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I am aware that Tea Tree Oil has been used by many people for a long time. However, the EU Scientific Committee has expressed concerns about the safety of tea tree oil. Many of you will no doubt be familiar with the lengthy opinion given by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products from 2004 see: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/c...sccp_o_00c.pdf
I would be interested in whether members of the Forum are using Tea Tree Oil in their practice?Given the concerns raised in the literature, I would be interested to know if practitioners consider it safe to continue to use tea tree oil in practice?
Thanks
Kelvin08
Last edited by Admin : 29th October 2008 at 03:03 PM.
Reason: check4spam message removed
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
I can never understand why so many jumped on the tea tree oil bandwagon when it efficacy compared to other modalities (that have well documented efficacy) has not been demonstrated. Is that being ethical?
Tea tree oil (an essential oil derived primarily from the Australian native Melaleuca alternifolia) has been used as a topical antiseptic agent since the early part of this century for a wide variety of skin infections; however, to date, the evidence for its efficacy in fungal infections is still largely anecdotal. One hundred and four patients completed a randomized, double-blind trial to evaluate the efficacy of 10% w/w tea tree oil cream compared with 1% tolnaftate and placebo creams in the treatment of tinea pedia. Significantly more tolnaftate-treated patients (85%) than tea tree oil (30%) and placebo-treated patients (21%) showed conversion to negative culture at the end of therapy (p◂0.001); there was no statistically significant difference between tea tree oil and placebo groups. All three groups demonstrated improvement in clinical condition based on the four clinical parameters of scaling, inflammation, itching and burning. The tea tree oil group (24/37) and the tolnaftate group (19/33) showed significant improvement in clinical condition when compared to the placebo group (14/34; p = 0.022 and p = 0.018 respectively). Tea tree oil cream (10% w/w) appears to reduce the symptomatology of tinea pedis as effectively as tolnaftate 1% but is no more effective than placebo in achieving a mycological cure. This may be the basis for the popular use of tea tree oil in the treatment of tinea pedis.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Admin2
Tea tree oil cream (10% w/w) appears to reduce the symptomatology of tinea pedis as effectively as tolnaftate 1% but is no more effective than placebo in achieving a mycological cure. This may be the basis for the popular use of tea tree oil in the treatment of tinea pedis.
Re: Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelvin08
the EU Scientific Committee has expressed concerns about the safety of tea tree oil.
Here is part of the news story from the Guardian: Tea tree oil faces ban over health fear
Scientists say even small amounts could provoke rashes and allergies
Quote:
Tea tree oil, the increasingly popular remedy for everything from spots to insect bites and vapour rubs, is under threat of being banned by the European Union. The EU has said that even small amounts of the undiluted oil could be unsafe and unstable after clinical trials found users risked rashes and allergies.
Cosmetic products, such as shampoo and bath oils, that use the oil in concentrations of less than 1 per cent are safe. But the toiletries and cosmetics firms that produce the neat form of the natural remedy have been given until June to convince a panel of scientists that the oil is safe to sell to the public.
The warnings follow revelations that boys have been warned against using oils or hair gels that contain tea tree oil after three cases of them growing breasts were reported.
Researchers in the US believe that the oils may have hormone-like properties that lead to gynaecomastia - the growth of breasts. When the boys stopped using the oils, the breasts disappeared. Writing in New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers say that the repeated use of such oils may disrupt hormonal function.
It has also been revealed that tea tree oil in cosmetics and creams could increase the chances of catching 'superbug' infections in hospital. Exposure to low doses of the oil made pathogens such as MRSA, E.coli and salmonella more resistant to antibiotics.
'Because essential oils are natural products, the public often assumes they must be safe,' says Frances Fewell, director of the Institute for Complementary Medicine. 'You should never apply any sort of essential oil directly to the skin without diluting it first in a suitable carrier oil. Tea tree oil has become very popular, and many people have started applying it directly to deal with acne and skin infections. In fact this is a very aggressive oil. The skin can dry out, blister or form a rash.'
In a strongly worded report, the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products has said it has serious concerns about the neat oil which, it found, is 'a severe irritant' to the skin and 'degraded rapidly' if exposed to air, light and heat.
The SCCP said existing safety tests were inadequate and that even widely sold toiletries were of 'questionable stability and were being sold without adequate proof of safety'.....
Is there a place for tea tree oil in foot care?
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