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Adulterating and extending of essential oils to increase profits is common practice in the essential oil and aromatherapy industries, yet few consumers of these products are aware. While at first glance this may seem somewhat insignificant I can assure you that it means the difference between you knowing what you’re spending your money, being misled, and being unaware that the product you’re buying is likely adding toxic chemicals to your body, your families bodies, your pet(s), and to the environment.
If you’re the type of person who tries to live consciously, more Green, natural, and if you’re trying to stay healthy and reduce eventual diseases and health costs caused by toxins; this is very significant news you certainly do want to know.
In this economy, I don’t want to waste my money, I’m sure you don’t either. And I certainly do NOT want to be compromising the quality of my life or health. It only makes sense to buy and use the things that actually have benefit and contribute to staying healthy. Here’s what you need to know about aromatherapy and essential oils so your finances and health are not compromised…
Have you seen any of these printed on labels of essential oils?
- “100% essential oil”
- “Pure”
- “Organic”
- “Wild crafted”
- “100% Pure”
- “Genuine”
Do you know that any of those words is not a guarantee of true purity, that in fact you may believe you’re buying a high quality essential oil when in fact you are not?
The fact is, there are hundreds of ways the essential oil, even if it has an organic label, is adulterated and extended. Most people aren’t aware of this and honestly believe they are getting something that’s high quality.
Definition of Adulteration
To render (something) poorer in quality by adding another substance, typically an inferior one: from Latin adulterated- ‘corrupted.’
Effects Adulteration has on an Essential Oil
When an essential oil is adulterated its naturally occurring constituents and synergistic components destroy the essential oils therapeutic benefits.
Organically raised plants are terrific and desired, but… just because the plant is grown and/or certified organic never means that once the plant has been harvested that it has not been adulterated. Thus, the words “organic” is absolutely worthless on an essential oil label. Who cares if it was grown organically if the essential oil was ruined in the distillation process, or just prior to being bottled. The term “organic” is meaningless.
During any point, after the plant is harvested, any number of human interventions that destroy the delicate beneficial molecules contained within an essential oil can and commonly do occur. Primarily because of the perfume and food industries. Both the perfume and food industries require consistency in ingredients; that consistency they require never happens in nature.
Things such as: the amount of rainfall, temperature, the time of day the plant was harvested, where and how the plant was grown, how long the harvested plant material sat in a truck in the blazing summer sun; all of these things have an impact on the essential oil, long before the plant material reaches the distillery. All of these things also have an effect on the smell and flavor of the plant that particular year. The food and perfume industries can’t have such a thing happening! So what do they do? They either add the chemical constituents that aren’t so high so that there is consistency, or they formulate in a lab (using chemicals) the ‘scent’ that a particular plant is known to and expected to possess.
At the Distillery
Once the harvested plant material arrives at the distillery other undesirable things can occur. Like,
- Toxic chemicals can be used to extract the most essential oil possible out of the plant material
- Extreme heat can be applied to extract the largest possible amount of essential oil from the plant material
- Extreme pressure can be applied to extract the largest possible amount of essential oil from the plant material
- Profits are maximized when the distiller extracts the greatest amount of essential oil using the least amount of time and energy
All of these severely degrade the quality and benefit of the essential oil. As a matter of fact, the quality is degraded so much that there is very little, if any, therapeutic benefit remaining. Sure, these oils may smell ok to the untrained nose; but the fact remains, they have most or all of their life-force energy and synergistic components stripped.
Adulteration at the Hand of the Distiller
Some distillers will actually add a chemical to their distilled essential oils, which also includes plants raised organically, so that when the essential oils are tested for purity the essential oil appears to be of a higher quality than it actually is. Higher quality essential oils are expensive, as such it’s common practice for chemicals to be added to make the essential oil appear better than it is; most companies do not have the proper equipment to analyze and test an essential oil brought in by a vendor to determine if it has been corrupted or not.
Most simply take the word of the vendor, or send the essential oil out for testing, such as Gas Chromatography (GS), Mass Spectroscopy (MS). Yet are unaware that these two tests fall way short and can easily be tricked, they are no guarantee of purity.
Do you see where this is going? Scary, isnt it!?
Every single inch of the way the essential oil is in different hands being handled differently. Even the farmer who has spent the season raising the plants organically can give no assurance that the product he intended to provide you with is in fact anywhere near organic… and we’re not even at the point yet where the essential oil is on the store shelf yet!
In the Hands of the Vendor
This can be, but isn’t necessarily, the next set of hands the essential oil falls into. The vendor, also wanting to make more profit can add chemicals to make the essential oil appear better than it is, or they can simply fudge the test GS and MS results. And once again, the aromatherapy company or other type of business who needs an essential oil can easily be tricked… oh, and they are, all the time.
This is where the value of what Young Living does makes a huge difference. First, they grow a lot of their own plants (organically); the distillers actually sit in the fields so the plant material is in the distillers within 30 minutes after being harvested. There’s no going through other hands.
Additionally, each and every different type of plant has been studied to determine what is the optimal amount of heat, pressure and length of time necessary to produce an essential oil so that all of its beneficial properties remain in tact. There’s no rushing the process! If a particular plant requires 18 hours in the distiller at X pressure and heat, it’s stays in there for that length of time. Young Living is far more interested in producing the best, rather than producing the most within the shortest period of time.
This is where it gets even more interesting…
Even though Young Living has over 4,000 acres of farms / land and grows the plants, they still have to work with and buy from farmers and vendors the plants they don’t grow. When a vendor brings in an essential oil, it goes through a battery of tests on state of the art equipment that is not seen at competitors.
Guess what happens to the essential oils Young Living rejects because the quality isn’t there, or when it has been detected that a distiller or vendor has adulterated? It goes onto the open market where other essential oil and aromatherapy companies can purchase them. It is those essential oils that you find in stores, with labels containing print like the list I began this article with. I think it’s interesting how those rejected essential oils are good enough for those terms but they’re not good enough for Young Living and its customers.
In the hands of Companies
Now, the essential oil has moved even closer to the consumer. This is the last stage before it gets bottled and put onto store shelves. Consider this…
Have you ever bought and used an essential oil and found that you use a lot of it?
Have you ever bought an essential oil and found that it turned bad within 6 to 12 months?
Have the essential oils you bought felt greasy and/or left greasy type stains on your fabrics?
There’s a reason why that happens. It’s because still more profits need to be made. What happens is this, in a 15ml bottle there’s probably between 10-20 drops of essential oil, the rest is a cheap carrier oil.
Using the example of Lavender essential oil let’s see what you’re getting…
Let’s say, XYZ company has their essential oil on shelves at your local health food store and the price for a 15ml bottle is $10… first, if the label also says “Not for Internal Use” you can be 100% certain they are NOT using real lavender but in fact they are using an essential oil that is far less expensive, called Lavadin; which by the way has a high camphor level and if you were to use it on a first degree burn you will more than likely end up in the hospital with a third degree burn because camphor burns the skin.
Real lavender, Landula angustifolia, does not contain any camphor because it’s a different plant species. Also, Lavendula angustifolia is an edible plant; therefore I ‘should’ be able to use that lavender in cooking and as a dietary supplement. Thus, if the label states it’s “For External Use Only” I know right away that the essential oil is very low quality!
But that aside, let’s assume the company is using a lavender which Young Living rejected. Now they’re adding a carrier oil to it, known as an extender. If you’re paying $10 for a 15ml bottle, you are paying an extremely high price, many more times higher than you’d pay for a Young Living lavender. You’re using that essential oil by the handful because it is primarily a cheap carrier oil and doesn’t even contain 15ml of lavender.
Whereas if you were to buy at wholesale a 15ml bottle of Young Living lavender you would be buying 15ml of Lavendula angustifolia for about $20, no carrier oil included. And you would be using it by the drop, not by the handful!
The savings is enormous! Not to mention you are buying a superior quality essential oil that actually is beneficial.
Did you know that only 2 percent of all essential oils sold to consumers in the entire world are superior quality, and that Young Living makes up most of that 2 percent?
Did you know that France, the largest exporter of lavender oil, exports 100 times more lavender essential oil than they distill?
That means there is a lot of junk being sold and used in products that have very little real lavender in it, if it has any at all.
There is a reason why Young Living sets the world standard in essential oil quality… they are super picky. Which is perfect for me, I don’t like spending my money on junk or on anything that’s not what it should be, it’s wasteful and expensive in the long run. I also do not like to use products that have been corrupted, adulterated, extended, or that fall short of my personal standard of what truly organic and all-natural.
As you may already know my background in plants started when I was 4 years old, the plant world amazed me and that amazment continues to this day. My studies and appreciation of native plants, herbalism and essential oils has influenced the course of my life. 
Recently, I got a friends newsletter (a friend from my landscaping days), Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm & Gardens, that I couldn’t resist sharing with you. It’s about one of my favorite native plants, Trillium: see image to the right, it’s it the most beautiful foliage and flower you’ve seen!? I love it! Perfect for the native woodland garden!
While this plant is not one most gardeners would start from seed since it requires very specific conditions that most home gardeners cannot produce, I thought you would like to know more about it and where it can be purchased for your natural woodland garden.
Here’s what Barry has to say about this incredible plant…
Sunshine Farm & Gardens Newsletter: April 2010
Despite their exotic, magical, mystical appearance, most Trilliums are quite easy to grow and Trillium cuneatum is no exception. There are at least one or more Trillium species native to every state in the US but four – http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TRILL I’ve been growing and propagating many species of Trillium over the last 38 years and the only one that I wouldn’t recommend for the average gardener is the lovely Trillium undulatum – http://sunfarm.com/images/tundu.bmp as you would really need specific acidic and moisture conditions for this particular species.
You can grow Trilliums from seed, but they take 4-6 years to flower. Another simple way to build up your Trillium collection rapidly is by rhizome division. I plan to put up a “Propagation Information Section” on my web site sometime in the near future.
Anyway, as far as growing conditions go, most Trillium species prefer woodland conditions, which basically translates as light to medium shade with moisture retentive, but well drained soil. If these conditions don’t exist naturally in your garden, it’s not much of a chore to create them.
Over the past 12 years I’ve been building quite a good stock of my personal favorite Trillium species, Trillium cuneatum, by rhizome division and now have more stock plants than I require. So, I’m offering you the opportunity to grow them in your garden. We’ve taken off our regular 3-5 year divisions and replanted our stock plants in 5″ deep Anderson Treeband ® Pots last Autumn and they are reestablishing themselves nicely.
Trillium cuneatum is native to 11 Mid Atlantic and Southeastern states, but is hardy just about anywhere. Here’s a plant that you will instantly fall in love with as its deep burgundy flowers bloom for an extremely long period of time in early to mid Spring. With the most exciting marbled foliage and with no two plants alike, their silvery leaves electrically light up even the shadiest of gardens.
I wish I could say that Trilliums are fully deerproof, however this just isn’t the case. But… I can honestly say that it’s not their first choice to munch on and in some years they completely ignore them.
Again, they are very easy to grow and will give you and your garden visitors pleasure and enjoyment for many, many years to come.
What you’ll receive this time of year are 5″ deep pots of flowering size, 5 to 7 year old plants in full active growth that have just finished flowering.
I almost always offer free shipping on all bareroot plants, but these plants are just too precious to take a chance with and I recommend that you get them in the pots.
3 for $ 25.00 plus 7.50 for INSURED PRIORITY MAIL
7 for $ 50.00 plus 10.00 for INSURED PRIORITY MAIL OR UPS
12 for $ 75.00 plus 15.00 for INSURED PRIORITY MAIL OR UPS
20 for $100.00 plus 20.00 for INSURED PRIORITY MAIL OR UPS
I usually offer even lower prices for larger quantities here, but must limit purchases to 20 per person on this particular plant.
Ordering couldn’t be easier! Just fill out the order form at http://www.sunfarm.com/orderform.pdf
Most of our previous weekly specials are still available. Go to – http://sunfarm.com/specials/ to browse the archives.
This is a retail mailing. If you’re a nursery, garden center, landscape architect or garden designer etc, please make sure that you are also on my wholesale mailing list by emailing me at my personal email address – barry@sunfarm.com – with the words WHOLESALE LIST in all caps in the subject line.
By the way, if you haven’t read the story in GQ magazine about me, you can read it on line at – http://sunfarm.com/images/GVQ08-2.pdf
And… our Hellebores were featured in a 6 page article in the January issue of Southern Living magazine – http://www.sunfarm.com/images/sliv10.pdf
You can also follow SF & G on TWITTER – http://twitter.com/Sunfarmtweets and become a fan of SF & G on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunshine-Farm-Gardens/71330111595
Happy Gardening,
Barry
Barry Glick aka Glicksterus maximus aka The Cyber-Plantsman
Sunshine Farm & Gardens
HC 67 Box 539 B
Renick, WV 24966 USA
304-497-2208
EMAIL – barry@sunfarm.com
There’s so much more to garden fertility than the 10-10-10 (or what have you) on a bag you buy at the store. Don Chapman of Bio-Organics writes the most informational monthly newsletter on the topic of soil fertility and beneficial soil organisms I’ve seen. What I enjoy most about reading his newsletter is his passion and knowledge on the tiny creatures living in our garden soils that most are oblivious to. I love sharing his newsletters and helping him to spread the word about how and why we’re going about our gardening all wrong. I know as a landscaper, long before I knew about Bio-Organics, I would cringe when I saw certain gardening practices occurring, something like someone working on and walking back and forth across super wet garden soil, or taking the rotor-tiller out to till every year… it all makes me cringe, thinking about the delicate layers that lay beneath, apparently silent… still… as if nobody lived in there, that their importance was going unnoticed.
I praise Don for his excellent work and for his passion to help gardeners learn more about the very thing, or things, that directly impact our gardening successes or failures. I hope you enjoy Mays newsletter as much as I have…
Who’s Up For Soil Biology? May 2010
On occasion, usually after a long hot day and a cold Margarita or two, I think about what is happening today with soil problems and the role of Biological Science in agriculture, plant nurseries, landscaping and home gardening. (I know, I could be spending that time pondering far more exciting things but I am, after all, in the business.)
It’s pretty clear that the Chemistry majors have prevailed in nearly all areas of growing plants, supported by big ad budgets and industry research sponsorship. You gotta hand it to the Dows, duPonts, Bayers, Orthos, and Monsantos of the world – they’ve successfully developed countless pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and even altered plant genetics to match their chemical products – all to “solve growers’ problems.” Kill, control, sterilize, fertilize, immunize – got it right here, pal.
However, when it comes to the science of soil biology I’m reminded of the teacher who asked the class clown to explain the difference between ignorance and apathy, and he responded, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
Ignorance, or the absence of knowledge about soil organisms and their functions, is probably the most common condition. I’m guessing that most folks are not even aware that there are beneficial microbes in soil. Much more is known about harmful organisms – like lawn grubs – and the chemicals designed to kill them. I wonder what the results would be of a survey question that asked, “Would you rather try to grow plants in completely sterile soil or in soil loaded with fungi and bacteria?” How many people know that healthy soils are filled with microbial life, let alone that the great majority of soil organisms are helpful to plants?
Wine grape growers, landscape architects, soil restoration services, and some sophisticated plant nurseries are probably the most knowledgeable groups as far as strategically using soil biology, although in recent years I have received orders from a wide variety of customer types – with crops ranging from pastureland to fruit orchards to bonsai nurseries. So, awareness is increasing, both among commercial growers and home gardeners – largely due to magazine articles on the subject. I’m even seeing some some passing mentions of mycorrhizal fungi in chemistry-oriented ag journals, which is encouraging.
Apathy, on the other hand, reflects more a sense of contentment with current practices – sort of, “Yeah, I know there are some good soil bugs, but who cares as long as the 10-10-10 is working fine.” This attitude is almost impossible to overcome, because you really can’t argue that turning to bio-enhancement techniques will be more profitable, at least in the short run, and unsustainability is one of those off-in-the-future-maybe concepts for those blessed with deep, rich soils. Let’s face it, if someone doesn’t want to change what they’re doing, it’s a waste of time to argue with them. (This, of course, is true for any number of unhealthy habits, political stances, and other dug-in positions.)
My overall measured conclusion on the subject is that growers who know and care about the biological heath of their soil represent my best customer prospects, followed by those who are beginning to have issues with the use of synthetic fertilizers for whatever reasons – cost, water contamination, newly restrictive laws, soil compaction, salt buildups, or other problems. And lastly, I deal with lots of experimenters – those who enjoy trying different ideas in their laboratories, greenhouses, farm fields, orchards, vineyards, yards, and gardens. These are some of my most fun customers.
Of course, the fact that you are reading this means that you have subscribed to my newsletters, so I’m probably mostly “preaching to the choir,” but why not? – many among you are leading the way to better soil practices, and I hope I can encourage more of that.
By the way, the several responses I received from last month’s newsletter where I asked about our customer’s experience last season with tomato diseases were all favorable about plants inoculated with our products, but there really weren’t any that had what I would consider solid comparisons – like perhaps to a neighbor with the same varieties who didn’t inoculate. Thanks to you who responded.
Good growing, my friends,
Don Chapman
President, BioOrganics
More Articles on Gardening:
Trillium: a terrific spring flowering native plant for the natural woodland garden
Tips for Growing Good Plants in Bad Soil
When did “Flavor” fall out of favor?
Safe Weed Killer’s: studies with Vinegar against weeds
Diet and Eating: choose your foods like your life depends on them
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