This practice is quite common with commercial industries which use the name Aromatherapy on their products even though in reality no essential oils are found in them. Adding the word "like", i.e. Product Name: an Aromatherapy Like Treatment, while better fitting is never used because their isn't anyone to enforce such a restriction. The Food & Drug Act (in the USA) does make it mandatory for product manufacturers to list the all ingredients included. If "essential oil" is not found anywhere on the label, it is best to surmise that it is not a true Aromatherapy product. Instead it is more than likely a simple fragranced product with little or no medicinal benefit at all.
The question becomes, why is so much emphasis placed on Aromatherapy's aromatic side. This can be attributed most potently to the Fragrance Foundation, whom has created an Aromacology branch called the Olfactory Foundation. Being that the Fragrance Foundation was founded in 1949, exactly when the first completely chemical based perfumes were created, they have no real authority to disseminate information about Aromatherapy, essential oils or their use. Their motto which reads, "THE MISSION OF THE FRAGRANCE FOUNDATION IS TO EXPAND THE APPRECIATION, USE AND SALES OF FRAGRANCE GLOBALLY", is a very telling statement about their true goals, yet they are highly called upon by the media to share information about Aromatherapy, which they of course never decline to participate in. Instead of keeping on their forte of Aromacology and those aspects of Aromatherapy, they gladly take on the art as a whole, which has lead to such statements as ".. fragrance oils should be used in place of essential oils in Aromatherapy because they [essential oils] are not standardized which causes fluctuations in potency and effectiveness. Fragrance oil which are chemical copies of essential oils are always the same quality" which appeared in a 1998 edition of Prevention Magazine. Such statements have only survied to confuse the public about true Classical Aromatherapy and give the impression essential oils soal benefit is through their scent.
Even though fragrance oils can not be used in Classical Aromatherapy, they may be used in Aromacology and are all that are tested by the Olfactory Foundation. On the other hand, Aromatherapy grade essential oils may be used in both Aromacology and Aromatherapy, which the Fragrance Foundation sees as a threat to their industry. It is very coincidental that it wasn't until Aromatherapy became popular in the US that the US based Fragrance Foundation created the Olfactory Foundation and decides to move from
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