Lavender turns into an essential and indispensable component in the sector of cosmetics and, especially, in the industry of perfumery. It treats a plant with big aromatic power, pertaining to the gender of lavandula, original of the region north of Africa and mountainous areas of the Mediterranean. When thinking of fields of lavender, the first that comes to mind is the French Provence, where predominate wide lilac fields, dwelt and purples. But it is not necessary to move to the territory of Frenchman, also Spain has these extraordinary landscapes. Specifically, in Castilla La Mancha: for example in Brihuega (Guadalajara), which is known by the lovers of this plant like the Provenza Spanish. In this town, there are more than 1,000 hectares of lavender fields and the importance of its cultivation is such that one of its most recognized festivals is the 'Lavender Festival'. The last edition was held on July 16, in which nature, gastronomy and leisure are combined with the participation of artists from the world of music.
In places like the appointed previously, the Green Pact worries so much since the business of the lavender offers employment and life to a big number of people. Brihuega is part of the three towns that make up La Alcarria, which is the main producer of lavender essence in Spain. More than 2,000 hectares are dedicated to the cultivation of this plant and it accounts for 80% of its production.
The European Union has decided to put in sight the consumption and use of lavender through the draft of the Green Pact, a thing that generates uncertainty in the sector of beauty, since with a new system of qualification the oil of this cosmetic ingredient could be described like a toxic substance, and... What means this? Bad advertising for the crop, definitely, will reflect in lower utilisation of this component and, those that will notice this descent will be the main producers and generators of these harvests.
The past week 'El Español' published an article that treated this subject and one of the sources used for the said piece, signalled that this problem and this scepticism with regard to lavender oil, come by an article published in which they affirmed that essential oils like the one of lavender could be a potential disruptor endocrine. According to a study elaborated National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of EE.UU affirmed that the prolonged use of lavender oil caused gynecomastia prepuberal, abnormal growth of the breasts in young girls. The study was published in the magazine Journal of Clinical Endrocrinology & Metabolism of the Endocrine Society and the researchers that headed the essay corroborated that this "abnormal growth of the breasts" resolved after interrupting the use of the products that contained lavender oil. Although they did a special upsetting in these effects that according to them caused said ingredient, also warned on the consequences of the utilisation of the oil tree of tea, that also would affect to the endocrine system. Both components are active ingredients that are found in many of the cosmetics and products that we can use on a daily basis such as soaps, lotions, shampoos, colognes or detergents.
In spite of that the producers of the Alcarría do not lose the look and centre their attention on the latest news that can arrive from Brussels, some trust that the controversy arising around the crop that occupies them was similar (and that conclude of the same way) to which lived does some years with the aloe edge. Instead, in Castile and Leon seems that the label of "toxic product" to lavender already has generated its first repercussion. Local means aimed does a week that this campaign did not go to be good for the crop of lavender. Thus, The National Association Interprofessional of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants (Anipam) manifested months that does not see toxicity in the lavender and will defend this thesis of the hand of the Government of Castile-La Mancha, to present a "good technical document" in front of the draft of the Green Pact of the European Union, that contemplates the inclusion of the essential oils of lavender inside the category of chemical products, in such a way that would include the label of "toxic".