Essential Oils Study - Airborne Microbes (Finale) :)
Hi Everyone:
Today marks the 1 year anniversary of when the first post was made in this Forum.
I couldn’t resist one last post on microbes and Essential Oils in the series that was done throughout the week. Since we are all trying to support our immune system and eliminate toxic microbes from our environment the following should be of great interests to everyone.
I’m not sure if this is still in publication -- the below is from one of my books, from Jean Valnet, MD, The Practice of Aromatherapy -- the original was published in France as Aromathérapie. The only thing that I did was highlight the EOs in color below; other than that, everything is typed directly (as written) from the book.
Enjoy! :)
DD
“I have described the bactericidal powers of vaporized lemon essence: Professor Griffon, Director of the French Police Toxicology Laboratory and member of the Academy of Pharmacy and the Higher Council for Hygiene, studied the antiseptic effect of a blend of aromatic essences – pine, thyme, peppermint, lavender, rosemary, cloves, and cinnamon - in the bacteriological purification of the air.
The research was conducted in collaboration with the Veterinary Health Service of Paris and the Seine, as he acknowledges in his report, dated 7th January 1963.
The mixture of essences was sprayed from an aerosol. Professor Griffon studied the virulence of the microscopic germs present in the air before and after exposure to the spray, the germs being collected as they settled in open Petri dishes.
The results can be summarized as follows: 15cm from ground-level (where microbic multiplication is most important – much more so than 60cm, 1 metre and above) the Petri dishes, which had stood open for 24 hours in a room not yet treated with the atomizer, revealed a total of 210 colonies of microscopic flora, which 12 were moulds and 8 staphylococci. Even after only 15 minutes the dishes already had more than 62 colonies altogether, including 8 moulds and 6 staphylococci. However, 15 minutes after the room had been treated with the spray of aromatic essences, the open dishes showed a total of only 14 colonies of microbes with 4 moulds and no [0] staphylococci; after 30 minutes the figures were found to be 4, 0, and 0 respectively. In half an hour, therefore, the aromatic essences had destroyed all the moulds and all the staphylococci in the surround atmosphere, leaving only 4 microbial colonies out of an original 210.
Professor Griffon concluded that ‘the atmospheric dispersion of the prepared liquid’ brought about a very marked disinfection of the air, as demonstrated by the considerable reduction the number of pre-existing micro-organisms, some types being destroyed completely.”
Dr. Valnet continues on with Dr. Bidault in 1960 who found prevention of infectious childhood diseases in experiments with germicidal action using essences on bacteria.
“His clinical observations proved that the disinfection of the air surround the patient has therapeutic preventative effect. This evidence cannot be ignored if we consider the following facts: 5 pathogenic organisms may be found in 1 cubic metre of the Forest of Fontainbleau – 20,000 in a Paris flat, 9 million at the Motor Show and nearly as many in the big stores; work-table has 5 million microbes per square metre, a carpet 9 million. In a large hospital there are on average 10,0000 per cubic metre. Many years ago a doctor put some of this air into a flask containing a few drops of aromatic essences: 40% of the microbes were destroyed in 20 minutes, 80% in an hour, and 9 hours 100%.”