Producing the purest of oils can be very costly because it may require several hundred pounds, or even several thousand pounds of plant material to extract one pound of pure essential oil. For example, one pound of pure melissa oil sells for $9000 - $15,000. Although this sounds quite expensive, one must realize that three tons of plant material are required to produce that single pound of oil. Because the vast majority of all the oils produced in the world today are used by the perfume industry, the oils are being purchased for their aromatic qualities only. High pressure, high temperatures, rapid processing and the use of chemical solvents are often employed during the distillation process so that a greater quantity of oil can be produced at a faster rate. These oils may smell just as good and cost much less, but will lack most, if not all, of the chemical constituents necessary to produce the expected therapeutic results. AFNOR (French Association of Normalization) standards for therapeutic grade essential oils state the percentages of certain chemical constituents that must be present for an essential oil to qualify as true therapeutic grade. As a general rule, if two or more marker compounds in an essential oil fall outside their proper percentages, the oil may not meet AFNOR standards. How to Be Sure Your Essential Oils are Therapeutic Grade Are the fragrances subtle, rich, organic, and delicate? Do they "feel" natural? Do the fragrances of your oils vary from batch to batch as an indication that they are pure and painstakingly distilled in small batches rather than industrially processed on a large scale? Does your supplier send each batch of essential oils it receives through up to five different analyses before it is released? Are these tests performed by independent labs? Does your supplier grow and distill its own organically grown herbs? Are the distillation facilities part of the farm where the herbs are grown so they are freshly distilled, maintaining their potency? Does your supplier use low pressure and low temperature to distill essential oils and preserve all of their fragile chemical constituents? Are the distillation cookers fabricated from costly stainless steel alloys to reduce the likelihood of the oils chemically reacting with metal? Does your supplier have representatives traveling worldwide to personally inspect the fields and distilleries where the herbs are grown and distilled? Do they scrutinize the facilities to check that no synthetic chemicals are being used in any of these processes? If your answer to all of these questions is yes, you can feel confident that your oils are therapeutic grade, the purest available. In beginning your journey into the realm of aromatherapy and essential oils it is very important to use only the purest oils available. Anything less than pure, may not produce the desired results and can, in some cases, be extremely toxic. PLEASE NOTE: The information in this article is based solely on the use of 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils due to their high quality and tested purity. The use of a brand of uncertain quality and/or purity will provide you with potentially dangerous, if not lethal, results. The statements about these oils have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These oils are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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