WELCOME FROM AUSCAN
We would like to welcome you to our first Auscan "Roo's News" Newsletter. Our objective is to provide you with background news and information regarding activity on our Plantations. We also think it is very important to provide our client base with up-to-date technical news which is occurring with regards to research and development on the product.
OCEANIA AGRICULTURE LTD.
The following is some background information on Oceania Agriculture Ltd., one of the Plantations, which we represent.
The following are excerpts from Oceania's February 2001 letter to their shareholders:
"From
the Chairman"
I am pleased to report that the establishment of the Tea Tree Plantation
continued as planned throughout 2000. The highlights of the past
year: A total of 14 million trees have now been planted; The distillation
facility has been completed; and 16 tons of oil has been harvested.
State Forests has commenced a eucalyptus trial in acid sulphate soils on an unused portion of the property. OAL is aware of the potential problems of acid sulphate flood plains and welcomes and supports this research into a major environmental problem across the NSW coastline.
Anthony Sarks, our general manager and director has been appointed a director of ATTIA. Anthony is a foundation member of ATTIA.
Mark
Stoker,
Chairman OAL"
Scientists Visit Oceania
"25 of the world's top essential oil scientists (from 7 countries) attended Oceania's official opening December 8, 2000.
The delegation of scientists was part of a worldwide International Standards Committee for Essential Oils and was led by imminent Australian scientist, Dr. Erich Lassak. This was the first time that this elite committee had met in Australia and was seen as a "pat on the back" for the Australian Tea Tree Industry. It was also quite a coup for OAL to be the only Plantation visited.
Dr. Erich Lassak said the "facilities were world class" and "Oceania's set up is equal to any in Australia and in saying that the Australian Industry is equal to or ahead of the rest of the world."
ISO 9002
"In early December 2000, Oceania Agriculture received notification that we had passed our documents review, on-site audit, and were being granted certification as a quality assured supplier.
This was a culmination of some months of work by Oceania's staff to ensure the successful implementation of an industry specific and successful quality system.
We have now received our official Certificate of Registration from "SGS International Certification Services PTY Ltd. under the standard CAS/NZS ISO 9002: 1994" (Please see Oceania's website for more information)
Farm Report
"The last year has been one of consolidation in crop maintenance but dominated by the planting, construction and commissioning of our harvesting and distillation facility.
Looking back over the development stage, our greatest benefit came from laser leveling and irrigating the seedlings after planting. The irrigation gave us an exceptional strike rate while the laser leveling gave us great advantage to drainage, and the ability to "get on" to the farm very soon after rain."
TECH NEWS
The following are excerpts from articles which appeared on Oceania Agriculture's website earlier this year, which originated from the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association. We have also included a recent statement from the NSW Department of Agriculture from Dr. Ian Southwell, principal research scientist on the same subject:
Cineole: Irritating to the Industry
Tea Tree Oil is used as antimicrobial, antiseptic oil or formulated into value added creams, shampoos, soaps, mouthwashes and toothpastes. It has a wide range of applications for which the marketplace is potentially enormous. However, several factors are hindering the broadening of the Tea Tree Oil market base. These include restrictions on the claims that can be made for the product on labels: this would be removed if Tea Tree Oil gained entry into specific Food and Drug Administration monographs in the U.S.
Another major factor is the misconception regarding the presence of cineole in Tea Tree Oil. Sectors of the marketplace regard this chemical as a skin irritant; many tea tree oils on the world market are considered to contain unacceptable high levels of cineole. But few studies exist to support claims of skin irritancy. Thus, in 1994, a project was commenced to provide data on this, to test the antimicrobial activity of the oil at various concentrations of cineole and to determine the highest acceptable limit for cineole in tea tree oil.
The project, which was completed late in 1996, was a collaborative effort between the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, the NSW Department of Agriculture, the University of Western Sydney and the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association. It involved a multidisciplinary team with expertise in microbiology, dermatology and essential oil chemistry.
Methods
Standard clinical procedures were used to test cineole and tea tree oil for skin irritancy.
More than 20 strains of bacteria were used to test numerous tea tree oils with varying levels of cineole concentration for antimicrobial activity.
Results
No evidence of skin irritancy to cineole or tea tree oil was found among subjects at concentrations in the range of 0.0 - 28.8% cineole. Thus, it can be concluded that tea tree oil in concentrations of up to 25% (by weight) containing cineole in concentrations of up to 28%, is NOT a skin irritant. Some concern had been raised previously about the irritancy of neat tea tree oil; investigations are planned to test this.
The full report, "Why Cineole is not detrimental to tea tree oil". is available from RIRDC at 02 6272 4819 (or fax 02 6272 5877).
CINEOLE CONTENT OF TEA
TREE OIL - A warning to the Industry
(Article written by
Ian Southwell, Principal Research Scientist, NSW Agriculture)
It is well known that the high cineole chemical variety of tea tree oil has little value to the industry. The variety in question has around 60-70% cineole.
This fact has the industry paranoid about minimizing cineole content. This paranoia is being detrimental to the industry. Many sellers of excellent oil are having problems in the marketing because buyers are of the mistaken opinion that "the lower the better" cineole conentration determines oil quality.
This wrong opinion must be corrected. As long as cineole levels remain within the Australian Standard (ie. less than 15% cineole), then the oil is perfectly acceptable. It would be detrimental for the industry to adopt a lower level for an industry standard or for the US association to approve a lower maximum concentration.
There is no experimental evidence that oil at 15% cineole causes greater irritation or mucous membranes than oil at 1%. Indeed, eucalyptus oil at 70-85% cineole is recommended for skin massage and nasal /bronchial inhalation. In addition, investigations with cineole have not shown irritancy with humans or animals (Opdyke, D.L.J., 1975 Fragrance raw materials, eucalyptol, Food Comm. Tox. 13, 105-6).
In spite of pleas by NSW Agriculture that industry not adopt lower cineole standards, at least one US company has been using low cineole concentrations as a marketing feature. Sellers are not always able to meet these standards. It is ludicrous that producers need to aim for standards that are sometimes unrealistic simply to meet marketing gimmicks that are not backed by scientific findings.
There is now clear scientific evidence that cineole at levels up to 40% does not destroy the antimicrobial potency of tea tree oil, as long as Terpinen-4-ol exceeds 30%. We are advocating the use of oils with 40% cineole. We are highlighting the need to teach the industry that oils with 10-15% are just as effective (and perhaps even more so) than oils with 1-5% cineole.
This matter becomes of great significance with the tea tree breeding project commencing this year. Should this project aim at keeping cineole at 0-6% or at 0-15% for breeding purposes? Since we have no evidence to support the irritancy of cineole at 15% compared to 5%, we must campaign for a wider range.
(Permission not sought for the reproduction of this paper)