Cropwatch Report on the Tea Tree Oil Situation
to the Natural Ingredients Resource Center

As many NIRC members will already be aware, late last year, The SCCP (Scientific Committee on Consumer Products) announced:

• Undiluted tea tree oil as a commercial product is not safe.
• That the safety dossier on tea tree oil is incomplete and gaps (e.g. genotoxic data etc.) need filling by the end of 2005
• That the stability of tea tree oil in cosmetics is questionable.
• That industry should develop an analytical testing method based on typical degradation products to ensure and control the stability of the material.

Groups representing tea tree oil producers, tea tree oil customers and other interested parties have been collecting safety data to present to the SCCP committee this month in order to challenge their previous conclusions and to fill in some gaps.

The IFRA labeling manual (2001) classified Tea Tree Oil as Xn Harmful, and gives Risk Phrases as R22 (harmful if swallowed) R38 (irritating to skin) and R65 (may cause lung damage if swallowed).

COLIPA (the European Cosmetic Recommendation No 12 "Use of Tea-Tree Oil in Cosmetics" (2002) suggested TTO should be restricted to 1% in cosmetic products. Unfortunately COLIPA appear to have withdrawn from further debate on this issue.

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in their Opinion "Use of Undiluted Tea Tree Oil as a Cosmetic" 1st Sept 2003 recommends limiting the concentration of tea tree oil in cosmetics to 1%, and protecting them from light and mixing with anti-oxidants. BfR also point out that tea tree oil is not currently subject to legal restraint in cosmetics, and that at 1% concentration it "probably does not possess a pharmacological effect".

Unfortunately, major Australian tea tree oil producers Australian Plantation and MainCamp have already been forced to abandon tea tree oil production, a situation which will now lead to reduced production volumes. At present the oil is scarce due to increased demand from developing countries.

Cropwatch offers the following guidance on shelf life and storage of tea tree oil:

1. Tea tree oil should be stored in tightly closed, fully topped up containers with the head space flushed with nitrogen or other inert gas, in cool, dry, dark conditions. Stainless steel or glass containers are preferred - lacquered mild steel containers are unsuitable for tea tree oil (as it strips the lacquer)
2. The shelf life in small bottles is invariably shorter due to the effects of light and the fact that the surface to volume ratio in small containers is unfavorable - so oxidation tends to occur to a greater extent. As a rule of thumb 6 months is the maximum Cropwatch would recommend for small bottles. Gallon containers may be OK up to a couple of years.
3. The use of batch dating should be employed - however there are practical problems. The time from actual distillation to bottling (from bulk storage) is often not accurately known by small traders - the larger distributors of essential oils supply small traders by decanting small amounts from their bulk stock, which could be months or even years old. It could also be blended at some point with cheaper tea tree oils such as tea tree oil Chinese. A bottling date is therefore is what is says it is - the date of bottling an oil (of often unknown age) - but again it is better than no system at all. And of course some oils are said to 'improve' on aging (generally where 'still notes' are being aired off), before eventually declining in quality.