Consumer products: A scientific committee of the European Commission has cautioned against the use of undiluted tea tree oil, a product widely used in the cosmetics industry.
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Products looked at research on the product carried out to date, including a number of studies involving rats and rabbits before coming to its conclusion.
"The sparse data available suggest that the use of undiluted tea tree oil as a commercial product is not safe. The safety dossier of tea tree oil is incomplete," it concluded.
It said undiluted tea tree oil was "a severe irritant to the skin of rabbits" while neat tea tree oil was "a sensitiser in humans" meaning it can precipitate allergic reactions.
It has given the product's manufacturers until the end of the year to provide more detailed information on the product, including studies on its safety, before it makes a final judgement on the product.
It will then decide if there is a risk to consumers from using cosmetic products containing the oil, if there should be restrictions or conditions put on its use, if restrictions should be put on the concentrations at which it is used and if products containing the oil should have a sell by date.
The oil is used in a range of products on sale in the Republic including shampoos, bath oils, and potions to treat acne and insect bites. It is also sold in undiluted form for use in baths to treat fungal infections.
Beauty salons regularly use lotions containing the oil after waxing as it is considered to have antiseptic qualities.
The oil is obtained by steam distillation from the leaves and twigs of the Australian tea tree.
Reacting to the publication of the scientific committee's opinion, Ms Erica Murray, spokeswoman for the Irish Association of Health Stores, said the oil had been around and used as an antifungal and antiseptic agent since the first World War. She believed if there were any serious concerns about its toxicity they would have come to light before now.
"It's certainly not something I would be concerned about," she added.
Mr Martin Forde of the Irish Health Trade Association said he wasn't surprised by the scientific committee's opinion. "For an EC committee to confirm safety is an extremely high hurdle for them to jump," he said.
He added that he had never come across problems among people using the oil.
A spokesman for the Scientific Committee said its investigation on tea tree oil was a routine one and not as a result of complaints about the product. He said the manufacturers of products such as this oil were required under an EU Cosmetic Directive to carry out a risk assessment on substances they used in their cosmetics and last year the Australian manufacturer of the oil submitted a dossier to the committee. The committee's opinion followed an examination of this dossier.