Cedar oil

[1] Similar oils are distilled, pressed or chemically extracted in small quantities from wood, roots, and leaves from plants of the genera Platycladus, Cupressus, Taiwania, and Calocedrus.

As part of ancient Egyptian funerary practices, cedar oil was used in embalming, which in effect helped to keep insects from disturbing the body.

Cedarwood oil is a mixture of organic compounds considered generally safe by the FDA as a food additive preservative.

The United States EPA "does not expect [toxic] effects to occur among users of currently registered cedarwood oil products" because their use and public exposure is at a lower level and more intermittent than in case studies (e.g., U.S. National Toxicology Program[2]).

The EPA believes there is negligible human and environmental risk posed by exposure to registered cedarwood pesticide if used in properly prescribed manner.

[4] These compounds include cedrol and cedrene, and while they contribute something to the odor of the whole oil they are also valuable to the chemical industry for conversion to other derivatives with fragrance applications.

The once-mighty Cedar of Lebanon forests of antiquity have been almost entirely eradicated, and today no commercial oil extraction is based on this species.