Tea Tree Oil: EU Science Committee Challenged
Tea Tree Oil has been used in Europe for decades, both pure and as an ingredient in cosmetic products. The extract prepared from the leaves of the melaleuca alternifolia tree native to Australia is an antiseptic remedy, used by aboriginees for centuries. The British explorer Captain Cook "discovered" the extract in 1770. He apparently had run out of tea and ended up brewing melaleuca leaves into a refreshing drink, during a voyage of discovery into the vast Australian continent. The essential oil obtained by steam distillation was subsequently introduced into western culture as a remedy with antiseptic and antifungal properties. Its use as a folk remedy for cold, flu, and systemic fungal infections spread by word of mouth.
These properties put Tea Tree Oil in perhaps involuntary competition with pharmaceutical medicine but also into direct jeopardy from pharmaceutically inspired regulation. In fact, the European Union's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) announced in its opinion adopted in December 2004, that "the use of undiluted Tea Tree Oil as a commercial product is not safe".
- - -
There are some who don't agree: "The SCCP Opinion on Tea Tree Oil – perhaps the most extensively researched essential oil - is riddled with political overtones, which potentially pander to the interests of big pharmaceutical business" charges Tony Burfield of Cropwatch, a group described on their site as an Independent Watchdog for Endangered & Vulnerable Natural Aromatic Products used in the Aroma (Perfumes, Flavours, Aromatherapy, Cosmetics), Herbal, Traditional Medicine & Phytochemical Industries.
Burfield says that a full scientific critique of the SCCP opinion is in preparation. However he opens a wider question, whether the system of evaluation by "advisory ‘expert’ committees of academics" should be ended, because findings are often divorced from reality.
In a related case, the European rules on biocidal products - those are disinfectants, wood preservatives, and pest control substances - prohibit the use of a number of traditionally used natural extracts. Affected are Basil oil, Cajuput oil, Cedarwood oil, Celery oil, Chamomile oil, Citronella oil, Clove leaf oil, Coriander oil, Cornmint oil, Cumin oil, Cypress oil, Eucalyptus oil, Juniperberry oil, Neem oil, Pinus oils, Lavender oil, Lemongrass oil, Geranium oil, Litsea cubeba oil, Melaleuca oil, Pine oil, Black pepper oil, Palmarosa oil, Patchouli oil, Pennyroyal oil, Peppermint oil, Rosewood oil, Rue oil, Spearmint oil, Thyme oil, Valeriana officinalis oil, and a host of others.
The conclusion that the community legislator may be more or less openly protecting friends in the pharmaceutical industry isn't easy to avoid.
A similar thing has been happening in the area of food supplements, where a European directive restricts the vitamin and mineral ingredients to those few that have been traditionally used by the pharmaceutical industry to formulate its products, excluding the natural forms of vitamin E, for example, and many bioavailable forms of minerals, as well as a great number of trace elements.
What seems to be missing in the rather heavy-handed European approach to legislation on health related risks is a correct application of the science of risk analysis. Rather than searching the scientific literature for all kinds of theoretical risks that might be associated with a substance and then summarily executing the culprit, perhaps it would be better to start by exactly characterizing the risk. How big is it? How many people have died or suffered other severe consequences? How many people are using the substance and are there reported positive effects? What is the balance between positive and negative. Do we have to intervene at all? Those are some of the initial questions that should be asked, and the answers to these should be documented, before there is any action, much less a generalized prohibition, of any natural substance that is is use.
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Wednesday June 22 2005
updated on Wednesday November 24 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/06/22/tea_tree_oil_eu_science_committee_challenged.htm
Related ArticlesCodex: WHO/FAO Told Nutrient Risk Assessment Must Consider Benefits
In a submission to the FAO/WHO nutrient risk assessment project, Dr. Robert Verkerk, Director of the Alliance for Natural Health charges that assessment of the possible risks of nutrient overdose must also consider the beneficial effects of nutrients. He says that risk assessments undertaken to date "are not based on a sufficiently rational scientific platform" and "will provide misleading information for policy decision-makers". At stake is the continued availability of... [read more]
December 16, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerRisk Free Vitamins - How Safe is Safe Enough?
Recent legislative proposals on at least three continents have centered around the perceived need to ensure the safety of natural health products, such as supplements containing vitamins and minerals. Canada has proposed drug-style regulations for supplements. In the US, a proposal termed S 722 seeks to increase the FDA's powers to remove supplements from circulation. Australia recalled 1600 diverse health products in an unprecedented prelude to - what else -... [read more]
February 03, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerEU Commissioner Byrne: No Zero Risk Society
In a recent seminar on public risk perception, the EU's Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne made a revealing statement. He told us that there is no such thing as a zero risk society. While I agree with what he says, I find it interesting that this statement comes at a time when the EU is discussing controls of toxic chemicals and when there is pressure from the chemical... [read more]
March 31, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerRisk Analysis - A Study Of Canadian Health Products Legislation
In the late nineties, Canada was announcing that natural health products would be regulated in an innovative way. The intention was to establish a "third category" for health products, separate both from foods and from medicines, to appropriately regulate natural health products. As it turned out however, the new regulations led to a more drug related environment for health products with onerous prior approval procedures for products. MP James Lunney... [read more]
August 25, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerManaging Risk Perception - Trust and Transparency
At a recent conference in Brussels, Commissioner David Byrne who is holding the health and consumer protection portfolio, addressed the participants on the subject of risk perception. Byrne seems baffled why some risks seem to be quite acceptable, while others are perceived as severe. To my mind, the Commission is dishonest if it wants to influence risk perception by the public, while refusing to handle the MAJOR risks in our... [read more]
December 06, 2003 - Sepp HasslbergerFood Supplements: German Risk Institute Takes Dim View
The German Federal Institute for Risk Evaluation, formerly the Federal Office for Consumer Health Protection, has established a risk assessment model for deducing maximum safe levels of nutrients provided in supplements and fortified foods, according to a recent report of nutraingredients.com. The report was published in two parts, one dealing with minerals, the other with vitamins, both available in PDF format - so far only in German language (Minerals here)... [read more]
January 20, 2005 - Sepp Hasslberger
