Young LIving scam?

[Mango]

Dallas Seavey (youngest musher ever to win the Iditarod and one of the winners of Nat Geo's Amazing Survival Alaska race)'s family is shilling Young Living essential oil on their business page for their tour business. Isn't this one of the things that the fundie families like to sell?

from www.facebook.com/seaveysididaride/posts/555716491202236 (public facebook page fro Iditaride Sled Tours)

A couple posts ago we talked about NingXia Nitro, an all-natural energy drink made by Young Living Essential Oils. By now you're probably wondering "Is there anything essential oils can't do?" The simple answer is no, although I've never seen an essential oil capable of chewing gum, or playing rugby. We diffuse the oils in our home, put them on sore muscles, and brush our teeth with them (see Thieves toothpaste). We use them to treat sports-related injuries within our dog teams, as well as general kennel maintenance. My stuffed raccoon pulled a muscle while playing tennis last week, so I started to apply wintergreen topically twice a day. Within three days of the accident, his pain level was only one on a scale of 10. I have, in fact, written some of my best songs under the influence of essential oils (Awaken, Rosemary, and Citrus Fresh are my favorites).

So what do stuffed raccoons and songwriting have to do with the Iditarod, or anything at all for that matter? Not much, so now we're going to talk about something else. Lemongrass to be exact.

Young Living's essential oil Lemongrass was an invaluable tool in Dallas' vet kit this winter. One fairly common injury we deal with during training and racing are sore Achilles, where one or both of the tendons on the Dog's back legs get inflamed and swollen. Typically when this happens the dog is out of the mix for the season. Dallas' core dog Hombre had a serious case this winter, one that would normally have guaranteed him a bench warming position for this year's race. After three weeks of Lemongrass treatment the swelling had gone completely down, and there was no sign of any injury. Dallas built Hombre back up to speed with short runs, and eventually he fell back in step with the race team. Today Hombre is charging down the coast in Dallas' team with all gimps forgotten.

I actually wrote a short poem about Lemongrass being good for your Gluteus Maximus, but Mom won't let me post it.

A friend of mine shared it because she just got back from a tour with them to watch the start of the race and it was interesting to see the streams cross.

[Rebelwife]

There's actually a thread about this in Quiver Full of Snark right now. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21136 It's a big scam and the guy that founded it is a piece of work. :pink-shock:

[Mango]

TY, I missed that one! :)

[fiery redhead]

Stacy McDonald sells this stuff, and had a private conference just to get women to sell it as well. She was speaking at an event my mom and I went to and a fake ass chick from our former church wanted to suck up (you think these fundies are bad? These freaks I knew saw the random empty legalism we poke fun at as righteous cover for all their nastiness) and was told that the Ocean Shores event was by invitation only. It's obviously an MLM.

[Mango]

Yeah, I'm mostly just sad to see it getting shilled on my FB page. :( Plus a bunch of dog people friends went 'ooh, if he uses it, it must be great for dogs' and .. yeah.)

Luckily, it got bumped way down the page by REAL news - Dallas won the Iditarod last night!

[Maggie Mae]

Boo it was supposed to be Aly! Girl power and all that.

[DGayle]

Shilling a brand of essential oils is stupid. It's like picking up a package of chocolate chips and looking at the recipe on the back and it says King Arthur flour and Arm & Hammer baking soda when any brands are fine since they're all the same.

[bea]

It's a HUGE scam.

And now I'm going to rant about it, because I am in the oil business and these companies are irresponsible scammers preying on the desperate and u unwary - and making a TON of money off them.

YL claims that it's oils are "certified therapeutic grade" essential oils. Problem: essential oils are neither certified, nor graded, or in fact regulated by any entity. They are considered a fragrance product. They make grandiose claims of the "purity" of their oils based on tests that show absolutely nothing, other than whether something is an essential oil or not. The labs that do these tests that prove YL oils are oh-so-superior? Owned by Young Living, naturally.

Young Living makes outrageous claims about the effects of essential oils, and advises clients to run undiluted oils on their skin (NO) and ingest the oils as well (NO). According to YL, their essential oils can cure everything from autism to diabetes.

IT IS ALL BULLSHIT.

I work with essential oils every day. Not only do Young Living and it's counterpart-in-scamming, DoTerra, make reckless, irresponsible MEDICAL claims about essential oils, they're a pyramid scheme with absurdly inflated prices. Young Living wants you to pay $30 for 15ml of their extra-special super-duper Basil essential oil (which is exactly the same as every other essential oil sold by a reputable professional distiller). I can get 15 ml of basil essential oil from any one of a dozen established, reputable companies for under $5. Including domestic shipping.

Not only do they make ridiculous claims about the benefits of essential oils (and remember, this is MY business too, so I'm not dissing essential oils) for physical and emotional alignments that should be treated by medical and mental health professionals, they advise people to do things that are actively dangerous. Undiluted essential oils should never be applied to the skin. You should never, ever ingest an essential oil, diluted or not.

Essential oils are not regulated. They are not graded. There is no entity that certifies one oil.over another. Either it's an essential oil, or it's not. Young Living and DoTerra are pyramid schemes that suck people in, get them.to spend all their money on what amounts to snake oil, and the only way they'll get out of the hole is by selling their crap to someone else. These companies have been featured on Cropwatch, Fraudwatch, and many, many medical and science blogs and magazines.

TL;DR: Young Living and DoTerra are multi-level marketing scams making insane and dangerous claims about essential oils, while raking in likes of cash from idiots like Stacey, who is probably in so deep with them she'll never get out. There are plenty of reputable, reasonably priced essential oil companies out there. I work with essential oils as part of my business, so I am very familiar with them.

[DGayle]

How the hell can they make medical claims? Isn't that illegal? "This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure" isn't on other stuff just for funsies.

[bea]

But that's the thing - they make the outrageous claims, and then smack on the disclaimer. In addition, I believe part of their disclaimer is that if you are buying it, you understand the correct use of these things. Plus the distributor/salesperson is the one running the liability risk, as they're the ones selling this shit. YL and DoTerra have had the advice of some excellent, high-priced attorneys in writing their disclaimers, lemme tell you.

They have been sued, however. I recall reading something about a case in California.

[emesbe]

It's a HUGE scam.

And now I'm going to rant about it, because I am in the oil business and these companies are irresponsible scammers preying on the desperate and u unwary - and making a TON of money off them.

YL claims that it's oils are "certified therapeutic grade" essential oils. Problem: essential oils are neither certified, nor graded, or in fact regulated by any entity. They are considered a fragrance product. They make grandiose claims of the "purity" of their oils based on tests that show absolutely nothing, other than whether something is an essential oil or not. The labs that do these tests that prove YL oils are oh-so-superior? Owned by Young Living, naturally.

Young Living makes outrageous claims about the effects of essential oils, and advises clients to run undiluted oils on their skin (NO) and ingest the oils as well (NO). According to YL, their essential oils can cure everything from autism to diabetes.

IT IS ALL BULLSHIT.

I work with essential oils every day. Not only do Young Living and it's counterpart-in-scamming, DoTerra, make reckless, irresponsible MEDICAL claims about essential oils, they're a pyramid scheme with absurdly inflated prices. Young Living wants you to pay $30 for 15ml of their extra-special super-duper Basil essential oil (which is exactly the same as every other essential oil sold by a reputable professional distiller). I can get 15 ml of basil essential oil from any one of a dozen established, reputable companies for under $5. Including domestic shipping.

Not only do they make ridiculous claims about the benefits of essential oils (and remember, this is MY business too, so I'm not dissing essential oils) for physical and emotional alignments that should be treated by medical and mental health professionals, they advise people to do things that are actively dangerous. Undiluted essential oils should never be applied to the skin. You should never, ever ingest an essential oil, diluted or not.

Essential oils are not regulated. They are not graded. There is no entity that certifies one oil.over another. Either it's an essential oil, or it's not. Young Living and DoTerra are pyramid schemes that suck people in, get them.to spend all their money on what amounts to snake oil, and the only way they'll get out of the hole is by selling their crap to someone else. These companies have been featured on Cropwatch, Fraudwatch, and many, many medical and science blogs and magazines.

TL;DR: Young Living and DoTerra are multi-level marketing scams making insane and dangerous claims about essential oils, while raking in likes of cash from idiots like Stacey, who is probably in so deep with them she'll never get out. There are plenty of reputable, reasonably priced essential oil companies out there. I work with essential oils as part of my business, so I am very familiar with them.

I am getting SO TIRED of all the oil crap going on around here. I live near YL headquarters. :angry-banghead:

A former co-worker's MIL suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. (her family decided to discontinue life support and she died yesterday). She was not responsive, and some "friend" was posting all over her FB page about which YL oils she should be using. DUDE. She is unconscious. If there was an oil that could fix a brain aneursym, I"m pretty sure we would have heard about it on the news.

[bea]

My oldest is a Type 1 diabetic. There is no distilled plant oil that will make her pancreas function normally, but every other day, someone is cheerfully bubbling away in the Parents of Diabetics forum about how this YL oil or that one helps control blood sugar And can almost eliminate the need for insulin!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAno.

.

[Evilbad]

Ugh I put the people on ignore who try to hawk this crap on fb. It's so overpriced and just crap. My hairdresser sells it and it's everything I have to not say anything when she blathers on and on about using it for her toddlers colds and flu and diaper rashes and everything else under the sun. I mentioned once about maybe not putting essential oils all over his yeasty rash but she went on about how it's all natural and blah blah blah and I just backed away slowly lol.

[bea]

You know what's a natural essential oil?

Pepper spray. The kind you can't buy in some states, the kind only the cops have. It's essential oil of cayenne. It can give you 2nd degree burns on skin (as can cinnamon, lemon, and oregano essential oils), and can cause permanent damage if it gets into your mucous membranes. Even if the damage isn't permanent, you'll probably end up in the hospital for a few days for treatment.

The stuff the cops use is actually DILUTED, that's how dangerous this gloriously natural gift of the earth can be.

Also totally natural? Foxglove. Made into synthetic form for the ability to keep the strength consistent, it's also known as Digitalis, a powerful heart medication.

Belladonna, deadly nightshade, datura, mistletoe, yew bark, all gloriously natural gifts of the earth that will kill you dead if ingested, inhaled, or absorbed.

It's like these morons forget that Mother Nature makes some seriously powerful, scary shit.