the aromaconnection blog

Notes and News

• Organic Monitor reports that there is an increase in the acreage of organic citrus groves in Florida. They focus on juice, but this should lead to better availability of organic citrus oils. 
• The C.A.M. Report has resurrected the Lavender/Tea Tree Gynecomastia issue again, by reposting an old post from 2007 without updating it to include information about challenges to the original research. 
• In the same post the C.A.M. report mentioned (without citation) a report that in 2005 essential oils were linked to 7,282 reports to poison control centers. UPDATE: JR forwarded the citation in a comment. He reported on this in the C.A.M. Report here. The article cited was here. The original source (PDF) of the data was the 2005 report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
• A new blog on food and local agriculture has been added to our Agriculture Horticulture link roll: La Vida Locavore.  Worth checking out if you like food.

Organic/Natural Standards to be Discussed at Upcoming Meeting

The big players in the Beauty Products World are gathering together in New York later this week at "The Natural Beauty Summit" to "create a forum to learn and discuss the key challenges the cosmetics industry faces in the areas of natural and organic products as well as sustainability" . . . or so says the program for the conference, to be held at the Hilton Hotel in New York City May 15-17. This is a followon to a similar summit in Paris last November, to be followed by a sequel, again in Paris, in October 2008.

Sponsored by Organic Monitor and Beyond Beauty Paris, the main focus of this conference will be Natural Cosmetics with a major session on Standard & Regulatory Issues followed by a panel discussion, and the next day a Natural Cosmetics Workshop focusing on "an assessment of the growing number of standards and certifications for natural and organic cosmetics . . . [with] a critical review of the major standards, comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences between them."

The list of standards and proposed standards that will be covered at the session is:

• A Retail products standard proposed by Whole Foods
• the USDA National Organic Program Standard applied to Cosmetics
• the American NSF Standard
• the OASIS Standard
• A review of European natural and organic standards harmonization
• ECOCERT and BDIH

The aromaconnection blog will be following these issues closely as they develop.  Notably missing from the above list is the NPA (Natural Products Association) standard we blogged about yesterday and last month. We are working on a table showing details of the standards and comparing their features.  In fact, we are probably duplicating what may show up in the proceedings of the NBS (if there are any), but we hope to get it into print sooner.

Organic Monitor, one of the co-sponsors of the NBS, predicts that 2008 will be the beginning of "an industry shake-up" as various standards are unveiled in Europe and North America. In this linked article, they reference several standards that are not included on the list above. They also express concern about fragmentation that could lead to a reduction of trade, but express also the "more optimistic view" that Cosmetics might follow the lead of the textile industry and develop a harmonized global standard.

In the meantime the infighting has already begun. OCA and Dr. Bronner's have challenged what they call "weak" ECOCERT and OASIS standards, according to this OCA Press Release widely reported in the media mid-March. And as we reported yesterday, the C.A.M. Report is somewhat skeptical of the whole idea.

We can probably look forward to an exciting year!

Technorati Tags: organic standards,natural standards,cosmetic standards,NSF,OASIS Standard,ECOCERT Standard,BDIH Standard

aromatisches Blog - Aromatics Blog

Das aromatische Blog widmet sich den Düften und Wohlgerüchen – dem Parfüm. (The aromatic blog devoted to the scents and smells good - the perfume.)

I've added a new blog to our perfumery blogroll: aromatisches Blog. It's in German, but can be easily translated with Google or other translation software, although the translations are a bit awkward.

Recent posts have discussed Benzyl Acetate (a constituent of jasmine); the difference between Perfume and Cologne; The history of perfume in Greece and mythology; working with crystalline materials; aromatic patchouli; the Berlin Botanical Garden (with plant photos); ESTEBAN patchouli perfume; the history of perfume in the Bible; and some great paintings from 1922 demonstrating that Perfume alone . . . is often not enough . . . you need to have some water.

The blog has been active since July 2007. Note that this blog is not strictly natural perfumery.

Aromatherapy Thymes Notable Launch

MrMagazine.com, a website/blog for the magazine industry, has declared Aromatherapy Thymes magazine as one of the "30 Most Notable Launches of 2007."

There are many health and medicine magazines jockeying for a position on today’s newsstands, but few give readers the type of information that Aroma Therapy provides which is why it has made it on the list of top launches for 2007.

Mr. Magazine has interviewed Patricia Carol Brooks, the Editorial Director, about the process of creating the magazine. She found her two biggest challenges to be "maintaining the integrity of the essential oil trade through informative articles and staying in contact with essential oil distillers in the U.S and abroad and coordinating the distribution channels for our market." By 2011 she expects the magazine to be "recognized worldwide as a reliable reference for aromatherapy and a publication that brought the distilling, trade, sell and distribution of essential oils to forefront."

There were a total of 715 new magazines launched in 2007, so this actually a fairly significant honor.

The blog link for the interviews is here. (The link above is to their web page, which is slightly abridged.)

The kind of aromatherapy article we don't need

An article about aromatherapy and essential oils has been published on Mike Adams Natural News web site.  Entitled Raise Your Immunity Frequency With Essential Oils to Beat the Common Cold, the article appears to have been cobbled together from old Young Living web sites and brochures--a mixture of science and pseudoscience that could tarnish the reputation of the Natural News web site, which has risen quickly to an Alexa rank of under 50,000 since its inception in late January.

The electrical engineer in me (BSEE 1965) has struggled for years with the concept of frequency as applied to essential oils. I've read what Young Living web sites say (mostly derived from Gary Young's book Aromatherapy: The Essential Beginning), looked at Bruce Tainio's web site, and read a bunch of stuff about Royal Rife. Since most of these materials are written in general terms (using technical terms that may or may not be understood by the person quoting them), it's hard to figure out exactly what they mean. Tainio, on his web site, is obviously amused by what he sees as misuse of the concepts he developed

If you find information about the frequency meter or about Bruce's research that did not originate from us, or that is not included in this web site, it may or may not be entirely accurate. Please remember to take it with a grain of salt. We do!

At any rate, I am both amused and chagrined by the attempt to use the frequency theory to justify and explain essential oil use. Even if the theory is valid (there seems be a dearth of published research) the author doesn't do a very good job of proving her case.

From an introduction explaining about frequency, she cites some research showing that stress or negative attitudes increase the likelihood of getting a cold (probably true), detours into avoiding antibiotics because they don't control viruses (also true) and throws in a pastiche of facts about colds, and eventually arrives at a conclusion: Lo, essential oils have a high frequency and can be used to raise the body's frequency, thus making it healthy!

Citing in vitro studies done by Young Living staff that showed that essential oils have anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, and French practices of internal use, she admits that "While this is an over-simplification of the serious medicinal aspects of aromatherapy, it is helpful, nevertheless, in demonstrating the effectiveness of therapeutic essential oils in the medical arena."

The article list several essential oils claimed to be effective against cold viruses, including oregano, thyme, fennel, juniper cinnamon, rosemary and clove. It isn't clear how the oils are to be taken, but internal use is implied by the wording. There are no safety warnings or even suggestions that the oils should be diluted or might be best dispensed by qualified practitioners. There is no direct link to Young Living as a supplier, but there is a link to the author's web site and from there a broken link to a YL site.

Certainly the world of aromatherapy would be better served by an article that is more in accord with confirmed scientific theories of aromatherapy and which provides precautions for use. I remember meeting a woman several years ago who had had a liver transplant because in her naive state she overdosed on herbs that destroyed her liver. The same thing can happen from high doses of conventional drugs or essential oils.

Technorati Tags: aromatherapy,essential oils

Aromatherapy Study portrayal on the blogs

The Ohio State University aromatherapy study press release referenced in the previous post, in spite of the fact that it actually confirmed that at least one essential oil, lemon, has an actual aromatherapy effect, is being reprinted or referenced in various blogs as proving that aromatherapy doesn't work.

Here are some of the titles of blog posts and Main Stream Media (MSM) articles picked up by a Google alert for the word "aromatherapy" (I'm not doing links, since most of the items are the same article):

• Aromatherapy may make you feel good, but it won't make you well (original Press Release Title currently at 892 hits--Click here to see the list) UPDATE: Wow! 13,100 hits at 5 pm Saturday UPDATE2: The number has dropped as of 3/25. Apparently Google refined the search.
• Study Finds Aromatherapy Doesn't Work 
• Aromatherapy can cheer, not heal 
• No advantages from Aromatherapy? 
• Aromatherapy Doesn't Fix Body, Study Says 
• Aromatherapy Stinks - kind of - and Other News 
• Aromatherapy's Effectiveness Questioned 
• Two Aromatherapies Don't Work 
• Aromatherapy Doesn't Work? 
• Aromatherapy can cheer, but not heal, says study 
• Does Aromatherapy Work? 
• Doubts cast over aromatherapy in new study 
• Does Aromatherapy Really Work? 
• Study Questions Effectiveness of Aromatherapy 
• Aromatherapy has no physical effects 
• Do Aromatherapy Products Work? 
• Aromatherapy Falls Short, Study Finds 
• Experimental Evidence Supports Runner's High; Aromatherapy...Not... 
• Aromatherapy is Woo 
• Aromatherapy, a Bunch of foolery? 
• Aromatherapy is Bullshit Malarkey, Sez Prof. Malarkey! (And He Should Know!) 
• No Advantages from Aromatherapy? 
• A whiff of scent is no cure for what ails you

I could continue for a long time if I go on to related stories that Google doesn't index directly. And I actually found a few benign headlines. Pravda, for example, has a neutral title: "New study evaluates efficacy of aromatherapy." Another article is entitled: "Aromatherapy makes you feel good, study."

These headlines are an indication that the authors of these blogs didn't actually read the article, or if they did read it selectively. It's a problem with blogging--you need to put a unique title (or so you think) and so you scan the article, throw out a title that reflects your first impressions, post the article, and move on. It's our policy on this blog not to directly reprint an article that someone else has already posted, without their permission. Particularly if we can link to it, which is usually the case.  But a lot of aromatherapy bloggers, or anti-aromatherapy bloggers, don't have those scruples.  Writing something original about something is hard work. Copying it and putting your name on something is easy--and it's also plagiarism. The several hundred newspaper reprints of the press release with the same title are probably not plagiarism, since it probably went out over the wire.

Anyway, this is what we have to put up with. . . .

Technorati Tags: Aromatherapy,media bias,lavender oil,lemon oil

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?

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.

New Orleans - Times-Picayune profiles displaced aromatherapist

The Times-Picayune Updates Blog profiles displaced aromatherapist Andrea Falgout Hirt, who has relocated her business to Marthas Vineyard since hurricane Katrina drove her away. Madam Falgoux Aromatherapie Emporium is now located in downtown Vineyard Haven. She also has a web page.

Aromatherapy In Dementia Care

The use of aromatherapy in dementia care is being discussed in a series of articles at The Dementia Caregiver's Toolbox : Aromatherapy In Dementia Care - Part 1. A followon article will discuss essential oils.

Blog Profiles: Veria - Aromatherapy Blog by Judy Griffin, PhD

A few months ago I noticed the startup of the Veria network that is running a Health and Wellness channel on Dish satellite TV. I had intended to blog about it, but apparently never actually posted it.  This week  I went back to the site to see how it was progressing and discovered that although there is apparently no recognizable aromatherapy or perfumery content on the show, there is an Aromatherapy Blog hosted by aromatherapist Judy Griffin, PhD. (If this link doesn't work, go to http://www.veria.com, click on community, then pick Blogs off the list.)

Judy Griffin is an aromatherapist from Dallas-Fort Worth Texas, the author of at least two books (Flowers that Heal: Aromas, Herbs, Essences and Other Secrets of the Fairies and  Mother Nature's Herbal ), with over 20 years of experience in aromatherapy, herbalism, and aromatherapy.

Judy has done a series of blog posts, averaging one or two a month, that provide a good introduction to aromatherapy for those who are unfamiliar with it. She starts with an introduction "The Power of Scent" and moves through discussions of carrier oils, essential oil safety, hydrosols, aromatherapy for children and for pets, and hair care. The blogs contain recipes and safety tips. The latest blog posts is Exotic Essential Oils: Part One.

This is an excellent introduction and emerging information blog on aromatherapy. One problem I see is that the blog interface is nonstandard, but that is a function of the Veria.com site, which has all the bells and whistles (TV Schedules, News, Veriapedia, blogs, forum, product list, and shopping cart) combined into a common web site design that requires some compromises with each of the standard geek formats. Overall this is successful, so my quibbles about the loss of a few blog features (links, lists, feeds, etc.) are just that. One thing that would improve the site is to add full video for the network programs, for the benefit of those who don't have Dish TV but would like to see them (they do show trailers . . .).

Veria is attempting an ambitious program in the wellness/alternative world with a TV channel, a chain of wellness centers (only one open so far, in Plano Texas), online news, blogs, and forum, as well as an online store. There are blogs and forums on many other topics than aromatherapy. They are apparently getting a fair amount of traffic, since their Alexa rating is around 200,000.

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.

The Soap Bar: Soap Photo Contest

The Soap Bar Blog is having a soap photo contest.

For Soapers and Bath and Body folks: a give-away for your formulations, maybe....?
Send me the most unique soap creation of yours in photo form. The most unusual will get these fragrance and essential oils along with 4 oz. of coffee butter and I will post your creation on my blog for all to see.

The prize is a selection of essential oils, pictured on the blog.  The contest ends November 10.

Jonathan Treasure is actively blogging

Jonathan Treasure, an Herbologist active in southern Oregon, is busy blogging again at Jonathan Treasure’s Herblog. No direct essential oil blogs, but he has links to research showing the effects of 6-gingerol, a principal component of ginger (Zingiber officinale) and chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) on cancer cells. He also links to other herbal research, including a study on the use of valerian for sleeping. Well worth checking out, as well as some related herbal items on his site.

STILL ADVENTURE WITH PICTURES

Marty blogs about her still adventures  and shows us some pictures of her setup.

Notes and News

• The Diabetes Blog features an essential oil product that is a topical treatment for diabetes neuropathy. "Neuragen is made of a proprietary blend of essential oils from special species of geranium, lavender, bergamot, eucalyptus, and tea tree." Clinical trials have shown it to be effective in 70% of patients for the pain associated with diabetes.
• Per the Salina [KS] Journal, new uses for perfume: "A 13-year-old Salina boy was referred to juvenile court after allegedly spraying an 8-year-old boy with perfume, then igniting the perfume, causing second-degree burns. "
• Another lavender farming Blog with some good pictures of a copper still and more Whidbey Island scenery from Lavender Wind Farm, down the road from Penn Cove Farm.
• Fragrance sales have plummeted in the US despite strong global figures, according to Cosmetics design.com. 2006 sales dropped by 4.5% to $5.9bn, while global sales grew by 6% to around $30.6bn.
• A paper in the International Journal of Cardiology reports the results of a study that showed decreases in serum cortisol levels but no changes in blood pressure or heart rate after Lavender aromatherapy treatments. (Abstract)

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.

Another Lavender Farm link (Blog included)

I seem to have this thing for lavender farms. Today I found one that isn't far away from where we live. And it is actually a blog since they don't have their web site up yet. The blog is Summer at Penn Cove Ranch, and the ranch is near Coupeville on Whidbey Island, Washington (my GPS tells me this is about 37 miles as the crow flies).  They are an organic farm with over 40,000 plants and 15 different varieties. The blog chronicles the entire harvest season from mid-June until at least now with lots of pictures showing the lavender, the processing equipment, and the Whidbey Island scenery.

While researching this article, I also found the Discover Lavender page with links to at least 50 Lavender Farms around the world (I counted 63), and the Discover Lavender Blog, for your culinary delight.

I stole the picture at left from the blog because it shows the lavender, the harvesting, and the scenery. Check it out and enjoy the rest of the blog.

Perfume Bay vs EBay

A new Blog, MakesNoScents.com has been started to publicize and discuss the issues involved in a trademark infringement suit by EBay against PerfumeBay, which is a leading Internet perfume retailer that has around $20 million in annual sales (a David fighting against the Ebay Goliath with $4 Billion annual revenues). The lawsuit has wended its way through the courts for several years, and an Appellate court decision is expect soon. They've posted key legal documents, with arguments, etc. on the blog.

Ordinarily we might not cover this story because the Perfume Bay is a commercial retailer of big name perfumes--and doesn't sell very many of the natural perfumes that our small industry believes in (I found 113 natural perfume items out of the 40,000 items on the site).  But in comparison with EBay, they are a little guy, just like the Natural Perfumers are compared to the big name perfume companies.

Blog Profiles: Vetiver Network

In the Aroma industry we are familiar with the aromatic and essential oils aspects of Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) (and in fact there is an extensive blog post here about that).

But what we may not be aware of is that there is an extensive international network dedicated to other aspects of Vetiver--in particular its economic value in preventing erosion throughout the world. There is a web site dedicated to Vetiver, (with an extensive bibliography that includes a number of reference links to the Medicinal and Insecticidal uses of Vetiver).  And there is a Blog.

The latest entry in the The Vetiver Network (International) - TVNI blog is here and talks about the unique roots of Vetiver grass, which tend to grow vertically, developing into a root system that is "massive, deep, penetrating, tough, very fine and producing essential oil as well." The author attributes this to "centuries of selection for essential oil production."

Essential oil: Essential oil extracted from vetiver roots is highly valued for its fragrance in the perfume industry, insecticidal characteristics for termite control and increasingly for its pharmaceutical values. Vetiver oils are so complex that so far they have not been successfully synthesised.

Another post on the Blog suggests that vetiver has a very high carbon sequestration rate. Effectively this means that only FOUR mature vetiver plants would sequester the same amount of carbon as ONE fast growing poplar tree, considered to be one of the most efficient ways of capturing carbon to fight global warming.

A single individuals "carbon foot print" could be negated by planting 50 to 60 vetiver plants in a tropical country (about 8 meters of vetiver hedgerow).

The bottom line is that you won't find a lot of information on this blog about the aromatic features of vetiver, but there is lots of information about the plant and its characteristics and uses. I get the feeling that these "vetivarians" are fanatics--maybe even more fanatical than we are about perfumery or aromatherapy.