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If you get problems with the email link on the right index not working, a backup is:

Please note that I have closed www.aromamedical.com but all articles and some publications are still available here.

I am told the old .com email address should still work for now.

Some of the older 'new' entries below have been removed and are now in the articles archive instead.

April 2013: I have just found out that our book Frankincense & Myrrh is now available in kindle format - use a search engine as it's not available here.

March 2013: Are Google modern day pirates?

March 2013: Article on oils internal use & the blog of the NAHA president.

Feb. 2013: Just added the archives from the IDMA newsgroup commencing in 1998.
See top of articles pages.

Dramatic reduction in the price of full oil monographs-see publications tab.

Jan. 2013: Some advice on not being snared into becoming independent essential oil & health product distributors/franchises.

Jan. 2013: Due to the many web searches on oils during pregnancy and emails sent to me, I have added a new article.

Nov. 2012: Consumer alert. Beware of claims made for oils from this site:
venkatramna-perfumers.com They are selling some extremely dangerous oils such as distilled mustard seed, while making medicinal claims which would harm you if you believed them. This company also do not know the difference between amber oil and ambergris oil. They have started spamming the world with their marketing but their knowledge base is suspect.
Oct. 2012: All publications except the oil monographs are withdrawn due to 90% of net users seemingly happy to buy the popular trade novels, but buy well researched information, no way!! They may at some stage be revamped by my colleague Charlotte Mutoro in Australia. The course will continue for now.

March 2011: If you are a customer of comcast.com and do not get a reply from me, it is because that useless mob are constantly blacklisting and blocking overseas servers. Then they make it difficult to contact them. I suggest you sign up for a hotmail or similar free account. Also see this on email blocks.

OCT. 2010: I have reached official retirement age, some CDs, downloads and the course will continue, but all paper publications have been withdrawn, See here.

Safety update: Now that 'Plant Aromatics' is dead, I have updated the article on essential oil safety and introduced a chart some may find helpful.

Feb. 2010: A new website for UK readers over the threat to our herbal medicine.
April 2009: We have a serious pirate in our midst called Stephie Cyr. See this page for more on the Canadian aromatherapy teacher who has ripped off course materials from my Colleague Lynn Bosman, and thus in turn from myself.
JAN. 2009: There are now many websites giving advice on aromatherapy, yet nothing on the training of the people providing the information. BEWARE many of these sites are being set up just to make money from the Google ads system. They take their information out of highly dubious books and republish it. Significant amounts of that information are wrong and dangerous. See also July 2006 below.

DEC. 2008: Beware of assuming all members of the Natural Perfumers Guild http://naturalperfumers.com/ are credible or honest traders - several are not.

One of their members http://www.profumo.it/ trades in animal extracts banned for importation to the USA and banned in Europe under CITES regulations. If you live in the USA and import their animal extracts you could be fined and have your stock impounded. At least 3 other members of that guild make illegal medicinal claims (in the USA) for their products. There is some evidence that certain of their teachers buy and sell synthetic fragrance blends as the real thing. This is mainly due to many of their members being far from the experts their publicity suggests. It is a shame that some of the more respected people in this trade continue to be part of this disreputable organisation.

Sept. 2008: Endangered species that are still being exploited in aromatherapy and perfumery. These products will continue to be supplied as long as therapists and the public buy them. The file from cropwatch is here: threatlist.pdf
August 2008: An excellent study by Bernie Hephrun of Linden absolute's. It is 27 pages long with photos. I have put it into a single password protected .exe file (PC only at the moment). If you want the file and password please send me your full mail address - no PO boxes. Click to download file.

April 2008:

Yahoo and other newsgroups: Please beware of assuming that people on these groups are experts in the subjects they give advice on. Some are, but very few. Many of these newsgroups are created just to enable the 'owners' to market their products. Nothing wrong with that in theory, but a lot wrong when people who have no training in medicine, herbs, oils or much else, start giving health advice. I have been horrified at some of the dangerous advice on essential oils and herbs given on some of these groups. Many of these groups are 'moderated' by the owners who edit posts to inhibit freedom of expression, or deter members from going to other suppliers.

I have left several groups: that are under unjustifiable censorship based on the commercial interests of the moderators. See my new article: fragrance-scare-story

While many Americans seem to think their Constitution gives them freedom of speech, this does not extend to companies and individuals. Most of these groups are 'private' and the group owners or moderators can censor anything they dislike, or which could expose their friends to probing of their integrity. This allows con artists free reign and stops them being exposed to scrutiny. That is something desperately needed in a trade packed to bursting with such people. It also inhibits an individual or group of people from criticism of inaccurate, misleading, illegal and dangerous information on web sites.

Nov. 2006: An increasing concern is the growth in pseudo scientific web sites providing misleading safety data on chemicals and the products they occur in. Beware if you find a site that classifies a chemical as "dangerous", but the site does not say in what circumstances and volumes. The fact a chemical may have proven toxic if consumed to excess, does not mean that chemical is always dangerous in any product it is used in.

Quiet a number of these so called "dangerous" chemicals (to dumb scientists)are natural constituents of the plants in our everyday foods, indeed some are considered to have positive health effects such as anti oxidants, anti cancer, etc.

These consumer advice websites often try to declare "green credentials" giving them an air of authority. If someone cannot provide exact information on volumes of a chemical required to cause problems, and in what circumstances of use, then the information they give is all but worthless.

July 2006: Update on the web site link scammers:
The position over health care advice web sites is getting worse.I have checked out the registration of some of these sites and it is really alarming. The most recent one was a reputable looking site on woman's health issues. It included some good articles, but it was registered in Lima, Peru and the site owner was actively adding links to any old business just to gain hits and thus advertising revenue. In other words a scam operation aimed at fooling the public that the information they provided was from a reputable organisation. There was NO organisation, my guess is it is one person masquerading as an organisation to fool you and make money out of this activity.

Please bear in mind anyone can register themselves as a .org. This suffix does not provide automatic credibility to who is operating the web site. Therefore, please be very careful in what you believe on any health care sites that seem to have lots of links on them. The chances are high that it is a site run simply to make money and is not a reputable source of information, also there may be no organisation involved as the title may suggest to you. Article click here

UK readers may find 'Health Which' February 2001 pp 18-20 of interest. This journal had a limited range of essential oils analysed and came up with some interesting results. Nothing surprising to those that know the way the essential oil trade operates. However, it graphically illustrates the inability of the aromatherapy/essential oils trade to police itself. Also, when UK Government departments actively support ineffective trade organisations, there seems little hope of ever getting the house in order.
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