Essential Oils - Nature's Powerful Anti-Viral Weapons
- By Melodie Kantner
Science is now beginning to acknowledge the value of the healing substances found in essential oils.

Clinical research has shown that essential oils are highly anti-viral and anti- infectious. In 1995, Dr. Jean C. Lapraz discovered that there are two essential oils in which no bacteria or virus could survive. This is a significant breakthrough since there are so many life threatening viruses and drug resistant bacteria. A recent study done at Weber University has proven that four essential oils will kill 100% of the bacteria and virus in any room where they are diffused.

Doctors once predicted antibiotics would vanquish infectious diseases. But the bugs are rapidly overwhelming today's medicines. Bacteria naturally evolve to avoid antibiotics, a process first spotted just five years after penicillin's debut in the 1940s. But resistance appears to have speeded up in the last decade, largely because antibiotics are being overused giving the germs more chances to mutate.

Dr. Valnet points out that pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria do not become resistant to essential oils as they do to modern-day synthetic antibiotic drugs. He states, "Infectious microbes do not appear to become accustomed to the essential oils as they do to the many forms of treatment using antibiotics." One reason virus and bacteria cannot mutate with the essential oils is because of the chemical constituents that make up essential oils. One essential oil can have anywhere from 200- 800 chemical constituents. It is impossible for a virus to mutate and adapt to that many chemical constituents. Drugs are made by isolating one or two constituents. A virus can easily mutate and adapt to the drug, making it useless.

Although the powerful medicinal value of essential oils is only now being rediscovered by modern medical science, it has actually been known for centuries. In fact, essential oils were considered more valuable than gold by ancient cultures, due to their phenomenal healing properties. Dr. Valnet states, "In recent years both doctors and the public have re-discovered the medical value of essential plant oils, but the idea of using their properties to maintain or regain health goes back to antiquity... The Romans had their knowledge of essential oils from the Greeks, who in turn had received it from the Egyptians... "Hippocrates, for example, tackled the plague epidemic in Athens by fumigating the whole city with aromatic essences of plant oils. Later, in the 19th century, it is known that perfumery workers always showed an almost complete immunity during cholera outbreaks." I

n tests conducted in France by Professor Griffon, Director of the French Police Toxicology Laboratory, the antiseptic effect of a blend of essential oils---including pine, thyme, peppermint, lavender, rosemary, cloves and cinnamon---was studied in order to test the ability of the oils to purify the air of harmful disease-causing bacteria. First, Professor Griffon set up a number of Petri dishes approximately 15cm from ground level in an open room, allowing them to stand for 24 hours, the germs from the air being collected naturally as they settled into the open Petri dishes. After 24 hours he analyzed the dishes, finding them to contains 210 colonies of various microbes, including numerous molds and staphylococci. He then sprayed the mixture of essential oils in the form of an aerosol into the air in the room. After only 15 minutes, only 14 colonies of microorganisms out of the original 210 were left alive. After 30 minutes, only FOUR colonies of the original 210 were left. Importantly, ALL of the potentially harmful disease- causing molds and staphylococci had been killed within the first 30 minutes.

In another French experiment, the number of pathogenic microorganisms in various locations were measured. In a forest, there were found to be five pathogenic microorganisms in the air for every one cubic meter. In an average apartment, there were found to be 20,000 microbes in the air per cubic meter. In public stores, there were found to be nine million microbes in the air per cubic meter. On the top of a work table there were found to be five million microbes per square meter. On a carpet, nine million. And in the air of a large hospital there were found to be on average 10,000 microbes per cubic meter. According to Dr. Valnet, when an inquisitive doctor put some of the microbe-laden air from the hospital into a flask containing just a few drops of essential oils, 40% of the microbes were destroyed in only 20 minutes, 80% in an hour, and 100% in nine hours!

These scientific studies have finally jolted a small number of far-sighted researchers within the American medical and scientific community to sit up and take note of the incredible antimicrobial power of essential oils, particularly in light of today's plague of deadly antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. As today's growing plague of pathogenic, antibiotic resistant bacteria, mutating viruses, infectious fungi and disease causing parasites are becoming more & more of a threat, it is comforting to know we can have such powerful weapons as therapeutic grade essential oils. Every family needs to know about them.

Original doc found at HerbSearch.com