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Concept
Cedar oil
Résumé
Cedar oil, also known as cedarwood oil, is an essential oil derived from various types of conifers, most in the pine or cypress botanical families. It is produced from the foliage, and sometimes the wood, roots, and stumps left after logging of trees for timber. It has many uses in art, industry, and perfumery, and while the characteristics of oils derived from various species may vary, all have some degree of pesticidal effects.
Although termed cedar or cedarwood oils, the most important oils are produced from distilling wood of a number of different junipers and cypresses (of the family Cupressaceae), rather than true cedars (of the family Pinaceae). Similar oils are distilled, pressed or chemically extracted in small quantities from wood, roots, and leaves from plants of the genera Platycladus, Cupressus, Taiwania, and Calocedrus.
The cedarwood oil of the ancients, in particular the Sumerians and Egyptians, was derived from the Cedar of Lebanon, a true cedar native to the northern and western mountains of the Middle East. The once-mighty Cedar of Lebanon forests of antiquity have been almost entirely eradicated, and today no commercial oil extraction is based on this species. One of the elements found in many cedar trees is cedrol. The amount of cedrol in a species of cedar affects its pesticidal effect on insects. As part of ancient Egyptian funerary practices, cedar oil was used in embalming, which in effect helped to keep insects from disturbing the body.
Cedarwood oil is a mixture of organic compounds considered generally safe by the FDA as a food additive preservative. The United States EPA "does not expect [toxic] effects to occur among users of currently registered cedarwood oil products" because their use and public exposure is at a lower level and more intermittent than in case studies (e.g., U.S. National Toxicology Program). The EPA believes there is negligible human and environmental risk posed by exposure to registered cedarwood pesticide if used in properly prescribed manner.
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