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How to Prevent Essential Oil Poisoning

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Written by Lisa Barger   

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Two million Americans are poisoned in their own homes every year and a disproportionate number of those are infants and small children. While essential oil poisonings are still quite rare, the number of children poisoned every year with volatile organic extracts is, unfortunately, growing. Here are a few steps you can take to help minimize your family's risk.

STEP 1: Know which oils present special risk. While most oils probably have at least some potential to be toxic, some stand out as posing special risks. A single 10 ml. bottle of clove oil was enough to cause liver failure in a UK toddler and the same-sized bottle of wintergreen is the salicylate equivalent of more than 40 adult aspirins. To learn which oils present especially high risks to your family, ask your pediatrician for more information.

STEP 2: Purchase essential oils ONLY in bottles that list both the common and botanical names. If you were to say "cinnamon oil" to your child's doctor, he would know immediately what to do but if you were to tell him your child ingested oil of salvia, he would have to comb through hundreds of herbal monographs trying to decide what, if any, treatment is appropriate.

STEP 3: Store all herbal products, including essential oils, in a locked cabinet. Since no major supplier of essential oils sells them in child-resistant bottles, store your oils in a lockable cabinet.

TIP: At least one distributor of essential oils is telling her site's visitors that pure essential oils do not cause skin rashes. Don't you believe it for a minute! Even the best volatile oils can cause allergic reactions when used topically and deadly poisonings if ingested.

WARNING: This article was intended to help you open a dialogue about essential oil poisonings with your child's pediatrician. It was in no way intended as medical advice.

Comments (1)add comment

mobilityadvocate said:

mobilityadvocate
 ...
Wow, I didn't know that you can get poisoned by essential oils but it makes sense. Informative and well written article!
 
November 01, 2009
Votes: +0

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