Setting the Record Straight Concerning AFNOR

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France — Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) AFNOR is a state-approved organization, placed under the supervision of the Ministry for Industry.  Its mission is to pilot and coordinate the preparation of standards, represent French interests within all standardization bodies, approve standards, promote and facilitate the use of standards, develop NF certification and products, services and systems certification. AFNOR supervises all of the technical work within 16 major standardization programs.  Program areas include electrical engineering and electronics, health, environment, hygiene and work safety, materials and materials processing and transportation.

Let's face it: It's a jungle out there.  And the more aromatherapy becomes mainstream in the minds of marketers, the more likely you are to see junk oils on store shelves.

This is a serious issue for you, and anyone looking for the many health benefits offered through aromatherapy.

What's the big deal here?

One of the main issues here is that many oils on the market today are totally synthetic — lifeless.  Others that have real essential oil in them are doctored with synthetic chemicals to extend them or punch up their fragrance.  (Not to mention the problems of chemical contamination in either the growing or processing of many oils.)  And, while it's true that chemists have successfully recreated the main constituents and fragrances of some essential oils in the laboratory, they simply cannot fabricate anything with all the properties of a therapeutic-grade essential oil.

Why is that?

These Franken-oils lack therapeutic benefits for two primary reasons:

1. Many essential oils contain molecules and isomers that are impossible to manufacture in the laboratory.  And while their absense might not significantly affect the fragrance of the oil, it does impact their therapeutic properties.
2. It's impossible to create the frequency of a therapeutic-grade oil in the laboratory.  (Frankenstein was, after all, just fiction.)

But, whether it's a synthetic oil or just a junk oil, you will not get the amazing health benefits from them that you would from a truly therapeutic-grade essential oil, and you could even face significant risks.

Why?

Because the chemical constituents found in a quality oil form an intricate mosaic, and play important roles in enhancing and balancing the properties of one another.  Consider this: Have you ever wondered how an herb that has been used for thousands of years in folk medicine — without serious side effects — can "all of a sudden" come to market as a dangerous pharmaceutical?  It's because the "active ingredient" has been isolated from the other constituents in the herb that, in its natural state, balance its effect on the body.  You can get something of the same effect from junk oils: They either don't work as expected or they create negative side effects.

So, just how are you — assuming you don't have an advanced degree in chemistry and a high-tech lab at your disposal — to know which oils are therapeutic-grade?

The answer is: There is no easy answer

Here is where the record must be set straight.  For years, I was taught that the answer to "How do you know … ?" was AFNOR.  When I was first getting started with aromatherapy, my mentors told me that AFNOR certification is the most reliable indicator of an essential oil's quality is.  The only problem is: there is no such thing as AFNOR certification; AFNOR has no such program for certifying essential oils, based on its standards.  Its standards cover all specifications for essential oils, but do not include any reference to therapeutic grade.

AFNOR (the Association French Normalization Organization Regulation) acts as a standards-setting body for a variety of products and services — not just essential oils.  Contrary to what I had been led to believe, it is not a government agency — something like the USDA; it is a private company, and the name AFNOR is a registered trademark, and as such, protected property.  And, while Young Living seeks to maintain a good working relationship with AFNOR, the two are completely separate business entities with no direct ties between them.

The true meaning of AFNOR

AFNOR is an agency that sets minimum standards by which the quality, safety, reliability and performance requirements described in French, European and International Standards can be validated.  With regard to essential oils, it exists mainly to dictate the standards to which essential oils are held in laboratory analysis.

However, this is not the same as certification of a product or service. 

The act of certification designates that a recognized body, independent of the interested parties, gives written assurance that a product, process or service conforms to specified requirements.  AFNOR does not do that; it merely provides reference documents, used by professional and commercial buyers and sellers, that indicate the "norm" for a product.  Hence, AFNOR standards for essential oils only gauge their conformance to standards set and agreed upon by the participating parties.

The typical AFNOR standard for an essential oil usually lists only the primary chemical constituents that provide its taste and/or aroma — the minimum chemical profile set by the industry.  So, while an essential oil can have from 80 to 400 chemical compounds, the AFNOR standard might set the minimum concentrations — or percentages — of only five or six of them.  In some cases — as with peppermint (Mentha piperita) oil — the standard for a species of oil might be defined by only one compound (menthol).  Thus, the hundreds of healing compounds that comprise a therapeutic grade of oil are not considered at all. 

Therefore, AFNOR standards simply do not address the therapeutic aspects of an oil.  That an oil tests within AFNOR parameters means only that it fits a certain minimum chemical profile, as set by the industry.  And, since the essential oil industry is predominantly governed by the needs of the food and cosmetics industries, the mere fact that an oil meets AFNOR standards says very little abouts its suitability for use in medicinal aromatherapy.

AFNOR and therapeutic-grade oils

And so, contrary to what I was taught as I began my adventure into aromatherapy, the appearance of AFNOR on a label does not prove its therapeutic quality, nor does the absence of AFNOR indicate that an oil is not therapeutic.  An essential oil could fulfill all the AFNOR criteria, and still not be therapeutic.  In fact, many commercial oils do meet that standard, and the are not.

Unfortunately, the existence of AFNOR standards — such as they are — causes many companies, who wish to sell their oils to the food or fragrance industries, to compound, manipulate, refine, denature and adulterate oils to make them comply with the "norm".  To the untrained nose, these oils might seem fine, but they will not give you therapeutic effects.

According to Young Living, besides having a chemical profile that includes as many of the natural constituents as possible, a therapeutic-grade essential oil is known by how it was produced.  It must be grown organically (or wildcrafted), distilled at minimum pressure and temperature in vessels of non-reactive materials, and bottled unchanged, unrefined and unadulterated.  And that is how Young Living Essential Oils are made.  It is your assurance that whatever oils you buy from Young Living are the best that they can be.

Factors involved in essential oil quality and how they are tested

What is it that can make one oil a therapeutic-grade essential oil while another is Grade-A, but not therapeutic-grade?

The basic issue is chemistry.

Because of varying conditions — such as soil or temperature, even latitutde and altitude — a lavender oil produced in one region of France might have a slightly different chemistry than that grown in another region.  As a result, it may not have the chemical profile necessary to make it suitable for use in aromatherapy.  Or, if the lavender was distilled when it was too green, it may have excessive camphor levels (1.0% instead of 0.5%).  Or, the levels of lavandulol may be too low, due to certain weather conditions at the time of harvest.

For example, the standard for Lavandula angustifolia (true lavender) dictates that the level of linalool should range from 25-38%, and the level of linalyl acetate should range between 25-34%.  As long as the oil's marker compounds are within this specific parameter, it can be recognized as a therapeutic-grade essential oil.

However, not all lavender is really lavender.  Sometimes, marketers try to sell lavandin (a lavender hybrid) as true lavender.  But, by comparing the gas chromatograph chemistry profile of a lavender essential oil against the standard, lavandin can be distinguished from true lavender.  Usually, lavandin has high camphor levels, almost no lavandulol, and is easily identified.

However, Tasmania produces a lavandin that yields an essential oil with naturally low camphor levels that mimics the chemistry of true lavender.  Only by analyzing the chemical fingerprint of this Tasmanian lavandin, using high resolution gas chromatography, and comparing it with the standard for genuine lavender, can this hybrid lavender be identified.

Assuring an essential oil's therapeutic quality

In North America, aromatherapy is still in its infancy.  And, despite the fact that a growing number of healthcare professionals are using essential oils in their practices, aromatherapy is still not taken seriously by the powers that be.  As a result, there is currently no agency responsible for certifying the therapeutic quality of an essential oil. 

In France, a government-certified botanical chemist named Hervé Casabianca, Ph.D., headed up a team that worked with several analytical laboratories throughout the country to develope standards for essential oils.  Dr. Casabianca recognized that the primary constituents within an essential oil had to occur in certain percentages in order for the oil to be considered therapeutic.  He combined his studies with research conducted by other scientists and doctors, including the Central Service Analysis Laboratory, certified by the French government for essential oil analysis.  Because of this work, many oils that are listed as therapeutic-grade — such as, frankincense or lavender — can now be checked against objective standards.  If some of the oil's constituents are too high or too low, it can't be recognized as therapeutic-grade essential oil, even though it is still Grade-A and of relatively high quality.

Dr. Casabianca introduced these standards to North America in 2000.  Working in collaboration with Sue Chao of Young Living Essential Oils, Young Living's chemistry laboratory and GSI chromatograph were calibrated according to the European standards.  And, in addition to operating its analytical equipment on the same standard as the European-certified laboratories, Young Living is continually expanding its analytical chemical library, in order to perform more thorough chemical analysis.

Young Living: Standing alone in assuring you of the highest standards in oil production

To our knowledge, Young Living is the only essential oil producer in North America that has been collaborating with government-certified analytical chemists in Europe, to ensure that its essential oils meet the highest standards.

The fact is: In the United States, few companies even use the proper analytical equipment and methods to properly analyze essential oils.  Most labs use equipment that is best suited for synthetic chemicals — not for essential oil analysis.

Here is part of the problem.

Analyzing an essential oil by gas chromatography is a complex process, and takes skill to perform properly.  The injection mixture, film thickness, column diameter and length — and oven temperature — must fall within certain parameters.

The column length should be at least 50-60 meters.  However, most labs in the United States use a 30-meter column.  This simply isn't long enough to achieve proper separation of all the essential oil constituents.  While 30-meter columns are adequate for analyzing synthetic chemicals and marker compounds in vitamins, minerals and herbal extracts, they're far too short to properly analyze the complex mosaic of natural chemicals found in an essential oil.

A longer column also enables double-phased ramping, enabling constituents that occur in small percentages to be identified by increasing the separation of compounds.  Without a longer column, it would be extremely difficult to identify these molecules, especially if they're chemically similar to each other or the marker compound.

And gas chromatography (GC) has some limitations.  Dr. Brian Lawrence, one of the foremost experts on essential oil chemistry, has noted that it can be very difficult to distinguish between natural and synthetic compounds using GC analysis.  For example: If synthetic linalyl acetate is added to pure lavender, a GC analysis can't tell whether that compound is synthetic or natural, only that it is linalyl acetate.  However, adding a chiral column can help to distinguish between synthetic and natural oils.  This addition allows the chemist to identify structural varieties of the same compound.

This is why oils must be analyzed by a technician specially trained on the interpretation of a gas chromatograph chart.  The analyst examines the entire chemical fingerprint of the oil to determine its purity and potency, measuring how various compounds in the oil occur in relation to each other.  If some chemicals occur in higher quantities than others, these provide important clues to determine if the oil is adulterated or pure.

Sometimes, other testing is needed, as well.  In the case of frankincense, some marketers will extend the pure oil with colorless, odorless solvents like diethylphthalate or dipropylene glycol.  The only way to tell if it's a therapeutic-grade oil or an adulterated oil is to thoroughly test it. Such analysis requires not only state-of-the-art gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy, NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) is also required.

Your assurance of quality

To assure that the oils you buy from Young Living are of the highest quality available, Young Living has each batch of its essential oils tested at independent laboratories — either the Central Service Laboratory or the Albert Vielille Laboratory — by chemists who understand the complexities of testing therapeutic-grade essential oils.

Adulteration of essential oils will become more and more common as the supply of top-quality essential oils dwindles and demand explodes.  These adulterated essential oils will jeopardize the integrity of aromatherapy in the United States and may put many people at risk.  Young Living is leading the way, not only in producing the finest oils on the market, but in educating both consumers and oil producers in what makes a truly therapeutic-grade essential oil, suitable for effective aromatherapy.