Carcinogenic essential oils?

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Are there any carcinogenic essential oils?

There are carcinogenic essential oil constituents. These include asarone, estragole (methyl chavicol), safrole and methyleugenol. Both estragole and methyleugenol are found in Basil leaves and they are quite concentrated in pesto. However, the WHO has declared pesto to be safe for human consumption because research has shown that anticarcinogens in Basil leaves counteract the toxic effects of the carcinogens. Unfortunately these particular anticarcinogens are not found in Basil essential oils, but there are others that are found, depending on the type of Basil oil.

In some cases we can be fairly certain that an essential oil containing one of these carcinogens is also carcinogenic, but in other cases, this is not so. It depends on three factors: 1) the percentage of the constituent; 2) the potency of that constituent, and 3) how much, if any, of anti-carcinogenic constituents are also in that essential oil. Rose oil, Elemi oil and Holy Basil oil all contain very small amounts of carcinogens, but the oils are not generally considered to be carcinogenic. On the other hand, Calamus oil, Sassafras oil and Huon Pine oil are considered to be carcinogenic, and they are not much used in aromatherapy.

Some widely-used essential oils should only be used in restricted amounts because of their content of carcinogens. For example, the estragole chemotype of Basil oil contains 75-87% of estragole and should be used at a maximum topical concentration of 0.1%. But the linalool chemotype of Basil has very little estragole and has lots of anticarcinogenic linalool and eugenol, so needs no restriction. More information on this can be found in Essential Oil Safety.

14 Comments

  1. My wife who is recovering from cancer inhales Basil Oil to help with vertigo and dizziness, can you tell me if Basil Oil is carcinogenic please.

    Reply
    • It depends on the type of Basil oil. If it’s high in linalool then it’s fine, if it’s high in estragole (methyl chavicol) then it would be best avoided.

      Reply
  2. I have been using Rose absolute oil in high concentration for about a year on my face and neck, can you tell me if Rose oil is carcinogenic please?

    Reply
    • Because of the presence of very small amounts of methyleugenol, the recommended safe concentration of Rose absolute for a facial product would be about 25%, and for Rose oil (Rose otto) this would be about 6%. However to avoid skin irritation in a facial product, the maximum recommended dilution for any absolute or essential oil is about 1.5%.

      Reply
  3. I was told that fennel oil can help breast feeding mothers to have more milk if they it. Is it right?
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Fennel seed tea, has a very long tradition of use for promoting milk supply. This would be more reliable, and also safer, than using the essential oil.

      Reply
  4. Would rose seed oil be problematic at all?

    Reply
    • No, the fatty oil from the seeds does not contain any carcinogens.

      Reply
  5. I would like to know is clary sage is safe to use after surgery from a breast lump. I found confusing information. and a lot of blends for women has clary sage. Thank you.

    Reply
  6. Is it okay to use ravensara oil in an inhaler for nasal allergy relief?

    Reply
    • I don’t know if it will be helpful, but it’s totally safe to use.

      Reply
      • thank you. 🙂

        Reply
  7. i LOVE bASIL OIL, AND I HAVE 2 – 1 WITH 70% PLUS estragole (methyl chavicol), THE OTHER ORGANIC SWEET BASIL HAS ABOUT 44% LINALOL, iS THERE ANY RESTRICTIONS i SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT?
    i USE IT MAINLY FOR AMBIENT DIFFUSING IN ULTRASONIC DIFFUSER. tHANK YOU.

    Reply

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