Hemoapati biorenizans iyot

Aromatherapy Company Agrees to Stop False Advertising

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

November 16, 2000

Los Angeles attorney Morsé Mehrban has won a civil lawsuit against Aroma Vera, Inc., a leading manufacturer of aromatherapy supplies and other personal-care products. The suit, filed in 1997, charged that the company and its president Marcel Lavabre had violated California’s Business and Professions Code by making advertising false claims about many products. Mehrban disputed that the products can promote health and well-being, relax the body, relax the mind, enhance mood, purify the air, are antidotes to air pollution, relieve fatigue, tone the body, nourish the skin, promote circulation, alleviate feminine cramps, or do various other things claimed by the company.

Mehrban’s suit sought sought restitution for consumers, cessation of these claims, and payment of reasonable attorney fees and costs. The National Council Against Health Fraud served as the plaintiff, and I was the expert witness in the case. In 1998, the trial judge ruled that the council had no standing to file the suit and could not possibly show that there is a likelihood that the public would be misled by the advertising in question, because it did not produce any misled victims. However, in 1999, an appeals court reversed this ruling so that the case could proceed to trial. This court concluded that “in order to prove a cause of action for misleading advertising, a plaintiff need only show the public is likely to be misled.” [1]

Aromatherapy: Making Dollars Out Of Scents

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

August 22, 2001

Aromatherapy — sometimes called aroma therapy — is described by its proponents as “the therapeutic use of the essential oils of plants.” The word “essential” does not refer to nutritional value but to the volatile, aromatic components that are the “essence” of the plant. Essential oils are said to be highly concentrated substances extracted from flowers, leaves, stalks, fruits, and roots, and also distilled from resins. They are alleged to contain hormones, vitamins, antibiotics, and antiseptics and to represent the “life force,” “spirit,” or “soul” of the plant [1]. The oils are administered in small quantities through inhalation, massage, or other applications to the skin. Occasionally, a product is taken internally. The products include diffusers, lamps, pottery, candles, pendants, earrings, shampoos, skin creams, lotions, and bath salts, and shower gels. Health Foods Business estimated that the total of aromatherapy products sold through health-food stores was about $59 million in 1995 and $105 million in 1996.

Pleasant odors can be enjoyable and may enhance people’s efforts to relax. However, there is no evidence that aromatherapy products provide the health benefits claims by their proponents.