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NOTE: I am posting this here at this link for ease of sharing to those who saw the “hit piece” on me and LAEO over on Aroma Medical.org. Please do not make this viral, I do not want to cause drama. This is simply here for me to easily share the link to my rebuttal for those who saw Martin Watt’s post about me and LAEO. Anyone who knows me or has been following LAEO knows the below facts anyways

My comments are in bold as responses to Martin’s comments in italic.

I e-mailed this to Martin on 12/11:

Martin,

I was recently made aware of a post you recently published, inferring myself and my website(s) are scams (http://www.aromamedical.org/articles/aromatherapy-blogs.html). I am unsure where you got the information you posted, but I wish you had contacted me first before posting, as your assumptions about me and my website(s) are in error.

Before I refute your statements, I want to say that I am the opposite of the “scam marketing” websites you refer to in your “older article” referenced at the end of the post about me and my website(s). I am all about busting those myths, and am very irritated and distraught over the inaccurate information that is perpetuated (mostly by MLM reps) on those kinds of websites. To lump me in with those websites is totally inaccurate, as everything I have done on my LAEO website has been to combat the dangerous information being shared across the web, and to freely educate others about safe and proper usage of essential oil safety. Everyone who has been following me and my website(s) knows this. Safe and accurate information is a passion of mine and something I take very seriously.

I hope you will consider posting this rebuttal on your website.

I wrote the article below a couple of years ago, but recently I discovered some alarming sites that masquerade as educational, but are promoting disreputable suppliers as well as providing inaccurate information.

“Masquerade as educational?” Learning About EOs is ALL about education. LAEO does not “promote disreputable”, or ANY, suppliers. I strive to the best of my ability to always provide accurate information, which is why I have chosen well-respected and award-winning mentors to learn from.

One of several linked sites is: http://ww w.learningabouteos.com and nourishingtreasures.com These sites are run by a Lea Harris who has links to and has accepted donations from Young Living and Do Terra distributors.

I have accepted donations from everyone, yes, including YL and DT reps who have donated in support of their brand. Other reps have also donated in support of their brands, and those are listed as well.

This lady is - one assumes - getting paid for all those links and does not seem to care who she directs her readers to. Lea Harris - who I am informed is in her early 20s - claims she qualified in July 2013 as a Certified Aromatherapist with Advanced Graduate training from Aromahead Institute. Therefore I question how someone so newly trained, and with only a limited knowledge of the International trade in essential oils, or analytical chemistry, or safety issues, can give accurate information on the numerous blogs she has become associated with.

The link to the rep sites, and other websites, were provided in exchange for donations. When we raised funds for testing, I offered to link to anyone’s website who donated $25 or more to our testing. Although some of those links (which you can find at the footer of our website (http://www.learningabouteos.com/) do go to rep’s websites (which I do not get paid for), there are more links to other non-aromatherapy websites such as Traditional-Foods.com, Smithspirations.wordpress.com, crunchybetty.com, and others.

I am flattered that your informant states I appear to be in my early 20′s, when in fact I will be 35 soon.

As for me “claiming” I graduated, I did in fact graduate. You can see me listed as a graduate of Aromahead Institute here: www.aromahead.com/graduates. I am the last one on the page. You can also feel free to contact Andrea Butje.

In defense of my school, I received wonderful training. I am a fast learner, and when I am in, I am all in. I soaked up every page of information I was taught, and passed the tests with flying colors. As far as I know, all the information I have shared as a guest poster on other blogs, as been accurate to the best of my knowledge, and lined up with the training I have received. I am all about safety.

I also frequently reference Robert Tisserand’s newly-released 2 ^nd edition of Essential Oil Safety, which I have been devouring since September.

She has links to DoTerra and Young Living distributors who maintain their oils are all “therapeutic grade”, yet on this site: http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/2013/09/essential-oil-mistakes.html Lea says “The fact is all essential oils are therapeutic grade”. Talk about double standards making money out of the links, while at the same time implying these companies are liars - see my articles archive for more on the ML scammers.

Again, I linked to any reps or website owners who provided a $25+ donation to our testing. Again, I do not make any money from the donor links. I also do not agree with much of the information released by MLM companies.

learningabouteos.com gives misleading information. Good examples are to be found with the advice about what essential oils to avoid in pregnancy : At least 50 percent of the essential oils mentioned are permitted food flavourings under FDA and other authorities regulations. It is ridiculous to say “avoid all these oils” because anyone eating processed foods can’t avoid them and there is no sound evidence that the low levels used in food are hazardous to a foetus. For more see my articles archive. Lea’s information says “pulegone… can cause liver toxicity for the mother”. This is based on a handful of cases where huge amounts of the oil have been consumed. See my article on pennyroyal. Of course the oils she mentions should not be consumed as medicinal substances duri ng pregnancy. It took me years to research and evaluate safety data on essential oils. How someone newly qualified is able to do that is a bit of a mystery.

Better safe than sorry. I would rather avoid an essential oil that might be okay, than encourage use and have it end up harmful. Incidentally, I am in the process of updating this page to include essential oils that have been proven safe, although I will not be changing the information currently provided, as I believe it to be true.

With all due respect, in this day and age, it doesn’t need to take years to research and evaluate safety data on our own when we have legends such as Robert Tisserand just an e-mail away, and schools like Aromahead Institute (approved by AIA and NAHA) who have teachers such as Andrea Butje, who was presented by AIA with a Lifetime Achievement Award this year. I am a proud Aromahead Graduate and was so happy for my teacher that she won the AIA award at the conference this year!

In the case of the Aromahead Institute that Lea trained with, they are also promoted by her for training courses, yet they sell or sold many essential oils on which there is no sound information of therapeutic use and some of the oils have no known safety data. For example, in the Scholars Program course, they claim to teach “therapeutic properties and uses of over 100 essential oils”. However, there are nothing like that number of essential oils with credible therapeutic data. Many of the properties are taken from the appallingly inaccurate aromatherapy books, or are invented based on the chemical profile of the oils. See articles in my archive for more on that.

According to Robert Tisserand, who just released his second edition of Essential Oil Safety which boasts over 400 essential oils profiles which include over 4,000 references to scientific data, there are plenty of essential oils with credible therapeutic data.

Another site Lea recommends is Queen Homeschool Supplies who sell Double Helix Water. Just another quack product designed to fool the gullible into parting with their cash. They sell a blend of Cinnamon bark and leaf oils yet claim: “Both produce similar results, and have similar aromas”. I don’t know what they are using but these oils are totally different in composition, fragrance and uses. Such statements indicate to me a business who know nothing about the products they sell and are probably relying on badly trained therapists or the popular aromatherapy novels. They also link to sandiqueenholisticwellness.com who use DoTerra essential oils and whose distributors are notorious for making illegal medicinal claims - see aromatherapyunited.org

Queen Homeschool Supplies provides their own line, Essential Vitality, that was in our first round of testing for Myrrh essential oil. They were rated the best out of 5, ahead of YL and DT.

To reiterate, we do not endorse products from ANY company. As stated on all of our testing pages, the essential oil tested reflects that oil from that batch only, and does not speak for the whole company and/or any other products they may provide. I am sure Sandi Queen can speak for herself regarding the statement(s) you made about her and her products.

Another site Lea promotes is: aromaticsinternational.com who sell oils with absolutely no safety testing or credible therapeutic use data on the plants essential oil such as: blue Tansy, Ghandi Root, guava leaf, Linaloe Berry, Palo Santo and others. They sell RoseWOOD oil which is a threatened species and comes under CITES regulations. Some of their medicinal claims for oils such as Bergamot are the usual trade fabrications.

I would not say that we “promote” any essential oil companies. Website/Companies are listed because we tested them. This does not mean we “promote” or endorse any of them. However, AI’s Tea Tree did test “In Compliance.”

I am sure Karen Williams would tell you that they provide GC/MS testing along with the reports for all of their oils and they do get their information from credible and reputable sources.

Numerous cookies are being dumped into your Internet cache if you skip between the links on these sites which are nothing but spying tools for marketing purposes.

I am unsure if you are referring to my website, but we don’t spy on anyone and our website isn’t about marketing.

Learning about eos is requesting donations for third party testing of essential oils.They provide no information about accounts for donations towards analysis. Is all the money being collected going towards its declared aim? Who knows except the site owner!

As all donors and participants know, we kept running totals of donations in our Facebook Group, and it was updated with each donation.

Learning about eos gives no information on the expertise & training of the analyst, neither is this information on the web site of pyrenessences who do some of the work. Shipping essential oils from the USA all the way to France for analysis is ridiculous when the US has world leaders on essential oils. I expect it is because most in the aromatherapy world don’t have the first clue about the REAL essential oil trade and its many experts.

Information is on the analyst’s website, and described on the Peppermint Essential Oil testing page under “Our Chemist” here: http://www.learningabouteos.com/PMtest

There are probably only two or three chemists in the US who are not already tied to an essential oil company. We chose Pyrenessenes Labs because they are a highly respected lab and were recommended to me by several aromatherapy experts. We wanted the best, even if that meant sending the samples out of the country.

I would suspect some of the oils claimed to be “not in compliance” are in fact perfectly genuine oils. Never forget, making an essential oil fit standards such as ISO, can be achieved via chemical manipulations of various kinds.

Yes, that has been debated. However, adding synthetic ethyl vanillin is unacceptable.

The essential oil trade has some fantastic analysts with a lifetime of trade knowledge dating back before aromatherapy was even thought about. It also has those offering analytical services who rely on University databases. That data is often created by using lab distillation of plant materials. The resulting oils can vary significantly from commercial bulk distilled oils. There are other analysts who both test and sell oils and are known to doctor what they sell. Analysts who also supply oils are not going to tell people that an oil from one of their best customer is adulterated.

Right. This is why I wanted a chemist not tied to a brand.

Some of the certificates of analysis from the 3rd party testing site point to a French producer of essential oils who claim their oils are produced in “copper stills”. This indicates to me that their expertise in producing essential oils is suspect because in the REAL essential oil trade it has been known for years that the best quality oils are produced in stainless steel equipment. Copper is a chemical catalyst and changes the oil composition from its more natural state.