My comments in the June Newsletter about Where does Aromatherapy stand? continue to reverberate around the globe: e-mails flow in, letters pile up, and the phone endlessly jangles. I am keeping right out of it, but I did promise Sylvia Baker PR Chair of the Aromatherapy Organisations Council [www.aromatherapy-uk.org] that I would publish her letter verbatim.

ICM
You will have seen from the extract from Hansard that ICM has been discredited in the House of Lords and the enclosed letters from Healthwork UK, the National Training Organisation for Healthcare, demonstrate the inaccuracies of information the ICM has circulated. It would be interesting to see what aromatherapy standards - if any - the ICM currently has in place since to our knowledge, they have never been published.

Where does Aromatherapy stand?
Unanimous agreement was reached at the 1999 AGM for the AOC to seek statutory regulation of the title “aromatherapist”. In our negotiations with the Department of Health, it has been made clear to us that organisations seeking statutory regulation must be stand-alone bodies. In preparation for this, the AOC has therefore withdrawn its membership from the BCMA whilst still remaining fully supportive of its role and function. There is no need for any intermediary body to be involved with a fully developed profession that has “come of age”. Healthwork UK have themselves also indicated that they are only prepared to deal with single therapy lead bodies that command the support of the majority of practitioner organisations.

In the past, the AOC has been funded by a per capita payment from the associations but last November, it was unanimously agreed to restructure the funding. As from this year, the AOC will not be funded by a per capita payment but by the National Register. For this year only the associations agreed to pay their usual per capita payment and a refund will be made for each aromatherapist who joins the National Register. From next year, the associations will pay a nominal sum only and the AOC itself will be directly funded by the Register. The IFA has not published the information which the AOC provided on statutory regulation, the National Register and the refunding arrangements and their members have therefore not been informed of all the facts. This means they are not aware of the importance of joining the National Register. The other AOC associations have informed their members of the changes and circulated the Register Application Form. All aromatherapists that we have spoken to, IFA members included, have totally supported the AOC’s bid for statutory regulation and not one has been against it.

The benefits of statutory regulation to both the public and profession are enormous:
The establishment and maintenance of systems of regulation are essential for the provision of high quality  care and patient safeguards.
The public needs protection from inadequately trained people practising aromatherapy and state registration would make it a criminal offence wrongly to use the title “aromatherapist”.
Statutory regulation would ensure high uniform standards of training and practice are established and  enforced.
A single register of practitioners would be published to the general public.
The legal underpinning of disciplinary procedures will ensure that the public and healthcare professionals know who is accountable, insured and competent to practise.

As will have been seen from the AOC Newsletters, the National Register is the beginning of the single register required for statutory regulation. The profession is already unified under the AOC’s umbrella as is clearly demonstrated in both the 1997 Exeter Report and their recently published Report “Professional Organisation of Complementary & Alternative Medicine in the UK 2000”as well as in the Department of Health publications for Primary Care Groups and Primary Care Clinicians (GPs) which were launched recently. The AOC’s mandatory training standards were adopted at the 1993 AGM and were revised in 1996 and 1999. It will be the profession itself, which determines the level of competence and skill for registration at the appropriate time, following full consultation.

Best Practice
Government funded and Government recognised National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Aromatherapy were developed over a three-year period and published in June 1998 following full consultation with the profession, including the IFA and ICM. Healthwork UK has confirmed that these NOS do stand as indicated in the enclosed copy of their letter of 18th March 1999 [available upon request].

The Government’s National Standards programme has been designed as part of the move towards a range of national occupational standards and qualifications which are complementary to, yet distinct from, academic qualifications. The new network of 65 National Training Organisations reflects the Government’s determination to revolutionise the approach to learning in the UK and to put lifelong learning at the heart of Government policy. According to Healthwork UK, it is intended that eventually all qualifications will be referenced to the National Occupational Standards.

National Occupational Standards describe good practice and specify what needs to be achieved in the delivery of high quality services. They describe performance - what people are expected to do in employment. They most certainly do not reflect the lowest levels of competence. A recent survey carried out by Healthwork UK indicates wide support for the Aromatherapy NOS as published from the other responding AOC member associations as well as from the AOC itself. The IFA, the third largest of the 12 AOC member associations, was the only one to express dissatisfaction. Our suggestion to anyone who comments on the standards is that they themselves purchase a copy from the Local Government Management Board to judge for themselves the level at which they are pitched. NOS are subject to constant review and following the above-mentioned consultation, Healthwork UK is currently bidding to complete the development of the NOS with minor changes prior to submission to QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) for approval and the recognition which they so richly deserve.

The remit of the ICO is much wider than is indicated in the article. In addition to having a seat on the Board of the Training Organisation for Personal Social Services, the ICO has a seat on the Board of Healthwork UK, the Central Council for Education & Training of Social Workers and City & Guilds Affinity. The Independent Care Organisations (ICO) was responsible for managing the project to develop the NOS for Aromatherapy and three other exemplar therapies. You will note from the attached extract [available upon request] from Healthwork UK’s publicity brochure that the ICO is closely involved with them, and the attached copy [available upon request] of the ICO Chairman’s letter to the ICM clearly indicates that complementary medicine is represented on Healthwork UK through the ICO. ICO Chairman, John Gilliland, is a Board Member of Healthwork UK and ICO directors populate the various Healthwork UK committees.

Your assumption that the AOC is accepting more limited qualifications than IFA or the ICM Register, is ridiculous and totally inaccurate. The NOS route is just one of the options that the AOC is exploring. All other options are being developed in parallel, including a B.Sc.Degree with Middlesex University, which it anticipates will be up and running by September 2001.

It is regrettable, Charles, that you chose to to permit the work of the AOC to be rubbished at a time when
(a) the trade is actively endeavouring to remove itself from the profession as witnessed by the ATC relinquishing its seat on the AOC Executive Committee and Council; and
(b) the AOC is seeking to protect the public from inadequately trained people by exploring the statutory regulation of title route.

It would be appreciated if you would kindly correct the information which was printed in your June Newsletter and if in future, you would check your facts before committing them to print.

In fact it has never been my intention to rubbish anything, and I certainly was not writing as a member of the trade, but I do believe that I should be allowed to present all arguments as I, like many others, can only hearken to the evidence and a true verdict give, albeit sometimes incorrect! For those who now wish to re-evaluate the facts, and maintain equilibrium, the Institute of Complementary Medicine (ICM) Report on National Occupational Standards is available on HYPERLINK http://www.icmedicine.co.uk or for £1.50 from ICM, P.O. Box 194, London, SE16 7QZ.

Yet another view.
Meanwhile International Therapist, the journal of the Federation of Holistic Therapists [www.fht.org.uk], in its July/August issue, under the heading Aromatherapists’ Future Under Threat?, wades in:
 
Many members will now be aware that there is a determined move by the Aromatherapy Organisations Council to restrict the word “Aromatherapist”....The AOC has recently sent documentation to the Department of Health to confirm its intention to apply for Statutory Regulation with regard to practitioners within the Aromatherapy industry....This move, accompanied by much misinformation and scaremongering, has thrown many therapists and Colleges into a panic....Such a bid can only be made once a profession is able to clearly demonstrate that it has a sound system of voluntary regulation on which to build, and that its plans have the grass roots support of individual practitioners....Whilst the FHT supports best practice and appreciates the need to promote high standards in our industry, the AOC does not represent the majority of practising Aromatherapists....The AOC and all its associate organisations have a membership which is multi-counted because so many people belong to so many different organisations. I shall not comment but, is this correct?

Gold of Pleasure.
Almost a decade ago I recollect being sent an article which extolled the virtues of the seed oil of Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz, more commonly known as gold of pleasure, as a substitute for sperm whale oil. 

Whilst there are records of its cultivation dating back to the Iron Age, its importance had been in decline since the beginning of the last century. It was not until the mid 1970s that German researchers thought that it might have potential, if seed quality and yields could be improved. The oil is remarkable for its high linolenic and eicosenoic (gondoic, C20:1) acid content associated with a low erucic acid content.

Aware that camelina was traditionally grown for cagebird seeds to enhance plumage, and that the seed oil had been used as a skin moisturiser in ancient times, researchers suspected that it might have good skin care properties.  This proved to be the case, and by the early 1990s there were reports that the oil had excellent penetration and non-oiliness in massage and skin treatment.  In addition it seemed to be particularly effective in the treatment of skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, possibly because of some activity on the prostaglandin component of the upper surface of the skin.  I forgot clean about it until today!

Spurious Sandalwood.
I was asked recently, by a forestry products expert in India, what I knew about so-called African or East African Sandalwood.

Various oils designated African sandalwood or East African sandalwood have been described in the literature, but there is considerable doubt regarding their botanical origin. Most were ascribed to Osyris tenuifolia Engl. native to Tanzania where it is known as bastard sandalwood (msandali in KiSwaheli), south to Mozambique and perhaps also Madagascar. In Kenya, Osyris compressa (Berg.) A. DC., now Colpoon compressum Berg., is known as East African sandalwood, but as Cape sumach in South Africa where its leaves and bark produce a tanning extract. The timber is not used to provide an essential oil.

In Kenya, C. compressum is listed by the Forestry Department as a substitute for sandalwood but I am unaware of any production. Osyris tenuifolia billets were exported from Tanzania to India as East African sandalwood, but not locally distilled. Thus I think it unlikely that the origin of my Indian friend’s sample is C. compressum, and that O. tenuifolia is the source.

Osyris tenuifolia is a densely branched tree which grows to 8m with lanceolate leaves, solitary, greenish-yellow inconspicuous flowers, and berry-like red fruit. The oil yield obtained by distilling wood chips averages 5%. The oil is light brown, similar in odour to that of Santalum lanceolatum R. Brit.  The main component is lanceol, a sesquiterpene alcohol, and the oil is not an alternative nor substitute for sandalwood oil.

I have read that African sandalwood oil has not been commercially produced but, in 1995 a private company based in the coastal port of Tanga began small-scale production of sandalwood (S. album L.) and other local wood oils for export. However my Indian expert advises that whilst there has to be some S. album around Tanga he doubts that it is suitable for oil extraction; also he has no proof of production there.

Shades of Bollywood!
Thanking me for my information, my Indian friend turned to the wider aspects of the Sandalwood trade: It [sandalwood] is still here in India despite the mafia and the jungle thief, Veerappan being his name. I gave the name not a further thought until I read that one of India’s most popular actors had been kidnapped by one of India’s most famous bandits.

Veerappan has enthralled the Indian public with his adventures, eluding police for more than two decades. He has been charged with the murder of nearly 120 people and has tragically killed hundreds of elephants for their ivory. He has also smuggled tonnes of sandalwood. For years, hidden in the forests of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, he has led a lifestyle of murder and kidnap. Thus far, despite highly public manhunts, he has evaded capture. But the abduction of Rajkumar, an iconic figure in southern Indian cinema, will hopefully be one criminal act too far for him.

With no export licences currently being issued in India I am thus extremely wary about offers of sandalwood from the subcontinent, and am constantly looking for new sources.

Ecological awareness.
I am always heartened when suppliers express genuine political and ecological awareness. Therefore when our producers of Monoi de Tahiti, in French Polynesia, wrote recently to offer us oil of Santalum austrocaledonicum [last month’s oil of the month] I was delighted to read in the preface to their Specification Sheet....We shall, in accordance with ecological concern and in order to protect the species, limit our sources of supply to places with geopolitical stability: in this way we shall avoid the destruction, or destabilization of forest resources as has been the case in the Juan Fernandez Islands, India and Indonesia. Unfortunately it is often most difficult to evaluate resources in some countries due to a lack of data and, therefore, it may not be possible to deal with these places. I asked them for their current global overview of resources.

The state of sandalwood.
They consider that sandalwood (Santalum spp.) has either totally disappeared, or is very seriously threatened, on the Juan Fernandez Islands located off, and owned by, Chile, [Santalum fernandezianum F. Philippi was rare through over-exploitation for timber by 1740, and was extinct by 1916] Hawaii [Santalum freycinetianum Gaudich. - the basis of the Hawaiian sandalwood industry - peaked in the 1810s, and was exhausted by 1840] and the Japanese Bonin Islands [? Santalum ellipticum Gaudich.], and is being overexploited in India, Indonesia [Santalum album L.], Australia [Santalum spicatum (R. Br.) A. DC.] and my old home, Vanuatu [? Santalum austrocaledonicum Vieill.].

This did surprise me as I thought  that all sandalwood production in Vanuatu had ceased years ago; mind you I was last there almost twenty years ago. Still, aware of the immediate availability and sustainability of S. austrocaledonicum from New Caledonia, I was a little surprised to learn that they think the resource on the Marquesas Islands is sustainable in the short-term, and that Tonga also has sustainable resources.

Obviously the Pacific islands are stepping in to plug the gap in sandalwood supply but I doubt that much, if any, is the more familiar East Indian sandalwood (S. album). However, if we also are to become more ecologically aware, it might not be a bad idea to try some of these sandalwood alternatives. I leave it to you to decide if they are as therapeutically efficacious as East Indian.

Like no place you’ve ever been!
I seem to remember that this was once the advertising slogan for Papua New Guinea, and justifiably so: but that’s another story! To land on my desk the other day were some most interesting essential oil samples from this fascinating country, for analysis and comment. As I have yet to identify the botanical origin of two of the four samples, I shall comment only on Melaleuca symphyocarpa F. Muell. and Cryptocarya massoy (Oken) Kosterm.

Liniment Tree.
M. symphyocarpa, or liniment tree, is pretty well documented in the literature (E.V. Lassak and T. McCarthy Australian Medicinal Plants, and Traditional Aboriginal Medicines in the Northern Territory of Australia by the Aboriginal Communities of the Northern Territory). It also gets several mentions in Tim Low’s excellent Bush Medicine - A Pharmacopoeia of Natural Remedies. It is perhaps worth noting however that the name of this plant has been changed to Asteromyrtus symphyocarpa (Australian Systematic Botany, 1(1988), 373).

It owes its apt name, liniment tree, and healing reputation to its heady aromatic oil, which smells like nasal decongestant. This medicinally important tree grows in swampy woodland and open forest around the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, including the islands, and therefore it is not surprising that it occurs across the Arafura Sea in Papua New Guinea.

An almost hairless shrub [but will grow to 10m], sometimes with a bluish frosted appearance, it has scattered leaves and flowers in dense heads of 5-15, orange to yellow in colour. The fruiting heads consist of a number of closely pressed together woody capsules.

The Aborigines of Groote Eylandt use it as a liniment; crushed leaves are inhaled to relieve headache. Also, leaves are boiled in water and the steam inhaled to ease congestion in the nose and throat. When cool, the liquid is sipped to ease sore throat, cough and other symptoms associated with colds and flu. This usage is in accord with my information from Papua New Guinea, where it is used additionally for the treatment of malarial fevers. The literature (Brophy, J.J., Lassak, E.V. & Boland, D.J. 1990, Steam volatile leaf oils of Melaleuca globifera R. Br., Melaleuca laterifolia Benth., Melaleuca symphyocarpa F. Muell. and Melaleuca uncinata R. Br., Flavour and Fragrance Journal, vol. 5, 1, 43-48) suggests that 1,8-cineole is the active constituent.

A complicated oil.
There has been a great deal of confusion regarding the taxonomy of the plant, the bark of which, on steam distillation, yields oil of massoia. The oil of commerce is obtained from Cryptocarya massoy, a member of the Lauraceae family, native to Irian Jaya. Old references suggest that the principal oil-containg barks of the old Netherlands New Guinea are those of massoy and lawang. Massoy bark has been collected for centuries, and trade in the bark was once of such importance that, in the seventeenth century, the East India Company organized special expeditions to New Guinea to procure the bark.

In 1890, E.F.R. Woy reported (Cinnamomum massoia oil. Arch. Pharm., 228 (22), 687) that an oil of massoia that had been thought of as originating from Cinnamomum massoia Schewe was obtained from Massoia aromatica Beccari not Cryptocarya massoy. A number of years later, scientists at the Imperial Institute in London disputed this fact and reported (Massoia bark from Papua. Bull. Imp. Inst., (1925) 23, 423-426) that the oil known as massoi or massoia had its origin in C. massoy. It was further reported that massoia bark contained an oil which had an aroma reminiscent of a mixture of clove and nutmeg. The compounds resonsible for this aroma were characterized as eugenol and safrole.

In 1937, a Japanese scientist examined an oil of massoia and reported (S. Abe, Massoy oil. J. Chem. Soc. Japan, 58, 246-251) that it contained a lactone as the major component. He named the compound massoy lactone [(+)-6-nonyl-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyran-2]. Three years later, yet another scientist (Th. M. Meijer, The essential oil of Massoi bark. Rec. Trav. Chim., 59, 191-201) decided to try and clarify the origin of massoia oil.

At that time both massoia oil and lawang oil were being produced in New Guinea: massoia oil possessing a warm, coconut-peach-like aroma; lawang oil possessing a clove-nutmeg aroma. Meijer pointed out that the clove-like oils, which were known in commerce as massoia oil, were really misnamed and should have been called lawang oil - the origin of this latter oil being Cinnamomum xanthoneuron Blume, Cinnamomum culilawan Bl. or possibly another endemic Cinnamomum species. Consequently, the true massoia oil, which at that time (1940) was almost unknown, originated from Cryptocarya massoy.

Very often the literature refers to a massoia oil where, according to physicochemical properties and constituents, the reference should be to lawang oil. I fear that my correspondent from Papua New Guinea may have made the same error, for he comments that his massoia oil (Cryptocarya spp.), when steam distilled, is denser than water. Meijer, the scientist who finally sorted the differences between massoia and lawang oils, established that it is lawang oil (Cinnamomum spp.) which is denser than water. However my unidentified sample of Cinnamomum spp. smells distinctly coconut-peach-like! Hopefully the analyses will sort out the confusion. Meanwhile I am advised that the country’s current advertising slogan is The Land of the Unexpected, which could prove to be all too correct!

Aromatherapy Use?
As I am assured that the supply of these oils and the sustainability of the resource are not a problem, if a market for them can be found, I checked the aromatherapy literature.
Whilst I could find nothing about liniment tree, The Aromatherapy Practitioner Reference Manual has quite a bit about massoia oil, commenting that it appears anti-infectious, a major antibacterial, anticatarrhal, cytotoxic and mucolytic. Although care should be taken as it may be a skin irritant and possible sensitizer, it is suggested that it may assist respiratory infections and help the digestive system.  Be this the case, we may submit it for toxicity testing: I should like to help Papua New Guinea.
 
Manuka Honey creates a buzz.
According to a recent report in Nursing Times the case of a British teenager, whose chronic wounds were healed by honey after traditional treatments failed, has rekindled interest in its therapeutic potential.

Having contracted meningococcal septicaemia, the 15-year-old endured months of agony when the infected sores he developed failed to heal. After conventional treatments proved useless, one of his nurses tried dressing the wounds with pads impregnated with sterilised active Manuka honey. The dressing cut the bacteria levels in the wounds, which healed within ten weeks.

Some may remember that I mentioned in my April 1995 Newsletter that Waikato University in New Zealand was developing a certification system, to avoid confusion between ordinary breakfast manuka honeys and “active”honeys, under which beekeepers would be able to have their honeys tested for antibacteriological activity - low, medium or high.

According to Dr. Peter Molan, who has been researching the subject for 20 years, this case underlines the effectiveness of honey’s antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Trials have shown that it is more effective in controlling infection in burn wounds than antibacterial ointments, and Dr. Molan believes that it should often be the therapeutic agent of first choice.

Interestingly, honey is a more effective antifungal and antibacteral agent than sugar, suggesting that honey contains additional antimicrobial agents. Some of these have been identified. Most honeys contain relatively high levels of hydrogen peroxide, a reactive chemical that is produced as a natural part of the body’s immune response to pathogens. The higher the hydrogen peroxide content, the more effective it is in killing germs. Peroxides also stimulate white blood cells called macrophages, which initiate the overall immune response to infection.

In 1981 R.A. Knutson (Use of Sugar and Providone-Iodine to Enhance Wound Healing: Five Years’ Experience. Southern Medical Journal 74 (1981): 1329-35) went so far as to suggest that mixing ordinary table sugar or honey into some sterile butter or margarine will produce a home remedy for cuts and scrapes that is “just as effective and comforting as anything available on the market”.

However, as Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein point out in their fascinating Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels, it is important to note that most commercially available sugar is not sterile, and some honeys have been reported to have low levels of the bacteria that cause botulism or other toxins that can be harmful to infants and people with pre-existing medical problems. Thus most medical professionals do not recommend home use of commercially available sugars and honeys.

Answers to the Summer Quiz.
(a)  Edward Bach (“The relation of vaccine therapy to homoeopathy”)
(b)  Friedrich Nietzche (“Ecce Homo”)
(c)  Jean Valnet (“Therapeutiques Naturelles”)
(d)  Maurice Gattefossé (“Aromathérapie: Les Huiles essentielles, hormones végétales”)
(e)  Marguerite Maury (“The Secret of Life and Youth”)
(f)  Robert Tisserand (“The Art of Aromatherapy”)
(g)  Kurt Schnaubelt (“Medical Aromatherapy”)

Despite many valiant efforts, I regret that no one answered all  the questions correctly. Better luck next time!

Finally.....
I am reminded that places for our Open Day on Sunday, 24th Spetember, are fast running out and so, if you wish to come, book now. I much look forward to seeing you here.
charles@essentiallyoils.com
 

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