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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Reminder: Essential oils are "toxic chemicals"

Some essential oils can be effective in skincare. I especially like tea tree oil for acne spot treating (more here). But just because these substances seem more "natural" does not mean that they are gentler, safer, or less toxic than "unnatural" chemicals. The increasing use of essential oils recently has resulted in increasing household poisoning by essential oils. As this article points out:
Highly toxic essential oils include camphor, clove, lavender, eucalyptus, thyme, tea tree, and wintergreen oils, the researchers noted. Many essential oils can cause symptoms such as agitation, hallucinations and seizures. Symptoms may also include chemical burns, breathing problems, liver failure and brain swelling, among others. 
While there are hundreds of essential oils, "tea tree oil is commonly cited, and most of those cases are accidental ingestions by children," Loden said.
So store your essential oils securely, and don't assume that your products containing these ingredients will be non-toxic to your kids or pets.

2 comments:

  1. I have a friend who rants about this all the time. She lives in prime DoTerra country and thus has to live with people telling you to ingest essential oils all the time. Drives her mad. As it should. Essential oils are awesome, but they're also highly distilled and potent chemicals. There's a reason they're so effective at what they do.

    I love the essential oils that I have, because they work, but they are totally just as dangerous as my other cleaning products. (also, I have found nothing is better for getting rid of that faint moldy musty laundry smell from leaving clothes in the washer for too long like a few drops of tea tree oil in with my laundry soap.)

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    1. I think the misinformation turns a lot of people off of the products all together. But yeah, tea tree oil is great for anything where you want to get rid of bacteria and/or deodorize, it just has to be used properly!

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