Diffusing Essential Oils in Public Places

Is it safe to diffuse essential oils in a public setting, like a classroom? Certified Clinical Aromatherapist Lea Jacobson discusses the pros and cons of diffusing popular anti-germ blends around our children. Are germs really being killed? Are there blood-thinning risks? Is it morally OK to medicate children without parent's permission? What are the alternatives?

This is Lea Jacobson  empowering you to use essential oils safely. I hope you learned something new today. Tell a friend about our podcasts so they can learn, too. All episodes are available at LeaJacobson.com/podcast. 

Transcript

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Podcast Intro 0:00

Hey everyone! Do you use essential oils or maybe you're just curious about using them and you want to make sure you know how to use them before you get started? Then you have come to the right place! My name is Lea Jacobson, a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist, essential oil educator, speaker, author - and all of that good stuff - but most importantly, I am your go-to when you have a question about how to use essential oils safely - no matter which brand you use. Now, let's get started on today's podcast.

Lea Jacobson 0:32

So you may have seen my post on Facebook where I have shared where a father has threatened legal action if the school keeps using essential oils in the classroom. And I'm really glad this issue is being addressed in a public way. A couple of years ago there were quite a few of you in our Using Essential Oils Safely group who were concerned after I was sharing the concerns, the possible adverse reactions to the popular anti-germ blend blends out there. Several of you were worried because you found out that the teachers in your child's classroom, were diffusing this very same blend. So a couple of years ago I did make a post about diffusing in public spaces. So this is more than just the classroom. It's, it's, it's a bigger issue. You have doctor's offices, you have hospitals even diffusing essential oils, particularly diffusing a very popular anti germ blend, which has a lot of safety issues. And to you are exposing the general public to this type of essential oil blend that has pretty serious concerns. So it has been my opinion, and again, I'm really glad that this is getting national, actually global attention. It's always been my professional opinion to never recommend this sort of public diffusing in public spaces. Now, first of all, let's look at the pros. We all know essential oils are amazing tools. You know from being in my group or listening to my previous podcasts or just talking with me in person, you know I love essential oils. Absolutely one of the tools that I use and I recommend for others to use when it comes to solving a certain health issues, for it making you feel better - they're awesome. So I can see how a teacher, especially if she's new to essential oils and she's getting talked to by her friend or family member and she thinks it's this wonderful idea to diffuse in her classroom (or he, obviously) or hospitals, dentist's office, Doctor's office, even you know, therapists - they want to diffuse calming essential oils, they want to diffuse anti-germ essential oils. Teachers in the classroom they want to diffuse essential oils for focus and I understand that they want to help the children. They want to help whoever's walking through that door in that public space to feel better. And there's a legitimate reason to for wanting these essential oils to be used to kill germs because essential oils are great. They're antibacterial, they're antiviral, many of them. Some of them are antifungal, and yes, they can absolutely kill germs. However, the problem arises when number one, there's no parental consent. You are basically medicating children without any parental consent. Parents are often having no idea that their children are being exposed to these essential oils during the day. And also you have most likely 99% of the time these people who are diffusing these essential oils have no idea how to use essential oils. They have no idea what they're good for. They may not even be choosing the ones that are going to have that intent that they wish and they don't understand the adverse reactions to the essential oils either. For example, if you were to diffuse a popular anti-germ blend such as OnGuard or Thieves you are diffusing essential oils in that blend such as Rucalyptus and Rosemary, sometimes Peppermint, often Cinnamon Bark (and not Leaf), but cinnamon Bark and and Clove essential oil as well, and then a splash of either Lemon or Orange essential oil. And most companies have their own version of this anti-germ blend and they all have some of those essential oils, particularly Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Cinnamon Bark and Clove - those are the core essential oils that are in this blend and that can be a concern. Rosemary and Eucalyptus essential oils contain high amounts of 1,8-cineole. That is one of the constituents Peppermint - its main constituent is menthol and all three of which mimics the cold receptors in the lungs, especially menthol. But 1,8-cineole can cause breathing issues in young children. It can cause slowed respiration and it is not recommended that anyone under the age of 10 even inhale these essential oils. So right there if a classroom is, you know, under grade five under grade four, five, six, if there's anyone under the age of 10 in that classroom, if there's anyone in the hospital, in the dentist office under the age of 10 you are putting them at risk for having breathing issues. Secondly, we have cinnamon bark and clove essential oils, which are typically um, they are topical skin irritants and that's usually the strongest concern. But they are also blood thinning. They're actually anticoagulant. So if you are diffusing this blend in your classroom and after school, you know, one of the kids goes to the dentist office to have a tooth pulled. It might not actually clot properly and don't say this to scare you, but this is legitimate real facts. And my mission is to empower you with information and what you do with it that is up to you. Likewise, if you are diffusing an anti-germ in a dentist office or even in a hospital and there's any sort of wounds involved, if there's any sort of surgery, tooth being pulled, um, cuts, wounds, you know, anything where the skin's breaking, these essential oils, Cinnamon Bark and Clove as well as Cassia and Cinnamon Leaf, which are generally not in these blends, but all of those are anticoagulant and it inhibits blood clotting, which can be a real safety issue. Even if you are not prone to a bloody nose you could find yourself kind of having a bloody nose if you are an aspirin or other medications it can also have an interaction. So these germ blends that are very popular, it seems to be the one that everyone wants to pull out because they don't want to get sick, have the highest amount of safety issues than any blend out there. So I am not surprised to see that there is now a dad who's a lawyer who has the knowledge that these essential oils can be an issue and also, you know, being a lawyer is able to take legal action against a school and recommend that they stop. Now, does this mean he doesn't want clean schools? Does this mean he doesn't think it's a great idea for essential oils to clean a classroom? My issue is and always has been - again, this has been a concern in my group and the people that I've talked to for several years now, my concern is why expose these children to the essential oils that have potential adverse reactions when you can diffuse at the end of the day when all the kids have left, you can run the diffuser. Then why not do that? You can even leave the diffuser running, you know, through the night. Most of them, you know, run about eight hours. You can turn it on when they leave if you want to hang out there and correct papers - by the way, I'm not picking on teachers. I absolutely understand their intent, but I'm speaking to them wholeheartedly, yu know, this is, this is an issue. So you know, teachers do not get paid enough, so please do not take this. As you know, I'm judging teachers. They don't know. They are not trained, certified clinical aromatherapists, they're not even certified aromatherapists. They're getting information. The the dentist office, the hospitals, all of these places that publicly diffuse these essential oils are not getting proper safe information. So my message is to all of you who want to diffuse in a public space is I'm providing you with alternatives. So go ahead and run that diffuser. When everybody's left for the day, you're sitting there, you are still working, you're correcting papers, you are calling parents and telling them their children behaved, whatever that you have to do, you can run it then or even when you leave you can run the diffuser and it will go generally depending on the diffuser, about eight hours if you are interested in killing germs. Now, the problem to that is you're probably not going to kill all the germs, honestly. Depending on the diffuser and depending on how many essential oils that you know, how many drops of essential oils you put in it, no matter how you know, depending on how long that you run it, you're probably not going to kill all those germs anyways, but you can do it after the kids have left. What I do recommend is using those anti-germ essential oils in cleaning supplies. Now I understand teachers dentist's office, Doctor's offices, hospitals, you are generally not the one actually cleaning, but contacting, having those essential oils in contact with the germs directly is really the only way to ensure that those germs are killed. So diffusing won't hurt. It's great for airborne germs. Works wonderful, but do it after the kids have left and then you don't have to worry about any potential adverse reactions. Now, if you are a parent and this is a concern, I urge you to speak to the teacher, speak to the principal and not in an offensive way. This is not, you know, anything to get angry about, to get upset about, but just in an informed way say, "hey look, you may not be aware of this, but those essential oils, like they're powerful, like they really do amazing things, but my concern is the exposure to our kids is just not something that's for their age, and these essential oils have adverse reactions. As a parent who may want to send your child to school with essential oils who, whether it's for focus, for calm, AD/HD, whatever that it may be, or also germs you can send them to school with a personal inhaler. Now if you haven't heard of a personal inhaler before, it is a small plastic or aluminum and glass device that holds a wick and you add the essential oils to the wick and they can carry it around right in their pocket. Real simple, real easy to use. The awesome thing about personal inhalers, and I always love when I can share about personal inhalers because there's always a ton of people that have never heard of them. They're like, oh my gosh, that's so amazing. But the great thing about personal inhalers, you can bring it with you anywhere you go and you personally are the only one exposed to those essential oils that you are inhaling. I recommend this a lot, whether it's you as a mom, as a dad, as an adult who wants to inhale those anti-germ essential oils and you have little ones in your home instead of, and exposing them to it, just pull out your personal inhaler. un-cap it, take your deep inhalation, cap it, you're done. This is also a great idea for those of you who may be around a pregnant woman and you want to inhale Myrrh or something that's not recommended during pregnancy, like Cinnamon Bark, you can expose just yourself and not the pregnant woman in the room. So send your kid to school with a personal inhaler. Another option is an aroma therapy diffuser necklace or bracelet. I love the ones from The Oily Amulet, but there are other ones that are out there that you can use as well. I'm sure some of you know I like The Oily Amulet because she's not only my best friend, she has amazingly high quality jewelry and she does not compromise on that at all. But you can add essential oils directly to the diffuser pendant, the lava bead bracelet, the earrings, and you can just expose yourself. That's your own personal space. So there are ways that you can use your essential oils in public without exposing everybody else just because you choose to use those essential oils. It's really no different than that woman with really strong perfume. It's like, lady, you want to inhale those toxic chemicals, you want to be in a cloud of fragrance, that is fine, but don't put that on me. I don't want to inhale that are just like smokers, right? You want to smoke, that's fine. I don't judge you. You do what you want to do, but I don't want to smell it. I don't want to breathe it. I think a lot of people just don't understand how powerful essential oils are, or maybe they realize that they work and that's why they like them. That's why they use them, but they don't understand that they do come with safety issues. So wrapping up back to the father that threatened legal action against the school. It does look like the school has asked the teachers to stop diffusing. Now this father's main point was that parents had no idea this was going on and he felt that parents should be notified and I agree. Here's the other aspect to this. Some parents may be asked, hey, do you mind if we diffuse in the classroom? But some of these parents, unless you're part of my group, right? Using Essential Oils Safely and you know, some of them may not know the safety concerns with essential oils. Think about it. Essential oils, you can buy them anywhere. They're so readily available, but they don't come with safety information right on them that you can know to use. Not only what it is for specifically what the therapeutic properties are based on its constituents, but also what the safety issues are. Now you may see a generic on the back, you know, do not use around children, consult with your doctor if you're pregnant and all that. That is to cover their butts legally. That does not mean it's not a high quality essential oil that can't be used if you're pregnant, that can't be used around children, but you have to know what you're doing. And it used to be a few years ago when I got certified, it used to be the only way to get that information was to get certified. That is why I enrolled in Aromahead Institute and I am now a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist because of all of the learning that I've done. But it doesn't have to be like that. You don't have to get certified just to learn how to use essential oils safely with your children and that is why I've created resources for you, tools that you can use as a mom, as a dad, as a parent, as a teacher, as a doctor that you can use so that you know the safety considerations as well as all of the benefits of essential oils so that you can use them safely around the people that you are around your family and the friends and the people that you love. One of the tools that people like to pick up is my book Essential Oil Profiles. You can find that over at EOPbook.com I offer a print book and I only have a few more left in stock. I offer an ebook and I offer app access as well, so right in your pocket you can pull out your phone and you can look up the essential oils and you can see if it's safe for you. Now for those of you who want a little bit more learning, you want to know the why. You want to know the how. You're a little bit more interested. I have courses as well. Now these, this is not a sales pitch, they are not actually currently open, but I am just telling you that I've provided many different resources that you can use including our free Facebook group, Using Essential Oils Safely and my website UsingEOsSafely.com so that you can look up the safety issues that you need to about the essential oils that you use. Another free resource that you can use is freeEOclass.com where each week I go through the essential oils, I share the safety, I share therapeutic properties, and I share the benefits of essential oils so that you can use these essential oils the way that they are intended. So utilize these resources. Use My Facebook group, email me, contact me, talk to me so that you can also learn how to use essential oils safely. So what do you think? Do you think it's fine to diffuse essential oils in a public setting like a classroom or a hospital? Have you personally experienced this public diffusing and did you say anything? Did you feel like you had any adverse reactions or your children did? I would love to hear from you. You can find a full transcript of this podcast as well as links to some of the things that I've mentioned over the last 18 minutes over on UsingEOsSafely.com/005.

Podcast Outtro 17:38

Thanks for listening to this week's podcast. If you'd like more information about using essential oils safely, you can visit my website over at UsingEOsSafely.com. Have a suggestion for another podcast episode or have a question for me about using essential oils? Go ahead and shoot me an email. My personal email is Lea@UsingEOsSafely.com.