed predominantly of C_18′ C_20′ C_22′ and C₂₄ n−9 fatty acids with minor amounts of saturated C₁₆. (van Boven et al Abstract)

And another:

The results wax indicated that the main constituents in jojoba wax were various kinds of wax esters, namely eicosenyl octadecenoate (C20:1-C18:1)(1), eicosenyl directly, eicosenoate (C20:1-C20:1)(II), docosenyl eicosenoate (C22:1-C20:1)(III), eicosenyl docosenoate (C20:1-C22:1)(IV) and tetracosenyl eiosenoate (C24:1-C20:1)(V). . . . The concentrations of the wax esters I, II and III, in jojoba wax were 5.5, 21.4 and 37.8%, respectively. (Tada et al)

Finally, I did find one curious document on the Internet (Simon, 2006)that possibly needs to be given some credence and which includes myristic acid among the constituents of Jojoba Oil. It has no documented sources so it’s not clear where the information came from. It is a “Technical Memorandum” written for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) listing secondary Constituents of Interest (COI) for substances used or produced at the Dow Chemical Plant in Midland, Michigan. This list was to be used to identify pollutants in the nearby rivers that might have originated in the plant. The purpose of this document was to resolve discrepancies in their data base, and one of the entries is (in a table entitled CASE NARRATIVE – Multi-Compound Listings):

456

Jojoba Ester – High Internal Phase (Myristic Acid, Palmetic (sic) Acid, Oleic Acid, Eicosenic Acid, Erucic Acid, Nervonic Acid, Eiconsenol, Docosenol, Tetracosenol)

DOW RESOLVED. Multi-compound listing individual components are [544-63-8] myristic acid, (remainder of items omitted here – rs)

The number in [] brackets is the CAS number of myristic acid.

Conclusion

Based on the studies referenced above, there are no appreciable amounts of myristic acid in jojoba oil. This doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t genetic or geographic variation (Busson-Breysse et al), but I haven’t found any evidence that that has occurred. If anyone is to make a valid claim that there is C14:0 in jojoba, they need to present their proof. In the meantime, Internet vendors should stop making claims that Jojoba Oil contains Myristic Acid.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jojoba_oil Accessed 9/19/2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myristic_acid Accessed 9/19/2009

Busson-Breysse J., M.Farines, J.Soulier, “Jojoba wax: Its esters and some of its minor components” in Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, 71 (1994) Abstract accessed 9/20/2009.

Clark, Sue Essential chemistry for safe aromatherapy, Elsevier, 2002 Accessed in Google Books 9/19/2009

Kleiman, R “Chemistry of New industrial Oilseed Crops”  http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/v1-196.html#Table%205 accessed 9/19/2009

National Academy of Sciences, 1975. Jojoba: Feasibility for Cultivation on Indian Reservations in the Sonoran Desert Region. Accessed on Google Books.

Price, Len, Carrier Oils for Aromatherapy & Massage, Third Edition. Stratford-upon-Avon: Riverhead Press, 1999.

Simon, PB and Simon, PM “Technical Memorandum to Mr. Allan Taylor, MDEQ Waste and Hazardous Materials Division” , Dec 1, 2006. PDF Accessed 9/20/2009.

Spencer, G.F, RD Plattner and T. Miwa, “Jojoba Oil Analysis by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry” Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society, 1977 Accessed 9/20/2009.

Tada, Atsuko, Zhe-Long Jin, Naoki Sugimoto, Kyoko Sato, Takeshi Yamazaki, Kenichi Tanamoto “Analysis of the constituents in jojoba wax used as a food additive by LC/MS/MS,” Shokuhin Eiseigaku Zasshi. 2005 Oct ;46 (5):198-204 16305174 (P,S,G,E,B) Abstract accessed 9/20/2009

Van Boven M., RA Holser, M , Cokelaere, E. Decuypere, C Goveaerts and J. Lemy, “Characterization of triglycerides isolated from jojoba oil,” Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, 77 (2000) Abstract accessed 9/20/2009.

Wisniak, J., The Chemistry and technology of jojoba oil. American Oil Chemists Society, Accessed on Google Books

Technorati Tags: Jojoba Oil,jojoba wax,myristic acid,jojoba oil composition

Call for Support for Firefighters/Victims in Australia

United Aromatherapy Effort is helping to mobilize efforts and donations to help wildfire relief efforts throughout Australia.  Any supplies or monetary donations would be welcome.

AUSTRALIAN WILDFIRES
March 21, 2009 NEWS: CALL TO ACTION
Once again the amazing power of the internet, and all our interconnections have enabled us to network this call to Action (feel free to forward).
We are mobilizing to help out with the teams already working for the Wildfire Relief Effort. The Australian Practitioners Emergency Response Network (APERN) exists to help frontline emergency workers fulfill their duties in an emergency/critical incident and to support volunteers and victims in a caring and compassionate way. The blog: http://therapistsunite.blogspot.com/2009/03/apern-bulletin-tuesday-10th-march-2009.html. It emerged from the events of Black Saturday, the 8th February, 2009 when extensive bush fires in resulted in over 200 deaths. APERN is still in its formation stages and they are all volunteers. In addition Hands on Health Australia or HOHA http://www.handsonhealth.com.au/ aims to assist communities to improve the delivery of health and other services to marginalized people, utilizing the resource of community volunteers. They are looking at setting up 7 community clinics. At present some clinics are running and others are still in progress. Some communities around Whittlesea are only just returning to their homes to begin the rebuilding stage. There are 7000 people still homeless and living in tents, having survived one of the worst tragedies. (News links on the UAE site if you need a reminder.)
Supplies (respiratory blends, relaxation, clinic supplies like towels/base oils, etc) can be sent to Tuesday Browell (tuesdaybrowell@bigpond.com) 424 High Street, Echuca, Victoria Australia. 3564 mobile ph is.0428342957.
In addition Ron Guba/Essential Therapeutics in Melbourne is collection donations for oil supplies if you want to purchase local supplies toward the Relief effort: visit http://www.essentialtherapeutics.com.au he will see your purchase is mixed into respiratory blends, or other useful products and delivered via the above organizations. Ultrasonic diffusers would be great for the seven clinics if someone wants to contribute those, contact Sheriar Irani in Sydney www.subtleenergies.com.au
This is a great quick way we can help rather than sending our own supplies.
Thank you in advance for any support as we mobilize globally to help out when we can. Please feel free to forward this to any other lists or organizations, and other caring aromatic friends.

Sylla Sheppard-Hanger
www.UnitedAromatherapy.org

Sassafras oil distillers help destroy Cambodian forest

Copyright © Tony Burfield March 2009.

Illicit manufacturers of MDA, MDEA & MDMA (ecstasy) can utilise safrole from safrole-rich essential oils such as sassafras oil and “brown” camphor oil as starter materials (precursors). Therefore safrole & sassafras oils are designated as controlled substances in many countries, and safrole is listed as a Table 1 precursor under the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. Since sassafras trees (Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees) grow wild in the Eastern parts of the US, the Drugs Enforcement Agency has made safrole a List 1 substance under the under the Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act, and it is unlawful to trade safrole & safrole-rich substances for illicit drug-manufacturing purposes. There are legitimate uses for safrole however - these include the manufacture of the aroma chemical heliotropin (‘cherry pie’) and the knock-down insecticide piperonyl butoxide. Interestingly, there is a tradition of drinking sassafras tea, of using sassafras as in ingredient in sarsaparilla drinks, and making root beer from the inner bark of young sassafras tree roots. Dried ground sassafras leaves, in the form of aromatic filè powder, is also used in cooking, being stirred into traditional Southern dishes just before serving. The FDA made sassafras a prohibited ingredient for food & beverages in 1976, since it is a weak experimental animal carcinogen (rats, mice) - Daimon et al. (1998). It has to be said that there is some resistance amongst many US citizens in accepting that safrole is actually the heptacarcinogen it is made out to be. The latest EFFA Code of Practice for example lists safrole both as carcinogen category 2, and as a mutagen category 3m. It is fair to day that the amount of evidence for safrole’s role in human carcinogenicity is scanty, even at this point in time, although there is very limited evidence of oral cancers from long-term safrole exposure from betel-leaf and areca-nut chewing practices (Chen et al. 1999). So the traditions of sassafras tea drinking (often made from the sassafras tree’s twigs & leaves) still persists in places, such as is still found within N. American Indian communities in Eastern parts of Canada. In the Eastern US, many citizens regard the right to use sassafras as part of their cultural inheritance, although any commercial root beer listing sassafras as an ingredient is now made with safrole-free sassafras extract.

N. American sassafras essential oil has a sweet-spicy peppery odour, with an underlying woodiness; the dry-out on a perfumers strip being invariably spicy and woody. Safrole has a cleaner, candy-like odour and its previous uses in perfumery included deployment in re-odourant formulae & soaps. In flavourings safrole was used as an ingredient to flavour medicinal products and confectionery. IFRA prohibits the addition of safrole to fragrances as such, and limits the safrole content of perfumes formulated with safrole-containing essential oils (basil, nutmeg, sassafras, cinnamon leaf etc.) to 0.01% for both skin contact & non-skin contact fragrances. This causes a potential problem for utilization of many safrole-containing fragrance ingredients, such as nutmeg butter; safrole-free versions of various aromatic nutmeg ingredients are commercially available, but often lack the spicy-sweetness and body of the authentic versions.

In South America, the safrole-rich chemotype of Brazilian sassafras tree Ocotea pretiosa (Nees) Mez. has been over-exploited as a safrole-source (there is also a methyl eugenol chemotype). As early as 1966 Mors and Rizzini (Mors & Rizzine 1966) noted that O. pretosia was becoming scarce in Santa Catarina due to uncontrolled exploitation and the natural slow growth of the tree. So Brazil went from being a major supplier of sassafras oil in the ‘sixties, to being a minor supplier in the nineties. Vietnam took over the role of being the major supplier, felling the tree Cinnamomum parthenoxylon (Jack) Meisn. to distill the roots to produce hundreds of tons of sassafras oil Vietnamese annually. Cropwatch (2007) declared the tree as now being critically endangered in Northern & Central Vietnam. Other geographic sources of safrole include Yunnan, China, where C. parthenoxylon, Sassafras tzumu & fractions of C. camphora are utilized for domestic piperonyl butoxide & heliotropin manufacture.

In S.W. Cambodia, sassafras trees (‘Mreah Prew Phnom’) Cinnamomum parthenoxylon are especially found amongst the 2 million ha. of forest within the Cardamom mountains. On-going investigations of illegal oil-producing activity were started in 2004 by the Flora & Fauna International Group. In a recent move, made together with help from the Ministry of the Environment, illegal distilleries were discovered within the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, run by Vietnamese syndicates, producing sassafras oil from the shredded roots & trunk of the Mreah Prew Phnom trees

Rangers from the Phnom Sankos Wildlife Sanctuary prepare to dismantle illicit sassafras oil still. Credit D. Bradfield – FFI. (used with permission.)

Subsequent action by the Royal Cambodian Armed forces dismantled 2 factories and led to 2 arrests. Tim Wood, FFI Field Co-ordinator at the Phnom Samkos Sanctuary is quoted as expressing grave concern that the harvesting of these trees is destroying the fragile eco-system habitats within the sanctuary. The FFI press release describes the pollution of streams used for cooling water for the distillation, and mentions the abstraction of fuel wood to drive the distillation process. Local peoples fear that this rate of abstraction could push the forest & Mreah Prew Phnom trees to the brink of extinction within 5 years. As a mark of their success, the 25^th Feb 2009 FFI press release also mentions the fact that in June 2008, 33 tons of illicitly produced sassafras oil were destroyed, and the 2009 FFI raids reported above have to be put in context – since previously in 2006 there were some 75 operating stills in the Western Cardamom Mountains. Now however, the FFI are apparently facing funding problems and need economic help to continue their work.

References.

Chen C.-L., Chi C.-W., Chang K.-W., & Liu T.-Y. (1999) "Safrole-like DNA adducts in oral tissue from oral cancer patients with a betel quid chewing history." Carcinogenesis 20(12), 2331 - 2334

Daimon H., Sawada S, Asakura S. & Sagami F. (1998) "In vivo genotoxicity and DNA adduct levels in the liver of rats treated with safrole." Carcinogenesis 19, 141-146.

Flora & Fauna International 25^th Feb 2009. “‘Ecstasy oil’ distilleries raided in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains.” Media Release, Phnom Penh, Cambridge.

IRIN –UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs “Cambodia: Ecstasy tabs are destroying the forest wilderness” – see http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79340

Mors & Rizzini (1966) Useful Plants of Brazil pub. Holden & Day, 1966.

Segelman A.B., et al (1976). "Sassafras and herb tea: potential health hazards." JAMA 236(5),477.

Technorati Tags: sassafras essential oil,brown camphor essential oil,ecstasy,safrole

The Senate affects Aromatics Stimulus

I took a look at the list of items cut from the Stimulus package by the Senate compromise team. Several items that will be cut may affect aromatics in the US. These include:

• $100 million cut from Farm Service Agency Modernization
• $50 million cut from Cooperative State Resources, Education, or Extension
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation

What wasn’t indicated on the cut list whether there would be any funds remaining in these categories. What is clear that these cuts could potentially affect farming and farm services that might support aromatic crops. On the other hand, the proportion which might have trickled down to help aromatic crop farmers is probably small.

Final passage of the stimulus package in the Senate probably won’t come until Tuesday. There will then have to be a Conference Committee with the House to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills. It’s possible that some of these items might be put back in.

If you have any feelings one way or the other on this bill, you should contact your Senators or Congressperson.

Cropwatch Newsletter Jan 2009 Published

The most recent Cropwatch Newsletter Jan 2009 [pdf] has been sent to subscribers and posted on the Cropwatch website. There is also an html format post elsewhere on the web, and several of the articles in it were previously posted on this blog, so we won’t do more than summarize it.

The Newsletter starts out with an Editorial on the theme 2008: A Bad Year for Natural Aromatic Ingredients.  A Good Year for Industry Consultants and Ingredient Clerks, in which Tony discusses the REACH Process, Corporate Influence over IFRA and its affect on the use of Natural Products, and the effects of increasing market demand for natural ingredients on the sustainability of the natural environment.

The articles included in the Newsletter are:

1. The REACH Pre-registration Exercise – an Autopsy
2. Sandalwood – A Critical View of Developments
3. IFRA Gives Up Supporting Two More Natural Aromatics:
Opoponax & Styrax Next for the Chop
4. Frankincense – A Brief Catch-Up
5. The Art of Natural Perfumery: Under Threat from Natural &
Organic Cosmetic Certifying Organisations?
6. The Oakmoss & Treemoss Saga – Slight Return
7. GM Fragrance Anyone? – Hopefully No Takers
8. IFRA Workshop - Allergy Prevalence in Fragrance, November
4, 2008, Brussels, Belgium
9. More on Ylang-ylang oil

Articles 2, 3 and 4 are updated and slightly expanded from articles previously published on this blog. Click on the number for links to the posts here: 2 3 4 however you may want to read the PDF version to get the latest information.

Article 5 on the Art of Natural Perfumery is a detailed analysis and response to the various attempts by various organizations to develop Organic and Natural Standards to control the ingredients used. This topic has been previously discussed on this blog; you can find the articles filed under the category Standards. Tony takes several of the standards to task and closes his article with:

We could review proposals from other organisations, but we think you get the idea ….. both natural & organic cosmetics are a long way from living up to the promise of their descriptions. The lack of common sense is also worrying – for example, banning added synthetics such as UV filters (one thing that Cropwatch would allow) which as well as increasing the shelf-life of the product, arguably
help protect against the risk of solar/UV-induced skin cancer. This ban, taken with other considerations, means that evolving versions of natural & organic cosmetics may be in danger of becoming considerably less safe than conventional cosmetics.

Regarding natural fragrances, it can be guessed that many of us who have been involved in the teaching, promotion & development of the art of Natural Perfumery over the past several years may be getting a bit hot under the collar when whole classes of raw natural aromatic ingredients are suddenly declared “not natural” by the self-proclaimed officials of certifying organisations, who don’t appear have experience across all the areas they are proposing to regulate. The exclusion of concretes, absolutes & resinoids from an inventory of natural aromatics for fragrances intended for natural cosmetics may well pander to the more chemophobic amongst cosmetics customers. But the banning of petrochemical solvents cannot be justified on health grounds relating to supposedly harmful amounts of solvent residues that remain in these materials – since there is no health risk. We should also mention that there is a move to allow solvent extraction in the form of allowing CO2 extracts and bio-ethanol. The protagonists of these proposals do not make clear how they are going to determine whether the CO2 used in such processes is natural (i.e. produced by fermentation of natural materials etc.), or how they will propose to police the matter. Cropwatch’s guess is that (a) they haven’t thought about it and (b) they can’t guarantee it (thanks to Daniel Joulain for bringing this to our attention). The
proposed allowable use of bio-ethanol is welcome, but does not substitute for the elimination of other solvents.

We can clearly see that attempts by these certifying organisations to redefine natural cosmetics, and natural cosmetic/aromatic ingredients clearly bow to the business interests of the major international cosmetic companies and their customers, who are the potential cash-cows that these organisations are trying to milk. The multinational’s interests in the natural personal care sector has been plain enough for all to see – L’Oréal bought out The Body Shop, Estée Lauder did the same with Aveda & Clarins took over Kibio, just to mention three. That doesn’t mean to say that those of us working with natural products now have to dance to a tune played by the big corporates, or the organisations that suck up to them. We feel that many of the above-cited proposals & guidelines will be rejected by those purists who have been involved with natural perfumery to its
present point. You probably do not need Cropwatch to tell you that many experienced older perfumers have been found surplus to requirements lately by some of the Aroma Giants, probably because they are too expensive compared with younger perfumers. Many of these more experienced professionals are now working independently, making a living by creating natural perfumes. It is
unlikely, we feel, that this group will accept many of the definitions currently proposed by these Natural & Organic Cosmetic Certifying Organisations, and hopefully this group will become a growing influence in this area, for better values, independent of big industry’s requirements.

The Oakmoss/Treemoss article updates an article in this blog several months ago and announces that a detailed review of the lichens is planned for publication in Flavour and Fragrance Journal by mid-February 2009.

The GM Fragrance article discusses the progress? made in the floral products industry to increase the fragrance of flowers through GMO manipulation and the possibility that this will be a back door entry into the aromatics industry in spite of public opposition (especially in the EU) to Genetic Modification. The article contains several references and additional reading.

Brief comments on the IFRA workshop on Allergy Prevalence in Fragrance suggest a possible out for IFRA on the current over-regulation of the European cosmetics industry with a report that

sensitization to fragrance ingredients has decreased considerably over the years, and for some weak allergens, the rate of incidence is now so low that several thousands of subjects now need to be tested
to obtain one genuinely positive result.

The Ylang Ylang article is an update and correction to comments made in the previous Cropwatch Newsletter (Sept 2008) having to do with coniferyl benzoate in (or not in) ylang-ylang oil. Tony goes on to clarify the current status of the Ylang market.

All in all, a useful and interesting issue. Recommended reading for a variety of topics and interests.

Technorati Tags: REACH,Sandalwood,IFRA,Frankincense,Natural Perfumery,Oakmoss,Treemoss,GM Fragrance,Ylang-ylang

Sandalwood – A Critical View of Developments

by Tony Burfield December 2008

Four Santalum (Sandalwood) species are present in the IUCN Red List 2008, including the extinct Santalum fernandezianum. The more familiar Santalum album L. is one of the remaining three, being assessed as Vulnerable in 1998, but a more detailed breakdown of the eco-status of individual Santalum species from various geographical locations, with ancillary notes, is available on the Cropwatch website, in the A-Z Section of the latest update of the Threatened Aromatics Plants data-base, at http://www.cropwatch.org/Threatened Aromatic Species v1.09.pdf

A comprehensive Sandalwood bibliography, together with many abstracts & (often critical) Cropwatch comments, is also available at http://www.cropwatch.org/SandalwoodbibV.pdf. These two resources should help empower potential sandalwood oil buyers to decide for themselves, just how ethical their purchasing intentions might prove to be.

The shortage of Sandalwood oil East Indian has been caused especially by the ravages of spike disease and to a lesser extent by fire, vandalism, animal damage & by other factors, on the existing Indian Sandalwood forests in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and the ruthless over-exploitation of this declining resource by illegal distillers, smugglers and corrupt officials. Arguably the over-exploitation of Sandalwood only came about because of the persistent market demand for Sandalwood logs for incense, wood carving & furniture making, and the demand for Sandalwood oil itself (which some have estimated at 250 tons/annum), despite warnings of serious depletion from eco-aware groups. A few years back, some aromatherapy profession officials and certain aromatherapy essential oil trading group representatives belittled the threat to Sandalwood (see Cropwatch bibliography), and inferred that if any blame was to be apportioned at all, it should be laid at the door of the major users, the fragrance industry. You will note that even now, within the EU, nationally-run aromatherapy vocational courses still feature Sandalwood oil for study, in spite of representations from Cropwatch to the organisers. The incense trade, of course, have ignored their obligations almost completely, and as far as we can tell, many parts of the conventional perfumery trade have done the same.

Alexandre Choueiri (2008), head of Lancome UK, speaking at the Sandalwood Conference 2008, Kununurra, W. Australia , notes that of 7,000 classified fragrances since the year 1750, 3212 contain sandalwood notes. Drawing on data from Fragrances of the World by Michael Edwards, Choueiri makes the point that of (only) 106 current fragrances now listing Sandalwood, only 36 detail Indian Sandalwood, and of those, only 16 detail Mysore Sandalwood. Of the 36 fragrances marketed by leading fragrance houses, I counted 3 supplied by IFF, 2 by Robertet, 9 by IFF, 4 by Drom, 2 by Takasago & 3 by Firmenich Of these 16 current fragrances allegedly employing Mysore Sandalwood, 4 are supplied by IFF, 2 by Givaudin (Quest), 1 by Firmenich, and 1 by Symrise. So what are we to gather from this? That the use of Sandalwood oil in fragrances is in decline, but that major aroma corporates are still ruthlessly exploiting what remains of the world's Sandalwood reserves? If they are, they are not alone in doing this. Another speaker at the conference, Venkatesha Gowda, who works for the R&D Dept. of Karnataka Soaps & Detergents Ltd., a long-time manufacturer of Sandalwood soap, maintains that in spite of the official figures (14 tons/annum of Sandalwood oil exported from Tamil Nadu during 2007-8), the current (2008) annual production of Sandalwood is actually 3,000 - 4,000 tons and for Sandalwood oil it stands at 120-150 tons, of which 80 tons/annum of Sandalwood oil is consumed by the domestic market. Gowda also remarks that Sandalwood oil is adulterated by polyethylene glycols, African sandalwood oil (Osyris lanceolata), castor oil and coconut oil, and that he has been involved in planting Osyris lanceolata in India (but hopefully not with trees smuggled out of Tanzania!). As a passing comment, a simple solubility test with 70% ethanol can easily be carried out by prospective Sandalwood oil buyers (if you are unaware of the details, contact Cropwatch), which is often a good indicator of the presence of adulterants such as fixed oils. OK, its not rocket science, but sometimes it’s a good on-the-spot resort!

Also of interest, is the fact that the Lush company publicly own up to using 1 ton per annum of New Caledonian Sandalwood oil (see http://www.lush.co.uk/Shop/FeatureDetail.aspx?fdShopFeatureId=6888) and have forwardly contracted to buy TFS Australian sandalwood (Bird 2008), as confirmed by Mark Lincoln of Lush Australasia, speaking at the Kununurra Conference. Cropwatch has reservations about the ecological effects from the abstraction of such large volumes of Sandalwood oil from New Caledonia (bearing in mind that Lush are not the only buyers of the oil from this limited source); & none of the information presented on our various data-bases supports this rate of extraction (see for yourselves!). We remain open to persuasion that this policy can be truly sustainable, according to our strict interpretation of the word, but would only be too happy to review and post up any forwarded evidence to the contrary.

Of course it is well publicised that Australia has ambitions to become a major supplier of oil from Santalum album oil in the future (see the multitude of articles on this subject in the Cropwatch Sandalwood bibliography), and the Kununurra Sandalwood Conference 2008 can primarily be seen as a conference designed by TFS mainly to re-assure investors in Australian Sandalwood plantations. Indeed, the trade magazine Perfumer & Flavorist, once the flagship magazine for the industry, apparently reproduced the conference organiser’s promotional material without critical comment - to us, another sign of the slipping standards of this once-great magazine. Overall, Cropwatch remains skeptical of the ability of the Australian sandalwood machine to supply Sandalwood oils in the volumes estimated, of being an acceptable odour quality, & at a price that the market is prepared to pay, bearing in mind the current economic climate, the downward pressure on aroma ingredient prices, and the easy availability of cheap synthetic sandalwood aroma chemicals.

Cropwatch is persuaded that with proper policies & investments, some Sandalwood sources can be made truly sustainable, and we believe this may well the case in Vanuatu. However, taking pure Sandalwood oil East Indian as a benchmark, the odour profiles of Sandalwood oils from other geographical locations and/or other species are usually different in character, and lack fine notes, and may be over-sweet (as with East African Sandalwood oil) or predominantly woody-camphoraceous (as with Chinese Sandalwood oil), or just plain lacking in impact & character (as with Indonesian Sandalwood oil). From here, the future looks difficult for Sandalwood.

(All references can be located in the 68 pp. Sandalwood bibliography mentioned above).

Technorati Tags: Santalum,Sandalwood,Sandalwood bibliography,Mysore sandalwood,sandalwood sustainability Kununnurra Sandalwood Conference

Aromatics in Print

This is a new series that will review aromatics information found in the print media. When possible a web link will be provided. Items that have broader information available may stimulate a full blog post as a followup.

• Plants and People: Society for Economic Botany Newsletter, Volume 22, Fall 2008 announced a meeting held in Vietnam November 1-4, 2008: Cultivated Agarwood in Vietnam: A Guided Field Tour of Successful Agarwood Production in the Mekong Delta.  The seminar was organized by Seven Mountain Co. and presenters were Robert Blanchette, University of Minnesota, and Henry Heuveling van Beek.  For more information about Cultivated Agarwood (Aquilaria crassna) see this link. Plants and People is posted online in PDF format. We've blogged about agarwood in Vietnam earlier.
• This issue also included (p 15) a list of "Recent Publications on Medicinal Plants from India."
• The Herb Companion (January 2009) reviews the book: The Unlikely Lavender Queen by Jeannie Ralston, which is available at amazon.com.
• Herb Companion also has a short piece on home distillation of "Herbal Waters" and suggests that the distillation process destroys the antioxidant properties of the herbs distilled. They cite an article from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 55:8436-8443, "Antioxidant Activity and Phenolic Composition of Lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia Emeric ex Loiseleur) Waste (Abstract available but they still charge for the article).
• Herb Companion discusses and links to the new International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP) which, in my understanding, is still a work in progress. They also link to a newly formed Fairwild Foundation which will have responsibility for final implementation and the quality of the standard.
• The December issue of perfumer&flavorist leads off with and editorial: "Everyone's a Critic: Are Fragrance Bloggers and Critics Good for the Industry?" Jeb Gleason-Allured, the Editor concludes that "yes, fragrance criticism and bloggers are ultimately good for the industry. A lively and devoted discourse is the lifeblood of any art form, and fragrance has for too long been ignored. . ."
• In the same issue of p&f, there are a number of articles addressing the subject of naturals in the Fragrance industry: "(Not) Lost in Translation", p. 41; a sidebar on p. 42 on "the Challenge of Organics and Natural Material Sourcing"; "Defining 'Natural'" [a discussion of the Natural Products Association's Seal] on pp 44-46; "Natural Stories: Ylang-ylang" pp 47-51. There is also a review of a recent talk by New York Times scent critic Chandler Burr on "The Future of Naturals in Perfumery", p. 20. The editorial direction of P&F seems to be moving in the direction of accepting and using Natural products, probably under the Editorship of the (relatively) young Jeb Gleason-Allured, and Natural Products Editor Brian Lawrence.
• The November 2008 issue of the AARP Bulletin has a piece in its Health Section (p. 26) entitled "The Scent of Roses for Rosy Dreams." It references a study done in Germany in which researchers administered the scent of roses, rotten eggs, or an unscented control to 15 women after they entered REM sleep. When awakened one minute later, they reported their dreams. The rose resulted in dreams with a positive emotional tone, while the rotten eggs produced the opposite. A more detailed report on the study is online in Health News.

Technorati Tags: agarwood,Medicinal Plants,hydrosols,standards,blogging,natural products,rose scent