Wintergreen and Sweet Birch ** Dangerous

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Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 00:31:04 -0800

From: Butch Owen <Butchbsi@...>

Subject: Wintergreen and Sweet Birch ** Dangerous

Hey y'all,

Here is the second post from 2002. I updated some info because one of

the links is no longer active. This is a recap of a recap. ;-)

These are two oils where there is no high or low quality .. both are

98-99 percent Methyl salicylate in any case. Does Methyl salicylate

stop pain? YEP! But it poisons the liver if used frequently. Folks

who use it normally do so because of chronic problems .. so they do use

it frequently. Use of Wintergreen to stop pain is like a wino drinking

another bottle to avoid a hangover .. or a heroin addict taking another

shot to avoid withdrawal .. in all cases it works but in all cases it is

not the healthy thing to do.

True Birch and Wintergreen are technically available but very expensive.

They've been replaced by synthetics. They are irritants and toxic, and

were replaced because both are 99 percent Methyl salicylate in the first

place so they use a cheaper lab chemical rather than the more expensive

natural process. In fact, in the case of Birch - the Methyl salicylate

is produced by enzymatic destruction of the plant material. Difficult.

Birch and Wintergreen are never less than 98% Methyl salicylate and are

generally 99% plus. There are MANY scientific studies documenting Methyl

salicylate poisoning .. and it's as high as 50% fatal. Several medical

studies say lipid solubility is the reason why it can be so toxic.

Most chemists will say there is no such a thing as " real " Birch and

Wintergreen oils available in the commercial market .. they say this

cause they've never seen one and they're real good at making them. They

can't imagine why anyone would want to pay for the real thing anyway as

it's not practical - there's no reason to because Methyl salicylate is

one of the few chemicals that the body will handle (badly) the same way

be it from a chemist's bottle or the actual production process.

If we do find a pure Birch it will cost more than we would want to pay

because Methyl salicylate isn't even in the original plant material.

The plant has to be soaked for 24 hours in warm water and then the oil

is steam extracted as it decomposes. It's a labor intensive, expensive

process .. and as the Essential Oil is not in the living plant material

anyway it's not a natural oil ... so why not use the synthetic?

As for requesting an analysis .. its a waste of time. Why? Because

claims of " real " Wintergreen and Sweet Birch oil are hard to disprove

even if you disregard the economically responsible logic I presented

above. They are difficult to prove because tests to determine

authenticity would require isotopic studies so even chiral analysis

really won't prove anything. The cost of chiral analysis is BIG BUCKS

and the better tests are even BIGGER BUCKS!

Preparations containing Methyl salicylate are effective pain relievers -

and Methyl salicylate is used in many medications for pain. But that

doesn't mean it's safe.

*** The below link is no longer active for Ben Gay .. and I can't find a

link that shows their Meth sal percentage now .. I'm thinking it is

because of some other articles on overdose on Meth sal. Such as this:

http://health.allrefer.com/health/sports-cream-overdose-info.html

*** The below link now shows Myoflex Cream with Trolamine salicylate.

JAMA has written that this is no more effective than placebos.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/247/9/1311

Check this out for Ben Gay.

http://store./buyinprivate/benorfor4ozt.html

Active ingredients are Methyl Salicylate 18.3% and Menthol 16%.

And this one for Icy Hot.

http://home.intekom.com/pharm/searle/icyhot.html

Each 100 g of Icy Hot has 29.02 g Methyl salicylate and 7.65 g Menthol.

In my opinion, these creams have far too much Methyl salicylate because

folks suffering from arthritis and other lingering pain are going to

continue to use them .. that's the problem. The effects are cumulative.

In order to cover their butts they include on the instructions wording

to the effect that it should be used for temporary relief .. not to be

used for a long period. They know that folks suffering pain are not

gonna pay attention to that.

Wintergreen/Methyl salicylate is commonly used at a VERY LOW PERCENTAGE

in candies and breath fresheners, Lifesavers, Altoids etc. It is also

found in analgesic balms such as Tiger Balm, Vicks, Ben-Gay, etc. It is

toxic, but as with other natural products, it's level of usage which

should be considered. The oil is for EXTERNAL USE ONLY and a low

dilution is probably safe for occasional use if one has a healthy liver.

But continued use is VERY dangerous.

The odds are better of finding an honest politician than of finding a

natural Birch or Wintergreen. And those who would want the natural

product will pay out the nose if they do find it .. willingness to do

that would be proof of their lack of knowledge of the facts reported

above .. synthetic or natural will be the same thing.

Y'all keep smiling, Butch :-) http://www.AV-AT.com

Wholesale/Retail GC Tested EO, Rose Otto, Tested Hydrosols and other

goodies shipped from downtown Friendsville, MD .. pop: 597