Hazards of Essential Oils

Aromatherapy is an often underestimated therapeutic modality. Despite appearances, aromatherapy extends beyond using scent therapeutically, encompassing all medicinal uses of essential oils. Essential oils are concentrated plant chemicals that have been removed from all of the natural fillers and buffers that are found in the whole plants from which they are derived. In many ways, they resemble drugs more than herbal medicines, and must be employed with considerable caution. The improper use of a few essential oils can result in chemical burns, liver damage, miscarriage or death, according to Toxic Essential Oils.

Citrus

• Although the essential oil of lime is relatively innocuous in most applications, it must be used with caution when applied topically.

  Although commonly used in aromatherapy, it is important to use the essential oils of lemon, lime, orange, mandarin and bergamot with caution when applying them topically. When these oils are applied to the skin undiluted, some people experience increased photosensitivity, dramatically reducing the time it takes to develop a sunburn. Occasionally applied to the hair to enhance natural highlights, citrus oils can be transferred to the skin, causing painful blistering and burns.

Calamus

• Calamus, or sweet flag, has been a popular North American indigenous remedy for a range of ailments from fever to gastrointestinal upset. Internal use of the plant is no longer recommended due to the presence of alpha and beta asarone, two hepatotoxic and carcinogenic chemicals. Although the concentration of these chemicals is only moderately high in the fresh plant, they are abundant in the essential oil, making it unsuitable for any internal or topical uses.

Pennyroyal

• Pennyroyal is one of the most well-known, powerful and dangerous abortifacients in the plant kingdom. The scent of pennyroyal essential oil alone has been known to cause miscarriages due to its toxic and utero-irritant properties, notes Toxic Essential Oils. Due to its toxicity and risk to others, there are no appropriate applications for pennyroyal essential oil in alternative medicine. Rue, or Ruta graveolens, is a yet more powerful abortifacient and potentially fatal neurotoxic essential oil.

Wintergreen and Sweet Birch

• The essential oil profile of both wintergreen and sweet birch are nearly identical. They both contain over 99 percent methyl salicylate, a pharmaceutical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that can be absorbed topically. They can be hepatoxic when taken over a long period of time, and interacts readily with common over the counter painkillers. Combining them with drugs as common as aspirin or ibuprofen can be potentially fatal.