Turns out that natural remedies may not be so safe after all.
According to HealthDay News, a Tennessee poison center recently reported that, between 2011 and 2015, calls regarding toxic exposures to essential oils doubled. What’s worse? Four out of every five cases involved kids.
Essential oils are extracted from different plants to create aromatherapeutic and homeopathic remedies. People tend to use them either by vaporizing them or rubbing them on their skin.
But, just because they’re “natural” doesn’t mean they’re completely safe. According to Dr. Justin Loden, a certified specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Tennessee Poison Center, “The rule of thumb in toxicology is ‘the dose makes the poison,’ so all essential oils are potentially harmful.” Some of the more highly toxic ones include clove, tea tree, eucalyptus and even lavender; tea tree was by far the most commonly implicated in these calls. (That’s probably why they make awesome natural bug repellents.)
Apparently, most accidental child poisonings involved either swallowing the oils (which leads to choking) or “excessive or inappropriate application of essential oils to the skin,” confirmed Dr. Loden. Since children’s skin is thinner, they absorb topical oils and creams faster than adults do. So, what would be considered a “safe” amount of oil for an adult could actually be dangerous for kids.
Dr. Loden recommends (unsurprisingly) that you keep them out of reach and locked up like any other toxic chemical you keep in your house. If you want to apply them to your kid’s skin, make sure you know what the appropriate dose is first.
