Wintergreen EO

[Guest guest]

http://www.libertynatural.com/ carries it. They have been is business

.....for nearly a quarter of a century, and I've never heard their integrity

questioned.

I have, and I stand with Marge wholeheartedly on this one. No one is going

to openly admit to selling anything that is less than pure, although it happens

all the time.

Do you have any substantiation for this? I know some very highly

trained, experienced aromatherapists who judiciously formulate with

wintergreen.

My substantiation is a dozen years in full time clinical private practice, plus

a business importing and selling essential oils to practitioners of

complementary and alternative medicine. This necessitates being aware of common

adulterations and EO safety data. I doubt if many of these " trained, experienced

aromatherapists " are using genuine wintergreen EO, and if they are, hopefully

they've had the education to use only very minute quantities of it appropriately

blended with other oils. In terms of pain management, I don't use the oil

because there are too many other pure essential oils that will do the trick with

far fewer potential problems. However, most of the subscribers to this list

aren't aromatherapists, and wintergreen, whether pure or synthetic, is not an

essential oil that the average soaper or manufacturer of handmade toiletries

should be fooling around with.

Regarding specific safety and adulteration data, this has been widely published

and is readily available. Check Watts, Sheppard-Hanger, and Tisserand/Balacs.

The latter go into detailed case studies of toxicity and severe interactions

with warfarin. Information on endangered species can be obtained from CropWatch.

It is worth noting that wintergreen has been so grossly over-wildcrafted in the

Himalayas that native gatherers are forced to go to higher and higher altitudes

to find it, often falling to their deaths. I work with an agricultural

consultant who has personally witnessed the dangers these climbers face, all so

that Westerners can have their wintergreen, jatamansi, etc.

You are partially correct in that I am not an aromatherapist, nor do I have

any interest in that area. Since aromatherapy is not the sole use for

wintergreen essential oil, nor aromatherapists the sole group using wintergreen

essential oil I find the rest of this blanket statement highly offensive.

My point is not to offend but to educate. Aromatherapist or not, do you really

want to be buying from any company that isn't forthcoming about the authenticity

of their product? Aromatherapist or not, do you really want to be formulating

product with an ingredient that is potentially harmful to your end users?

Especially if you are blending on scent only and haven't had the training to be

aware of safe dilutions, drug interactions, etc.? Aromatherapist or not, if you

can obtain the genuine article, do you really want to contribute to the

extinction of a species? If you are formulating an " all natural " product, do you

want to use an ingredient that is rarely available except in synthetic form? Do

you have product liability insurance? These are a few questions to consider if

you are pro-wintergreen, and they don't apply exclusively to aromatherapy.

Katharine Koeppen

Aromaceuticals

Essential Oils from Artisan Distillers

www.aromaceuticals.com