As I explain my story
below, I urge you to keep an open mind and look at all the facts and ask
questions. If someone tells you to pay no attention to this and just move
on…ask yourself why they are doing this and what they have to gain from keeping
you in the dark.
Thursday February
25th 2016 was the day this all started. As an Aromatherapy student, I spend a
lot of time in various aromatherapy/essential oil Facebook groups. It was late
afternoon this particular Thursday that I came across a post in one
of the groups that contained GC/MS test results of a Cinnamon Bark essential
oil sample the sample was found be adulterated with synthetics. This bit
of info did not surprise me, as Essential Oil adulteration runs rampant in the
fragrance industry. What did surprise me, was the very strong insinuation that
this particular sample was of Young Living’s cinnamon bark, followed later by
pictures of the actual bottle clearly showing the Young Living label.
Immediately I sent a copy of the test report, screenshot of the post and
pictures of the unopened bottle to Young Living’s product support simply
refused to believe any possibility that this could be true.
The following day (Friday February 26th 2016)
I received what appeared to be a fairly standard/generic form response from YL
Product Support more or less telling me not to worry and called the whole
ordeal a smear campaign by a competitor.
Speculation and
accusations began running rampant in the Facebook groups and Young Living’s
name continued to be dragged through the “mud” so to speak. Wanting to provide
some kind of proof to my family, clients, and friends that Young Living
products were pure, I decided to have an oil tested, at my expense. Why you
ask? Well back in 2015 I had e-mailed YL Product Support asking why they do not
release or provide GC/MS testing reports. In their reply, they advised me that
if I wanted documentation on the purity of the oils, I was welcome to submit
them for testing through an independent lab of my choice.
I contacted a testing
laboratory located in Quebec, Canada that specialized in essential oils and
natural health products called Phytochemia to obtain pricing and
shipping information. To avoid any claims of tampering or sabotage, I logged
into my Young Living Virtual Office and placed an order for a bottle of
Cinnamon Bark. I had the shipping information changed to the laboratory in
Quebec so that Young Living would ship the oil directly to them from the
warehouse and there could be no claims of tampering with bottle caps, etc.
On March 3rd 2016 I
received notice from the Lab that they received my sample of Cinnamon Bark that
I had Young Living send to them [receipt acknowledgement is available below]
and was advised that I would have the results within 2 weeks’ time.
March 18th, I received
an email from the lab again containing the GC/MS report from my sample I had
tested. Nervously, I opened the attachment and scrolled to the bottom
“conclusion” section….” The sample has been adulterated with synthetic
cinnamaldehyde, indicated by the presence of phenylpentadienal isomers.
Synthetic linalool may also have been added.”
Tears filled my eyes
as the reality of the situation began to sink in. My close family used Cinnamon
Bark internally, not to mention the sheer volume of Thieves products that
contained Cinnamon. I attempted some conversations with my “uplines” about the
issue but merely got “don’t worry” and “I’ve used the products for years and
I’m fine!”. Quickly realizing that I would not get the answers I wanted from
them and not knowing where else to turn, I sent an e-mail to Young Living’s
Chief Operating Officer, Jared Turner and included a copy of the
test report. Hope and faith briefly returned when I received a reply from
Jared, thanking me for bringing the issue to his attention and promising me a
reply. He even Cc’d the entire analytical team and asked them to answer my questions
I had.
As of the date I write
this (April 28th 2016), I still have received no reply or answers to my
questions from Jared, the analytical team, or anyone at corporate.
In the midst of
ordering my sample to be sent to the lab for testing, I was contacted by a
group of three other Young Living distributors unrelated to my sponsorship
line. They were greatly concerned with the possible adulteration and lack of
answers/information they were receiving from their uplines as well. One of them
had an unopened bottle of Cinnamon Bark with the same lot # originally tested
and posted about back on February 25th. They knew I was having a sample tested
and wanted to know how they could go about getting their bottle tested, as
well as another bottle of a different lot #, and a bottle of Thieves blend.
They sent their samples off to the lab and roughly 2 weeks later received their
results. All three bottles were adulterated. [copies of their reports can be
found below for download. You will require a PDF program or app to view them on
a computer and mobile device].
Because they did not
have Young Living send the order direct to the lab, they were immediately chastised
by fellow YL distributors making claims they had tampered with the bottles
themselves, however the fact remained that my test had a clean chain of custody
and YL still was not addressing the results.
Over the course of the
next several weeks, YL issued several “statements” (all via Diamond level
leaders or above) denying the adulteration and referring to it as a smear
campaign. [copy of their statements can be found below].
My pleas to Jared and YL corporate continued
to be ignored. At this point in time I decided to collaborate with the
group of three other distributors that had their samples sent in, and together
we created a change.org petition demanding that YL address our questions,
specifically the ones we had following their last statement. At almost 1300
signatures, the distributor that created the petition account (Betty), was
contacted via phone from Jared Turner. I was not on the call so I won’t speak
for what happened as it would merely be hearsay, but they did request that
Betty take down the petition because they were going to be issuing another
statement. After waiting for their statement (which didn’t come until the next
day), we were left with continued unanswered questions and determined the
petition could not be taken down until they were addressed. Jared sent Betty a
text message saying he noticed the petition was still up. When Betty replied
that there were continued unanswered questions and that it might be best for
the 4 of us to connect via a group e-mail, the friendly “we’re here to help”
attitude immediately changed. We contacted Andrea Neipp as requested- twice. To
this date (April 28th), we have not received any reply from Andrea.
It has become quite
clear from the actions of Young Living corporate and Diamond and above level
“leaders” that this issue will not be further addressed. As a low-ranking
distributor, I am not valuable in their eyes and if I stop ordering Young
Living products, it’s no “skin off their backs” as the saying goes. As an
advocate for health and high-quality products, a consumer, and a Young Living
member, I refused to sit down and sweep this all under the rug. I share my
story in hopes that others will spread the word and that Young Living will be
held accountable to their “seed to seal” promise and guarantee. Had they
handled this in a more professional manner, followed-up, etc. I may have been
able to overlook this as a quality control issue that “slipped through the
cracks”, but the despicable behavior demonstrated by fellow distributors and
corporate means I simply cannot.
Please share this
story so that others may learn the truth and so they can make informed
decisions for them and their families going forward. I will continue to update
this page if/when new developments arise. I welcome your questions and comments
and will try and answer as many as I can.
It is with a very
heavy heart and great sadness that I write this post. My decision to share
my story with you has not come lightly. It comes after much research,
soul searching, and great personal and financial sacrifice. You see, I had
nothing to lose and everything to gain by keeping quiet about this and
continuing to grow my team and build my business, but as the saying goes “A lie
doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right and evil doesn’t become good,
just because it is accepted by a majority.”
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