GOOD NEWS FOR THE GREEN PEN CAMPAIGN!
To read the latest updates, please go to the end of this page and read upwards. Apologies for the inconvenience. This will be rectified in due course when I get a moment to spare.
A big thank you to everyone taking part in the Green Pen letter writing campaign aimed at raising awareness of the ecological devastation caused by commercial wild-harvesting of medicinal and aromatic plants.
It’s wonderful to report that we have an influential ally in the form of the UK Green Party. The Greens are particularly concerned about the Soil Association’s novice wildcrafting enterprise.
Click here to see why the UK Green Party is critical of the Soil Association
Today, 23rd May 2004, I received an email from Jonathan Spink (Secretary of the Wales Green Party). Jonathan confirms that he will write to the Soil Association on behalf of his Party requesting that they abandon their developing Wild Crafting Standards policy, and instead focus attention on promoting sustainable organic cultivation of the most popular at-risk species. Further news on this issue will be reported here as soon as it comes in.
Additionally, I have received support from Tim Turner (London office of the UK Green Party). With Tim’s permission, here follows the relevant section of his email.
Dear Chrissie,
I agree that the SA need to be brought back into the Green fold and I am
sure that your comments, even if they have been seen as antagonistic will
make people stop and think. I guess the real problem is when an
organisation starts to put its survival and growth ahead of its original
principles and this becomes a greater problem when a lot of people's income
depends on it. Francis Blake does sound (at least in the recent emails) as
though he's prepared to be cooperative.
Anyway, I hope you find some reassurance that you're not fighting a lone
battle and that things can change for the better
Tim Turner, UK Green Party Food & Farming Group Co-ordinator
Support also comes from Steven Willis of the Green Consumer Group (UK). I wrote to the organisation requesting that they kindly mention on the Healthcare section of their website that buying certified organic herbs or essential oils does not necessarily mean that these botanicals are harvested sustainably.
Dear Chrissie,
Thanks for getting in touch.
Our experience at the Green Consumer Group with the Soil Association has been on the subject
of organic food standards and their views on genetically modified organisms,
and I'll admit to not being fully aware of their work in botanical
accrediation. I find what you have on your site on this issue quite
eye-opening.
I cannot envisage that the detailed dialogue that you have had with the SA's
Francis Blake will pass without changes to their 'wild crafting standards'
in due course. They have all but admitted to be lacking in the areas you
have pointed out, and the fact that this is now public domain information on
your site will surely lead to progress on the issue.
With all this in mind, we'll be more than happy to carry out your
recommendation on the healthcare section on GCG.
Very best regards,
Steven Willis
So please continue writing, for every letter really can make all the difference in the world!
SUPPORT FROM ETHICAL CONSUMER RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
7th September, 2004
Many thanks to the Ethical Consumer Research Association for supporting this campaign by linking to this website and encouraging consumers to boycott products containing sandalwood, rosewood and other threatened botanicals.
Click for Ethical Consumer Boycotts Sept/Oct 2004 'Aromatherapy Troubles'
More Good News for Conservation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
19th September, 2004
Liz Tams of The International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists (IFPA) confirms that she is in the process of preparing a list of endangered plants for IFPA schools as reference material for the recently adopted ecological awareness section of the required syllabus. Already she has been successful in persuading the IFPA to drop rosewood from the list of oils aromatherapy students are required to study.
This positive move by the IFPA is to be commended and will help raise eco-awareness worldwide. Before long, aromatherapy educators and ethically minded essential oil sellers will cease to promote and sell threatened and endangered aromatics in the name of aromatherapy.
Some potentially good news from the Aromatherapy Trade Council - for the organisation must first learn to practise what it preaches before donning the Green crown
13th October, 2004
On the 29th of September 2004, Sylvia Baker, administrator and spokeswoman for the Aromatherapy Trade Council, confirmed in an email letter to the Green Pen Campaign that the ATC has adopted a Policy on the 'Conservation of Plants Used for the Production of Essential Oils for Aromatherapy'.
This is good news up to a point. The point being that at the time of writing the entire ATC Board, as featured on the ATC website, together with most of the ATC membership, continue to trade in threatened aromatic species such as sandalwood, rosewood, Atlas cedar and Spikenard/jatamansi (wild harvested from Nepal). How, then, can the ATC be in a position to raise ecological awareness within other organisations? Indeed, the ATC needs to put its own house in order before adopting the guise of eco-warrior.
Even those ATC members claiming to support ecologically sustainable cultivation in places such as India and Nepal are also selling threatenend or endangered aromatics from other regions - most often rosewood oil distilled from the near critically endangered Aniba rosaeodora from the Amazonian rainforest. The old adage, 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' springs to mind.
Further, it’s important to mention that we have never stated that conservation of threatened plants is a 'novel issue', the phrase used in the ATC's official response to this campaign. A startling trivialisation of a very serious issue!
On the contrary, we have said that a number of eminent ATC members and aromatherapy ‘educators’ do know which aromatic plants are threatened, and yet they continue to trade in the essential oils of these wild harvested species – often under the banner of ‘ecologically sustainable’ or ‘from natural renewable sources’ or similarly misleading claims.
Regarding the ATC’s proposed plans to 'work closely with the WWF and CITES', as stated in the same letter, clearly the ATC has yet to discover that WWF and CITES authorities have scant knowledge of the essential oil trade and the vast quantities of raw plant material involved. CITES allows Appendix II botanicals to be traded within the countries of origin. Only export of the raw plant material is regulated by CITES.
Therefore, 'processed products' (for example, essential oils and herbal extracts) produced in the countries of origin from untold quantities of CITES protected species are freely traded worldwide. This loophole is being fully exploited and explains the continuing demise of many medicinal and aromatic plant species.
The Green Pen campaign was launched to highlight this lack of control of the essential oil trade and to encourage ethical consumers and traders to control the industry themselves through grassroots action. This is achieved by avoiding wild harvested sources of aromatics identified as 'vulnerable', 'threatened' or 'endangered' by the IUCN Red List authorities and other official conservation bodies across the world.
The ATC should also note that the WWF’s People and Plants campaign and the Natural Medicine Society’s Herb Alert initiative (the latter is featured on the ATC website) are focused on the trade in raw plant material, not essential oils. For this reason, it's somewhat incongruous for the ATC to focus entirely on the Herb Alert campaign, albeit a worthy cause, whilst completely ignoring the more relevant Green Pen campaign! For in addition to the plants cited by Herb Alert, we recognise the urgent need to protect threatened and endangered trees which are being destroyed for essential oil production.
Whilst all essential oil sellers are proud to be competitive, none would wish to be regarded as unethical. Therefore, it’s incumbent upon all ATC members to set a good example to the essential oil trade as a whole by making the ethical decision not to trade in wild harvested threatened and endangered aromatics.
Additionally, it would be ethical for the ATC to support the Fairtade Foundation in its efforts to promote equitable conditions for poor farmers in the developing world. Albeit, officially authenticated fair trade is an alien concept to the essential oil industry at the present time.
POSTSCRIPT, 21st December, 2004
Having read the above response, the ATC is now playing lip service to the idea of Fair Trade. We can only live in hope that the organisation will eventually put its trade where its mouth is.
Supposedly eco-aware Sylvia Baker of the ATC had no idea which ATC Board members were trading in threatened aromatics, thus in September 2004 she asked Chrissie Wildwood to name the individuals and the threatened aromatics involved!
Click here and scroll down to 'A Bizarre Request from the ATC'
Between 2002-3 Green Pen supporters wrote to a number of ATC members to raise awareness of the threatened status of certain aromatics used in aromatherapy. The majority chose not to reply.
Click here for the ATC website to see which ATC Board Directors and ATC approved oil sellers are trading in threatened wild harvested botanicals
Various threatened aromatics (i.e. mainly essential oils distilled from the wood of felled wild trees) sold by ATC approved suppliers include: rosewood (from Brazil and Peru), sandalwood (all Santalum species from Asia, South Pacific and Australia), amyris (mainly from the devastatingly deforested Haiti), Atlas cedar (and other Cedrus spp.), along with spikenard (also known as Nard or Jatamansi), usually wild harvested in Nepal.
So do not be afraid to ask for written evidence of sustainable wild harvesting or sustainable cultivation (if thus claimed by the oil seller), along with the name of the grower or essential oil producer. This makes it a lot easier to check for authenticity. If such information cannot be supplied, the aromatic is almost certainly obtained from a fragile wild source.
It's also important to mention that in many instances you will encounter the barrier of trade secrecy - for most traders work behind opaque glass. Oftentimes the customer is expected to accept without question claims such as 'sustainabily wild sourced' or 'wildcrafted', the trader being unable or unwilling to provide a shred of evidence to support it.
Incidentally, since informing the ATC of misleading eco claims being made by their members, one ATC director has since modified the marketing blurb on his 'ecologically sustainable' website - albeit, the site continues to project an eco-ethical image in order to pedal the near critically endangered rosewood and other threatened aromatics.
Let's not forget the recent catastrophic floods, landslides and loss of human life on Haiti caused by massive deforestation. How any supplier could seriously believe that it's eco-ethical to sell Haitian Amyris oil from felled wild trees beggars belief!
Click for the fully referenced Cropwatch 5 list of threatened aromatics to be found on the 'Magazine' section of Tony Burfield's website
Before buying any oil derived from felled wild trees, remember this: sustainable harvesting is that which can carry on indefinitely without resulting in depletion of species, loss of genetic diversity and degradation of habitats or ecosystems.
8th December, 2004
GOOD NEWS FROM THE EDEN PROJECT!
I'm delighted to report that Sue Minter and her colleagues at the Eden Project have finally decided to stop using sandalwood oil in their range of bodycare products.
Here is Sue Minter's statement to the Green Pen Letter Writing Campaign:
We have had major discussions about this issue and have decided to ask Anna Gwilt [of Primavera UK] to reformulate the range without using sandalwood as the issue is so contentious. So we will sell off what we have and not reorder and so will not be generating any more demand.
Sue Minter
REJOICING IN EARLIER GOOD NEWS!
Although the UK's premier organic certifying body the Soil Association has yet to stop certifying the essential oil of Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica), distilled from the wood of a threatened tree species from North Africa, we can at least rejoice in two earlier successes.
As pointed out in the article 'Spotlight on the Trade in Wild Plants' (see navigation bar on left of screen), after much pressure the Soil Association agreed to abandon their plans to certify the essential oils of threatened sandalwood and rosewood.
To help save Atlas cedar and its fragile habitat, it's essential to keep up the pressure on Francis Blake of the Soil Association. He and his colleagues are back to their old ploy of ignoring all communications on the subject.
12th April, 2005
AROMATHERAPY TRADE COUNCIL MEMBERS BEGIN TO RELENT
It's good to report that at long last certain ATC member suppliers (including at least one member of the ATC Committee) have been embarrassed into dropping rosewood oil from their essential oil catalogues.
Instead of admitting that the tree is close to extinction within our own lifetime, however, the seriousness of the situation is conveniently played down with such words as: 'rosewood is a threatened species, so we have stopped selling the oil.' Of course, we must be thankful that the message is at last filtering through, even to those traders who only weeks ago were continuing to deny the issue.
Click here to contact Chrissie Wildwood
"Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in ernest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their symphathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences."
- Susan B. Anthony, human rights activist, 1820-1906
"We who engage in non-violent direct action are not the creators of tension. We may bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with. Injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates to the light of human consciousness."
- Martin Luther King, Jr
9th January, 2006
It's reached the stage whereby apparent bad news is really good news in disguise as it means the message is not falling on deaf ears. Let me explain.
Today I received an email from one of the few remaining UK essential oil suppliers who is still selling copies of my books through his aromatherapy company. Apparently, my article entitled 'Rosewood Developments', which appears in the current edition of 'Aromatherapy Times' (the quarterly journal of the International Federation of Aromatherapists) has stirred at least one major essential oil supplier and aromatherapy educator to call for a boycott of my books!
Indeed, he is livid about the article, which includes parts of the 'Excuses, Excuses' section to be found on the Fool's Parsley Prize page of this site.
So he's calling upon his colleagues to help bar my writings from aromatherapy outlets. Here is a snip from the email I received from the sympathetic supplier who intends to continue selling copies of my books through is company - despite the rantings of fellow essential oil suppliers.
< I was told, "Don't sell her ******* books." This is because they know we sell several of your titles.>
If it's any consolation to those who would like to see my books disappear into the ether, don't worry. Most essential oil suppliers have stopped selling them any way.
In my view, life's too precious to worry about such trivialities. All such attempts at censorship make me all the more determined to continue saying what has to be said.
The book which stirs the greatest discomfort in the minds of certain essential oil sellers is 'Mood Enhancing Plants'. For it covers many of the issues revealed in my article, 'Spotlight on the Trade in Wild Plants'. The article can be accessed via the navigation bar on the left.
Aromatherapy educators who continue to promote the use of endangered aromatics such as rosewood - even though they are fully aware of the ecological impact - need to be reminded that it takes a great deal of courage to admit an error of judgement. Often the fear of 'losing face' is so great that denial takes precedence over eco-ethics.
11th February, 2006
At long last, the UK based natural products supplier Neal's Yard Remedies have decided to discontinue the use of sandalwood oil. Incidentally, the sandalwood issue was brought to their attention in October 2002 when I was invited to discuss the issue of endangered aromatics at a meeting with the company's key members of staff.
The company owner Romy Fraser and her managing director eventually broke off all communications because they couldn't cope with my straight talking. All is forgiven Neal's Yard! That said, here's hoping that Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) essential oil will be the next endangered aromatic to be axed from the Neal's Yard catalogue, rather than from its dying forest habitat in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Of course, it doesn't help that the Soil Association continues to certify the essential oil which is captured from the wood of felled wild cedar trees.
It's also important to point out a major error in the Neal's Yard public statement on sandalwood. Whilst claiming to be have carried out a great deal of research into sandalwood sustainability, thus implying they are experts on the matter, amazingly they state that sandalwood (Santalum album) is not listed on any officially recognised threatened lists. For some reason, Neal's Yard (and many others) choose to turn a blind eye to sandalwood's prominent entry in the United Nations IUCN Red List of Threatened Species! This omission will do nothing to encourage other companies to stop trading in endangered botanicals for it breeds complacency.
Could it be that at least some companies are failing to acknowledge sandalwood's entry in the IUCN Red Book lest it should become common knowledge that they are (or have been) profiting from the spoils of deforestation?
Click here to read the statement made by Neal's Yard Remedies
Click here to see the IUCN Red Book listing for sandalwood
Keep watching this space for more good news to come!
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