PURE EO Article - EN

According to the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy, “The term ‘therapeutic grade’ arose during the 90s and did not exist prior to that time. It was invented by some very clever marketers who wanted people to believe that there were somehow therapeutic grade essential oils and then all others. The main company marketing this concept also wanted individuals to believe that they and they alone somehow had the only therapeutic grade essential oils on the market (as if the market had somehow not existed until they existed).”*

What are essential oils? Essential oils are simply a concentrated form of the oils found naturally in the flowers, leaves, bark, stems, seeds, fruit rinds, and other parts of plants. They have been used for thousands of years by cultures all over the world for their pleasant and sometimes powerful fragrances and properties. ARE PURE ™ ESSENTIAL OILS THERAPEUTIC GRADE? Quality starts with looking at what each oil should contain, what contaminants should not be present, and other characteristics associated with each oil such as colour, fragrance, appearance, and other physical characteristics. Just like with diamonds, well-established testing standards exist that enable well- meaning companies to establish beyond a doubt the quality and purity of their essential oils. If the term “therapeutic grade” or “certified pure therapeutic grade” were a recognised industry standard for grading essential oil quality, PURE Essential Oils would be certified as such. However, “therapeutic grade” is not a recognised industry standard for evaluating oil quality. Instead, it is a fabricated marketing term used by some companies in an effort to suggest their oils are of superior quality – and therefore worth well more than their fair market value. It is based exclusively on metrics and standards developed by the same companies who invented the marketing term. It is not difficult to meet a standard you invent and evaluate on your own. WHEN SOMEONE ASKS ABOUT ESSENTIAL OILS …chances are they’ll have a question or two. Perfect. Here are answers to some of the most common questions that might come your way…

THERAPEUTIC GRADE GRADE B GRADE C GRADE D

“The truth is that there is no such thing as ‘therapeutic grade’ (or grade B, C, or D) . A grading system, quite simply, does not exist for essential oils. It is a product of marketing and marketing alone.” —National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy

There is currently no governing body that certifies the production and quality of essential oils or a standard system for grading them, and we believe it is deceitful to use language that would imply that there is.

Without a central certification body, we turn to the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) and Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) for reputable quality specifications available for many essential oils. When an ISO or AFNOR standard is not available, we compare our oils to historical testing >Page 1 Page 2

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