What are therapeutic grade essential oils?
The essential oil market is not regulated by a government agency. The quality varies tremendously from company to company. The industry has begun to self-regulate itself with pressure from consumers. Gritman was one of the first to classify their oils called the Gritman Classification Code or GCC. Go to Therapeutic grading system for more details.
In aromatherapy terms, “therapeutic-grade” means essential oils that are free of synthetics, complete in their chemical constituents and kinetically “alive,” which means they can affect the human body. One indicator of essential oil quality that is the most reliable is the AFNOR/ISO certification. In Europe, the French Association of Normalization, also known as AFNOR, and the International Standards Organization (ISO), have set standards for therapeutic-grade essential oils. They provide a set of established standards that outline the chemical profile and principal constituents that quality essential oils should have. Considered the “gold standard” for testing essential oils, the AFNOR standard is most stringent, and distinguishes true therapeutic-grade essential oils from Grade A essential oils that lack the same chemistry. AFNOR standards cite certain percentages for chemical constituents that must be present for an essential oil to be labeled “therapeutic-grade.” These standards he
