This post presents a few excerpts from the final report on the safety assessment of castor seed oil and its derivatives.
- Castor oil is classified by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as generally recognized as safe and effective for use as a stimulant laxative
- Although chemically similar to prostaglandin E(1), Ricinoleic Acid did not have the same physiological properties. These ingredients are not acute toxicants, and a National Toxicology Program (NTP) subchronic oral toxicity study using castor oil at concentrations up to 10% in the diet of rats was not toxic. Other subchronic studies of castor oil produced similar findings
- Neither castor oil nor Sodium Ricinoleate was genotoxic in bacterial or mammalian test systems. Ricinoleic Acid produced no neoplasms or hyperplasia in one mouse study and was not a tumor promoter in another mouse study, but did produce epidermal hyperplasia.
- Clinically, castor oil has been used to stimulate labor. Castor oil is not a significant skin irritant, sensitizer, or photosensitizer in human clinical tests, but patients with occupational dermatoses may have a positive reaction to castor oil or Ricinoleic Acid
Read the report here – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18080873
Some interesting links