Safety Committee NAHA Report AGM 2000
Safety Committee Chair: Tony Burfield
Advisor: Sylla Sheppard Hanger
Members: Susan Renkle, Janell King-Squires

We are recommending to Conference 2000 that NAHA adopts the IFRA Voluntary Code of Practice with respect to the use of natural fragrance ingredients i.e. as it apples to the following essential oils, absolutes, resinoids and gums etc., where these items are used in massage oils. A brief listing of these is included below, but for up-to-date informinformation please visit the IFRA website. We further recommend that items in the "banned IFRA" list are not used as space odourants e.g. not to be used in nebulisers, burners etc.

We realise in making this recommendation to conference that we are going to cause some controversy, and we are not afraid of this, in fact we would far rather a positive discussion on all the issues was initiated, than for NAHA to do nothing whatsoever in giving a lead on safety issues.

Part of the controversy over whether some oils are safe to use (for example Pennyroyal oil) is caused by the failure of some commentators to differentiate properly between hazard and risk. Forgive me for repeating some of the points I made in the lecture on Safety of essential oils at the AOC conference in London in July 1999, but the following points of Health & Safety policy are important to comprehend before we look at the individual properties of the oils themselves:

Hazard

something with the potential to cause harm.
(Essential oils are potentially hazardous materials)

Risk

a compound of the probability and severity of the resulting damage or harm.
(If handled in an appropriate manner, the risk involved in safe use of essential oils can be extremely small)

Leading perceptions of safety issues in aromatherapy are probably not influenced by opinions of figures from backgrounds which are specifically in health & safety, or yet toxicology. Rather they tend to be the views of aromatherapy educators. Our brief to some extent is not to listen necessarily to the views of individuals who think, in their opinion, that certain questionable oils are safe, but more to consider issues of defendable health and safety policy, and to align ourselves with similar interest groups (perfumers, herbalists etc) who are also facing the same national and international legislational impositions.

It is also the duty of a professional organisation to identify risk in the daily duties of the members. In order to carry out risk identification, we need to be aware of several factors:

• The hazardous properties of the materials need to be identified.
• An evaluation of exposure is needed i.e. the extent to which client/worker/therapist is likely to be exposed. An interpretation must be made of what this means in toxicological terms.

So far NAHA has failed to provide any guidance on these issues for its members, although it has a clear duty to provide individual safety assessments on each of the raw materials its members use. It then needs to devise a safety policy … and this is only the start of what NAHA needs to do if it is to be taken seriously…

I propose that it would cut out an awful lot of work if conference made a start in fulfilling its duties, by adopting the spirit of the IFRA recommendations per se, because a safety policy is there "pre-made" for us. With this under our belts, we can then hone the policy to suit Aromatherapists individual requirements.

Banned IFRA list
• Cade oil crude Juniperus oxycedrus (carcinogen)
• Calamus oil Acorus calamus (some forms contain high levels of the carcinogen b-asarone)
• Chenopodium ambroisoides oil (acute oral toxicity)
• Costus root oil, absolute & concrete Saussurea costus (sensitiser)
• Elecampane oil Inula helenium (sensitiser)
• Fig leaf absolute Ficus carica (sensitiser)
• (Horseradish oil) Armoracia rusticana (toxic, irritant) IFRA has banned allyl isothiocynate therefore effectively prohibiting use of Horseradish.
• Mustard oil Brassica nigra (toxic; irritant)
• Peru balsam Myroxylon pereirae (sensitiser) distilled oil is allowable
• Sade tree oil ? further details not to hand
• Savin oil (Juniperus sabina). (J. phoenicea oil allowable).
• Verbena oil Lippia citriodora (sensitiser)
• Tea absolute Thea sinensis (sensitiser)
• (Sassafras oil) Sassafras albidum (carcinogen) - effectively banned by imposing a limit on the carcinogen safrole limit of 0.01% in perfumes.
• Stryax gum Liquidamber orientalis and other L. spp. Only Liquidambar styraciflua var. macrophylla products produced by methods which give products not showing a potential for sensitisation should be used.(e.g. steam distilln, vacuum distilln, extraction with ethanol or hexane, neutralisation with aqueous alkali followed by solvent extraction.
• Wormwood oil Artemisia absinthium (neurotoxic)

IFRA Restricted list
• Angelica root oil Angelica archangelica (phototoxic) 0.78%
• Bergamot oil expressed Citrus aurantium ssp. bergamia (phototoxic) 0.4%
• Bitter Orange oil Citrus aurantium (phototoxic) 1.4%
• Cassia oil Cinnamomum cassia (sensitiser) 0.2%
• Cinnamon bark Cinnamomum zeylanicum (sensitiser) 0.2%
• Cumin oil Cuminum cyminum (phototoxic) 0.4%
• Grapefruit expressed Citrus paradisi (phototoxic) 4%
• Lemon oil cold pressed Citrus limonum (phototoxic) 2%
• Lime oil expressed Citrus aurantifolia (phototoxic) 0.7%
• Tagete oil & absolute Tagetes minuta (phototoxic) 0.05%
• Oakmoss absolute & Resinoid Evernia prunastri (sensitiser) 0.1%
• Pinaceae oils to have a peroxide value of less than 10 millimoles peroxide per litre (sensitiser)
• Rue oil Ruta graveolens limit (phototoxic) 0.78%
• Verbena absolute Lippia citriodora (sensitiser) 0.2%
• Treemoss absolute Evernia furfuracea (sensitiser) 0.6%

First Additional list for discussion: Should we also recommend that the following oils also not be used?
• Laurel leaf oil Laurus nobilis: many fragrance houses have internally imposed lists restricting or banning this product.
• Thuja occidentalis oil (neurotoxic)
• Tansy Tanacetum vulgare (neurotoxic)
• Pennyroyal Mentha pulegium/Hedeoma pulegioides and other high Pulegone oils (e.g. Micromeria spp)
• Parsley seed oil Petroselinum crispum (hepatoxic)
• Parsley leaf Petroselinum crispum (hepatoxic)
• Boldo oil Pneumus boldus (acute oral toxicity)
• Massoia oil (Cryptocaria massoia) Powerful irritant.
• Melaleuca bracteata oil. Methyl eugenol is a suspected carcinogen. We should not allow oils like M. bracteata (95% methyl eugenol) in AT?

N.B. This list was quickly drawn up and may not be fully up to date. Would anyone spotting any errors please inform the authors. Thanks.