Gary Young's Notes from Ecuador

For the past few years, Gary Young had been in Equador, teaching in a university, and doing research on new medicinal plants and methods for extracting oils from them.  In addition to the labs and libraries, Gary has gotten out into the rain forests, working with native healers and learning from their wisdom, gathered over generations of traditional use.  One of his discoveries there was Palo Santo oil — the frankincense of the Andies.

In addition to this, when the Young Life Clinic closed its doors in Utah, Gary and a team of health professionals began clinical work in Equador, using the essential oils.  They have seen really remarkable results.  (It is a loss beyond description that this work can't be done in the United States, where health care costs are creating serious problems with our economy and, conservatively, more than 795,000 people die every year from standard medical care).

The following are snippets taken from Gary Young's lectures during the Young Living Grand Princess cruise in January 2007.  They are based upon notes from Frank Seeley, of Academy Health Services of New Jersey.

Why is Young Living in Ecuador?

Gary and his family, along with their associates, have a presence in Equador for a number of very important reasons.  The following are a few of them.

Working to leave a legacy for future generations

Gary's work in Equador — whether in teaching, research or clinical practice — is to leave us a legacy.  With the increasing pressures world-wide to adopt the allopathic, pharmaceutically-driven health care model, Gary's work is creating a body of evidence that there are practical, effective and affordable alternatives to conventional medicine, as we know it today.

The cost of modern medicine in today's economy

First of all, the American economy is being destroyed from within by the high costs of health care.  The leading cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is not poor choices with credit card use; it's medical expenses.  People get sick, can't pay their bills (with or without health insurance) and lose everything.  As a result, we all suffer.

Despite what our political candidates and media would tell us, the most serious need we have in health care today is not universal coverage; it's an affordable model of health care.  We need an alternative to the insurance-driven, pharmaceutically-based health care of today.  What we're doing today is simply not sustainable.

It's also not very safe or effective.

The safety and effectiveness of modern medicine

While the FDA's mission used to be seeing that the American public had access to safe and effective medications, its purpose now is seen more as risk analysis. 

"We know this medication will cause [cancer, TB, liver disease, cardiovascular disease, blindness, etc], but the patient's [itchy eyes, runny nose, arthritis pain, ED problems, etc] may make the risk acceptable." 

That is not oversight or looking out for the public welfare.  It's looking out for the corporate interests of big-Pharma.

Every drug on the market today — even commonly-used OTC medications — carry health risks.  (Even aspirin has its problems.  Studies have associated its use by women with up to a 58% higher risk of pancreatic cancer.  Commonly taken as a way to prevent heart attacks and stroke, aspirin has been shown to actually increase that risk in 40% of the population, because of the rebound effect of aspirin's anti-clotting properties.)  And yet, despite this terrible record, the public is being warned about the dangers of unregulated herbs and supplements, which have been used (in one form or another) safely and effectively for thousands of years.

Clearly, the pharmaceuticals used in modern medicine are not safe.  The same can be said for their effectiveness.  The truth is, in only about 40% of cases is the prescribed drug found to be effective.  For the widely-used SSRI medications, the effectiveness is closer to 25-30% — about the same as a sugar pill.  Yet, we're generally told that there simply is no alternative to these drugs.  There's simply nothing else out there that's proven to be safe and effective (as if the drugs we are using actually are).

Gary is working to change that.

Providing a way to fight drug-resistant super-bugs

Recent years have seen the rise — and heard the warnings — of various drug-resistant super-bugs.  Whether it's drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, SARS, Ebola or bird flu, modern medicine is facing a growing challenge to find solutions.  While much of this work is truly impressive, from a scientific perspective, scientists can't get the work done fast enough, and the costs of this are staggering.  What drives it all is the presumption that there is no alternative.

But, there is an alternative (see The Missing Link).  And, Gary's ground-breaking research in Equador is demonstrating that essential oils provide a healing modality that simply can't be ignored.  This will prove to be all the more valuable in coming generations.

To guarantee access to therapeutic-grade essential oils into the future

Over the past several years, growers and distillers of essential oils have turned to more "modern" methods of production.  The driving factor in this has been profits: they can make more oil and show a higher return on their investment if they take short-cuts in production methods.  The problem is: as more and more of the established oil producers chase after profits, a growing shortage of high-quality, therapeutic-grade essential oils is created in the world today.

Gary found this to be a problem with his clinical work back in the early 1990s.  That was the driving force behind his founding Young Living Essential Oils. 

But today, we are facing other challenges in obtaining quality oils, as well:

• There is a critical shortage of frankincense, as trees are being cleared for the beef industry.  It has become so bad that the tree from which the gums and resins are taken are "going on the extinct list" (as Frank Seeley states it in his notes).
• Likewise, due to a 7-year drought in the regions where helichrysum oil is produced, there is a serious shortage of this oil, as well.  If the situation is not remedied soon, there will be no more PanAway^® oil blend.  Already, Young Living has reduced the size of the bottle from 15 ml to 5 ml; so, this is a serious issue.  Part of the work Gary is doing in Equador is searching for readily-available alternatives to frankincense and helichrysum, as well as other oils.  One such discovery is Palo Santo oil, the frankincense of the Andies.

And, as part of the remedy, Young Living has purchased land in Equador on which to grow and distill therapeutic-grade essential oils.  The hope is to make this farm into a major production center for truly top-quality essential oils.

Young Living is also looking at land in Peru and southern Colombia, on which to establish additional farms. 

Gary stressed, in his lectures during the Young Living Grand Princess cruise in January 2007, that he is raising two sons to take over Young Living, and that the Executive staff has pledged long-term commitments to the company.  Together, they are building a legacy for the future.

Update on the Young Living farm and clinic in Equador

Young Living has established a farm in Equador.  At present, it has 1000 acres, with 100 acres cleared and ready for planting.  It includes a reservoir that covers 35 acres, to a depth of 60', for irrigation.

The farm has thousands of live Palo Santo trees.  They will provide a rich source for this amazing oil indefinitely.  There are also five native plants growing on the property like weeds.  They will be distilled into oil when ready.  Young Living has already distilled 23 new oils in Ecuador.  Once they have been researched and proven effective for use, they will be added to the growing number of products.

As at the other Young Living farms, there are a large number of greenhouses.  However, in Equador, these "greenhouses" are really just canopies.  Still, as of January 2007, they housed 40,000 starts ready for planting.  With the approach of the rainy season — with 2½ to 3 months of rain and 90° F. temperatures — these starts were going into the ground, with harvest expected at the end of the rainy season.

The first crops on the Equador farm include ruda (8,000 starts), lemongrass, geranium and helichrysum.

It should also be noted that Young Living isn't down there simply for its own benefit. 

• Gary has hired a number of local farm hands, and pays them $8.00 per day, instead of the normal $4.50 per day. 
• Gary and his family are making quite a sacrifice for all of this.  Their living conditions are quite primitive, and he is working very long hours.  Gary is at the farm in the morning, at the clinic in the afternoon, and then back to the farm until he is tired.  Exhausted might be a better term. 
• Young Living has also started the Chongon Project, which is basically an adoption of a local school.  The goal is to create a safe and sanitary facility for the children and enhance their education in a multiplicity of ways.

The Young Living Research Clinic

Located in the city of Quayaquil, Ecuador, the Young Living Research Clinic sees about six Equadorian patients per day.  The results they have been achieving have been truly amazing (but can't be shared here, since this is a commercial site).  Two notes I think I can get away with:

→ Pedro, one of the patients, had three blocked arterial valves in July 2006.  By January 2007, he was out chopping wood.

→ Recipe for successful pain-free surgery:

• 10 drops vetiver,
• 10 drops valerian,
• 5 drops helichrysum,
• 5 drops clove.

(Nancy Sanderson, Gary's sister, says to add three drops of peppermint, to give it a punch.)

There have been 136 surgeries performed at the Young Living Research Clinic using this essential oil recipe, and they have been 100% pain-free.