about tea tree oil

Any product that is touted as natures miracle healer and a medicine chest in a bottle garners more than the normal degree of questioning from this herbal skeptic. So when I traveled to Australia a few years ago, one of my goals was to unlock the mystery of its native tea tree, an herb that has e extremely popular in the United States during the past decade. Promoted as a potent antibacterial agent, tea tree oil is said to be useful for treating everything from arthritis and acne to warts and varicose veins.

It can be found not only as an essential oil but also in topical first-aid preparations, shampoos, hair rinses and conditioners, toothpastes and polishes, mouthwashes and throat sprays, hand and body lotions, facial cleansers, lip balms and sunscreens, douches, laundry soaps, perfumes - the list goes on. The mere presence of tea tree oil in these products seems to enhance mercial value, even when the quantity of oil is minute.

Whats all the hoopla about? What exactly is the story behind tea tree oil? Which of the claims about it are supported by fact, and which are hype? Tea tree refers to the species Melaleuca alternifolia, a shrub or small tree that grows about 18 feet tall. This subtropical species grows almost exclusively in an area of just about 100 square miles in eastern Australia, generally in swampy or wet ground.

Among the many aromatic plants in Australia, tea tree is second only to eucalyptus in economic importance. It probably could be grown in other subtropical regions of the world, including the extreme southern United States, but Australia protects this valuable asset by making it illegal to leave the country with propagation material.

Like many herbs around the world, the healing powers attributed to the tea tree are grounded mainly in anecdotal evidence, though scientific studies originally sparked interest in the herb. In 1925, Arthur Penfold, a chemist at the Museum of Technology and Applied Sciences in Sydney, Australia, published research showing that the antiseptic activity of M.

alternifolia oil was up to 13 times greater than that of carbolic acid, then a well-known germicide. In 1930, an article in The Medical Journal of Australia revealed that when applied to carbuncles and other pus-filled infections, tea tree oil had a powerful yet gentle antibacterial effect, dissolving the pus without damaging surrounding tissues the way carbolic acid did.

The late 1930s saw an increase in the use of tea tree, primarily in Australia, as a disinfectant in soaps and as a topical treatment for parasitic skin diseases; anecdotal reports suggest it was effective. The oil eventually gained a foothold among Australian dentists because of its antiseptic activity, apparent lack of toxicity and gentleness on mucous membranes when sufficiently diluted.

Some general practitioners also used the oil in treating throat infections, dirty wounds and fungal infections such as athletes foot. mercial success of tea tree oil was modest, however, because supply was limited and because oil quality varied widely.

After World War II, the use of tea tree gradually declined as antibiotics proliferated. By the mid-1970s, years of poor harvests and wide variation in supply and quality, coupled with a marked lack of promotion, led to plete dissolution of the Australian tea tree oil industry.

At about this time, a young entrepreneur named Christopher Dean and his family took a new tack: Instead of relying on M. alternifolia from the wild, they began cultivating the tree on a plantation near Bungawalbyn Creek in northern New South Wales.

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