- Aromatherapy
- Removing Toxins The Natural Way
- Taxonomy, Botany and Nomenclature and its Relevance in Aromatherapy Training
- Adverse Media Hype on Tea Tree Essential Oil
- Ayurveda
- Chavutti Thirumal An Intoduction To A Unique Massage Therapy
- Removing Toxins The Natural Way
- Complementary Therapies
- Gentle Touch Produces Miracles
- What is sports massage?
- The Magic Pill Within
- Health
- On Site Massage & Complementary Therapy in the workplace
- The Magic Pill Within
- Stress, and why we need massage therapies
Adverse Media Hype on Tea Tree Essential Oil
04/05/2008 - By Sylvia Baker Few can have missed the recent media hype on Tee Tree Oil (TTO). A report in the New England Journal of Medicine alleged a correlation between commercial products containing Lavender and TTO and breast growth in young boys.
Australian Tea Tree Industry Association (ATTIA) has prepared its response to this with a call for the journal to publish a retraction (see their website at http://www.attia.org.au). Robert Tisserand has also prepared a response refuting the report (see the Aromatherapy Trade Council website at http://www.a-t-c.org.uk.
The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy published a report stating that although TTO may be an effective antimicrobial agent when appropriately used at bactericidal concentrations, its application at sub-legal concentrations (lower than 4-5%) may contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens. ATTIA has been requested to comment on this and we will report back.
Safety Dossier Preparation for the European Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) on the Safety of Tea Tree Oil In November 2004 the SCCP published an 'Opinion on the Safety of Tea Tree Oil' which concluded that it had insufficient information to determine whether TTO was in fact safe and that the data it had indicated that it caused irritation, sensitisation and was subject to oxidation. SCCP required that the Tea Tree industry filed a safety dossier with it by December 2005. Industry responded by forming a Technical & Safety Committee of experts from around the world charged with the task of co-ordinating the development of the required safety dossier. Extensions of time were sought and secured from the SCCP with a final filing date for the dossier of 31 March 2007. ATTIA has published an updated report on the safety dossier and this is also available on their website at http://www.attia.org.au.
The New European Chemicals Policy, Registration, Evaluation & Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) and Aromatherapy (For background information on REACH see http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/reach/docs/
reach/reach_in_brief_revised_061212.pdf.) Having been adopted by the EU parliament on 13 December 2006, REACH is now due to enter into force on 1 June 2007 and implementation will span over 11 years. It is the most complex piece of legislation ever undertaken by the EU, incorporating over 40 directives and regulations and replacing all existing chemicals' legislation. As it is a regulation rather than a directive, REACH applies as written across all EU member states.
Essential oils are in REACH under category NCS (Natural Complex Substances). The system requires manufacturers and importers of substances to submit a registration to the new Chemicals Agency for each substance manufactured or imported in the EU in quantities of 1 ton or above per year, based on the phased-in period of 11 years. Failure to register means that the substance cannot be manufactured in, or imported into, the EU.
The really important action for importers and manufacturers of essential oils is to pre-register all essential oils at the pre-registration phase, starting on 1st June 2008 and ending on 1st December 2008. If essential oils are not pre-registered then there will be no transitional protection and they will have to go straight to registration with all that entails (e.g., the submission of a full dossier). Companies will have to notify the commission of all essential oils, even if the annual quantity is below 1 ton, if the substance is classified as 'dangerous' under Directive 67/548/EEC. This applies to many essential oils where the hazard risk is likely to be due to dermal sensitisation or flammability, i.e. a flash point of less than, or equal to, 60.5 oC. Indeed, the European Federation of Essential Oils (EFEO) has recommended that each company should pre-register all the products they import or produce in the EU even below 1 ton. This leaves one year to get prepared, not only within each company but also through discussions or negotiations with suppliers at origin and customers in the EU.
The ATC is keeping abreast of developments through EFEO and through its Gold Subscription to REACHReady (see http://www.reachready.co.uk) - a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chemical Industries Association - and we will keep readers informed as issues are clarified.
Reform of Section 12(1) of the Medicines Act 1968 and the Practice of Aromatherapy As reported in the last issue, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recently issued a series of discussion papers for the reform of S12(1) (see http://www.mhra.gov.uk) that currently allows aromatherapists to practice under medicines law. They propose that when herbalists attain statutory regulation - likely to be in 2010 - the use of S12(1) should be restricted to statutorily regulated healthcare professionals who are held professionally accountable in law. The ATC responded to the discussion papers by the due date of 30 March 2007 supporting the Aromatherapy Council's (AC) view that a separate distinction should be made for aromatherapists now that they have a robust system of voluntary self-regulation (VSR) in place. VSR aromatherapists are accountable and have strict Codes of Professional Conduct and Ethics already in place. The AC, supported by the ATC, therefore made a case for VSR AC Registered Aromatherapists to be given the right to continue to use S12(1) and that aromatherapy should be viewed completely differently to herbalists. It was pointed out that statutory regulation does not necessarily guarantee public protection as witnessed by the Shipman case and other similar violations of trust by statutorily regulated professionals.
In maintaining S12(1), the case was made for essential oils to remain available to aromatherapists without the need for registration under the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), especially since the trader has no idea how the aromatherapist will be using the product at the point of sale. The MHRA has in the past confirmed that any product that is not classified as a medicine should not be affected by the THMPD and that essential oils and aromatherapy products can continue to be sold under the current regulatory regimes of cosmetics and general products.
Whilst fully supporting the MHRA's concerns for public safety and the need for the statutory regulation of herbalists and Traditional Chinese Medicine, it was felt that their proposals did not take into account the very different needs within the aromatherapy profession. The AC's full response is available on their website at http://www.aromatherapycouncil.co.uk.
© Sylvia Baker, ATC - Dept TT, PO Box 387, Ipswich IP2 9AN
Email: info@a-t-c.org.uk
Website: http://www.a-t-c.org.uk
Tel/Fax: 01473 603630