In article , Gautam Majumdar wrote:
On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 14:27:22 +0100, Phred wrote:
In article , Gautam
Majumdar wrote:
On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 06:24:18 +0100, Curious wrote:

Is sandalwood poisonous if eaten?

Can't say about sandalwood as a whole but sandalwood oil is not
poisonous to humans. It is used in various medicinal preparations of the
Ayurvedic (ancient Indian) system.

Geez mate, that hardly proves it's not poisonous!

In fact, many lethal compounds are used in medicine for the very reason
that they are extremely biologically active. I hardly need mention they
need to be used with precision and caution.

I agree; whether something is harmful to use depends mainly on the dose.
Some of our cherished food supplements, even essential neutrients such as
Vitamin A, could cause harm and even death if taken in large doses. But we
don't call them poisonous because they are not harmful when used in
intended ways.

G'day again mate,

Somewhat off-topic in s.b.botany but your mention of Vitamin A
reminded me of the likely cause of disaster in one of the early
Antarctic expeditions. They were pretty much starving and started
eating the dogs. This included the liver, so it's reasonably
suspected at least one poor bloke finally died of Vitamin A poisoning!

quoting from http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=7043
Mawson himself led the 'Far Eastern' sledging expedition with Belgrave
Ninnis, a Swiss doctor, and Xavier Mertz, an English army lieutenant.
The expedition was five weeks old and 500 km out when disaster struck:
Ninnis, with one of the two sleds and most of the party's supplies,
was lost down an immense crevasse. Mertz was to die on the return
journey, possibly from Vitamin A poisoning from eating the livers of
husky dogs. But Mawson survived after an epic solo journey during
which he had to haul himself on the end of a rope out of a deep
crevasse. It was one of the great polar stories of survival.
/quoting

Mind you, it's possible that sandalwood oil is relatively safe. Indeed
there is some data on the Australian product from _Santalum spicatum_
that has found no serious problems:
http://www.aromarich.btinternet.co.uk/sandalwood2.html

Sandalwood oil is used by many people in the Indian subcontinent for skin
conditions, both for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. It is not used
internally excepting in minute quantities in some Ayurvedic medicine.

When I said that it is not poisonous, I meant these uses. It may not be
safe if somebody drinks a litre of it.

At http://www.wrc.net/phyto/Chandana.html there is an indication of
possible toxic effects from _S. album_ oil: quoting Toxicity: Possible
cytochrome p-450 inducement in high doses long term (Jones et al 1994).
Essential oil reported to have a "baneful effect upon the kidneys" in
larger doses (Nadkarni 1976, 1102). /quoting

The references are given on that page -- and it might be noted that the
article by Jones et al. actually referred to quandong (_Santalum
acuminatum_).

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID